Every year, members of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee are heard to say a team's performance in road games truly matters in the selection process. Since no team gets to play an NCAA Tournament game at home, a team's record against quality competition on the road is the best measure of a team.

This is a true, irrefutable fact. There is no better gauge of a team's sturdiness, courage, nerve or daring than its play on the road. The true measure of a team's toughness is its ability to operate under great stress, and there is no greater stress in college basketball, and perhaps all of sport, than trying to win on the road.

	Even the best teams like Pittsburgh often get lost away from home.

So, why is so difficult? I mean, every team plays in arenas with the same dimensions, the same type of ball, and under the same rules. It's not like the scene in "Hoosiers" when Norman Dale had the team measure the height of the basket in the state title game to show it was the same as their gym in Hickory. Nearly every Division I player has played AAU ball all over the country, and we are led to believe each is mature and hardened road warriors, right?

Wrong.

Playing in the lair of a quality opponent is the hardest thing to do in basketball. Period.

Visiting teams don't get any breaks on the road. You don't get any calls, and don't look for any sympathy.

Everything is different, from the food, to the hotel, to the travel, right down to the shooting background in opposing gyms. Players have to deal with packing, waiting around for buses and/or planes. And then there are those wake-up calls.

Different coaches handle road game days differently. Some build in meetings, walk-throughs and team meals into the day to break up the monotony. This gets players up on their feet and out of their rooms. But, players have to balance themselves on the road. They can get lethargic due to a mix of sitting around and waiting for the game. Others can get too hyped and overexcited too early, wearing themselves out before they even get to the arena.

Once at the arena, the opposing crowds rain down noise and abuse. And once the game starts, it's all but impossible to communicate with teammates; players feel out of sync from the moment they step onto the court. Basketball is a game of rhythm, and teams seldom have rhythm on the road.

If a team is young, like many of even the best in college basketball are today, start multiplying the problems and issues. The road punishes youth and inexperience, and few freshmen are able to process all that comes with playing on the road. It's up to older teammates to pull them through it and show them what to do and how to act.

Here is a formula for winning on the road. Apply it to a group of very good players, and a team just might have a chance to return home with a few wins.

Bring Maximum Intensity, But Don't Get Overemotional
To have a chance to win on the road, teams have to match or exceed the intensity level of the home team. There isn't the benefit of the crowd to get a team up for the game, so it's up to the team to bring its own energy and excitement.

Make that game the most important thing on the planet while on that trip. Everything a team does has to be geared toward performing at its highest level under stress.

But, that high level of intensity has to be balanced. A team cannot afford to get overemotional, too early. Many times a team will get all worked up before the game, only to wear itself out emotionally before the opening tap. Winning on the road isn't about growling, jumping around and high-fives, it's about being prepared for the basketball equivalent of hand-to-hand combat. It's about concentration, awareness, and attention to detail.

	Bilas' Bytes
	From the selection committee to referees, Jay Bilas looks as some of the toughest calls being made during February and March. Bilas' Bytes

If a team doesn't bring the requisite amount of intensity, passion and toughness on the road, pack up the ball bags and go home. And be sure to leave room in the suitcase for the "L" the home team hands you.

Be Together
More than anything else, a team must be "together" on the road. It's all right to be intense and prepared as individuals, but if those players are not intense and prepared together, it won't matter. A team has to be a close-knit group on the road, with everyone into what the team is trying to do -- down to the last walk-on.

The road is no time for "me," it is only about "us." No player or coach is allowed to be into his own thing, and there can be no shows of weakness. Players have to be able to take confidence from each other, from the looks each gives the other, to the body language everyone projects.

Winning on the road is about collective strength.

Togetherness Also Means Communication
To win on the road, a team must be able to communicate. Everyone needs to be aware of what is going on, what the offensive and defensive calls are, and what the coach is saying. Instructions have to be relayed, and everyone has to be alert and ready. It is easy for a player to retreat into himself on the road, but that is the surest way to get your tail kicked.

Be Strong with the Ball ... Oh, And Hit Free Throws
To win close games on the road, a team must be strong with the ball. It can't let go of it when someone comes up and yells "Boo!"

Protect the ball and deliver it with strength. When the opposing team is slapping at it, without a whistle blowing to save you, what are you going to do? Look at the referee or at your bench in amazement? If you want to win, you will do whatever it takes to keep possession of that ball, and you have to step to the line and hit your free throws. You have to hit free throws to win on the road. You will probably not get as many as your opponents, so you have to hit the ones you have.

Don't Just Be Ready to Play
We've all heard the expression, "ready to play." Well, being ready to play isn't enough on the road. A team has to be "ready to fight."

If the expectations on the road is anything other than having to scrap for everything, a team will be sorely disappointed.

Teams have to expect contact and be able to finish plays. Don't expect any calls on the road, because you won't get any -- no matter what. It's not a conspiracy, it's just the way it is. Officials don't blow as many key whistles for the visiting team, and the visitors will rarely shoot as many free throws as the home team. Deal with it without excuse, and be prepared to play through it without complaint. It's not just your team that gets hammered on the road with no calls, it happens to everyone, and the truly tough teams win anyway.

Teams have to be strong in everything they do on the road, because winning on the road is about valor. Winning on the road is not about being "pretty," winning on the road is about "tough." Pretty finger rolls don't win on the road, power lay ups, squared to the basket do.

You don't walk out of an opposing building a winner by bending over at the waist for a loose ball, you win by diving on the floor and fighting for possession. Winning on the road isn't about waiting to be given something, winning on the road is about taking it from someone else.

Don't just expect to win, expect to fight. And expect to fight for everything -- for loose balls, for rebounds, through screens, and to come off of screens. If you expect anything to be easy, you've lost before you've even started.

Every Play is Game Point
If you've ever played in a pick-up game, then you know what "game point" is. Game point is the possession of the game where, if the team that has the ball scores, the game is over and that team wins and keeps the court, while the other team sits. There is no more intense and difficult point to get in a pick-up game than game point. There are no lay ups given on game point, and the offense will not risk a bad shot. Everything is life or death, and everyone is fully into the game at that moment.

Remember how it feels on game point, when there is a crowd waiting for the court, and if you lose, you sit for a long time. Remember how intense you are, how much more that point means than the rest of the points in that game. The way you play on that point is the way you have to play every possession when you're on the road. It's that tough, and only the toughest teams win on the road.

Q & A with Jay Bilas

Send in college basketball questions to ESPN's Jay Bilas, who will answer a few each week as the season continues.

Jay Bilas is a college basketball analyst at ESPN and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.