Pattern Recognition
There are two college basketball teams that I root for: I adopted the Maryland Terrapins when I went there for grad school in 1993 (after watching a skinny kid with a generic name explode onto the scene in an early-season game against Georgetown), but the Syracuse Orangemen (I'll resist the name change for another year or two, thanks for asking) were the team of my youth, and I continue to root for them. Happily, they play in different leagues, so I rarely have to choose between them (it looked for a little while like Syracuse was going to join the ACC, which would've been a disaster in so many, many ways).
Now, as a scientist, I realize that there really isn't any sort of cosmic connection between these teams as a result of my joint fandom. But you've got to admit, there's kind of an eerie pattern here, ever since I arrived in the Captial District.
First, there's the Maryland story:
- 2001-2: Maryland makes a storybook run to win the school's first NCAA title.
- 2002-3: Maryland has a decent but not great season in the year after the title, and winds up losing in the Sweet Sixteen.
- 2003-4: Maryland has a decent but not great regular season, but makes a great run in the ACC Tournament, winning the school's first conference title in almost twenty years.
Now, look at the last few years for Syracuse:
- 2002-3: Syracuse makes a storybook run to win the school's first NCAA title.
- 2003-4: Syracuse has a decent but not great season in the year after the title, and winds up losing in the Sweet Sixteen.
- 2004-5: Syracuse has a decent but not great regular season, but makes a great run in the Big East Tournament, winning the school's first conference title in over a decade.
Cue the creepy music...
Also, I apologize in advance to all the other Syracuse fans out there, if Gerry Macnamara should completely flake out next year, and they end up missing the Tournament. But, hey, Big East Championship! Jim Boeheim almost smiled!
Posted at 10:17 PM | link | follow-ups |