Monday, February 19, 2007

"Did you see how they looked in their last game?"

Statistically each game is an independent event. One outcome shouldn’t impact the next. I don’t buy it. I think confidence and effort are impacted from game to game. As a poster BCEagle8 on Eagle Insider recently stated: “I'd rather not keep running into teams coming off losses.” I agree with him. UNC and Duke both came into our games off of losses. Both treated their games against us as must wins. We know how the games ended. Virginia Tech enters our game off of a rough loss and will also have extra focus for our game. I don’t like the set up. But are my hunches and worries backed up by stats? Does our opponent’s prior game serve as an indicator for how the team will play against us?

Our ACC opponents’ records prior to losing to BC: 5-4
Our ACC opponents record prior to beating BC: 1-3

Our opponents do have a better record prior to our wins. But the sample is so small and that I don’t think we can truly conclude anything from it. Virginia Tech will be tough. While the numbers don’t confirm my belief, I think getting them after a loss is a bad thing.

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