Ghost Of Three-Pointers Past

There are few exercises more futile than attempting to affect the outcome of a sporting event with a superstitious act, but we all do it anyway. Once in a while, you're certain it was your actions that allowed your team to come through; for instance, after the White Sox lost game one of the 2005 ALCS, I made a wardrobe change that keyed their subsequent eight-game winning streak. I'm sure of it. But more often than not, you end up being let down by [that thing] you swore was lucky.

Some casualties of mine:

-- Pom pom from NCSU/Texas football game in 1999: killed in action during Carolina game that year.

-- 2002-2003 Student Wolfpack Club T-shirt: as always, the shirt was worn to all football games, but because we were on a huge winning streak, I never washed it. Shirt was discarded after providing no help in the Georgia Tech game.

-- AL Central Champs T-shirt: worn to game two of Hurricanes first round playoff series against Montreal last year, Canes still lost. Shirt banished to recesses of dresser.

One item I'll never toss aside is the C.C. Harrison jersey I like to bust out from time to time. As far as I'm concerned, it'll always bring good fortune, though sometimes in ways less obvious than the final score.



















The Harrison jersey is particularly apt this evening, because it was nine years ago today...

        eFG%      OR%      TO%   FTM/FGA   Pts    Poss   Off_Eff

NCSU    58.3     33.3     13.8     62.5     86     65     132.3
UNC     50.0     35.3     18.4     24.1     72     65     110.8

                MP  FG    FT    OR R  A  PF Pt  3FG   TO BL S

Inge         *  40  3  6  10 10 4  12 3  1  16  0  1  1  4  0
Kelley       *  18  2  4  3  4  2  4  1  5  7   0  0  3  0  0
Williams     *  29  1  7  2  2  1  6  1  2  4   0  0  0  1  1
Harrison     *  37  10 14 3  4  1  5  1  4  31  8  9  2  0  0
Benjamin     *  38  4  11 8  8  0  2  4  1  16  0  2  2  0  7
Miller       N  25  3  6  4  4  0  0  3  2  12  2  4  0  0  0
Gainey       N  9   0  0  0  0  0  0  0  3  0   0  0  0  0  1
Buffum       N  4   0  0  0  0  1  1  0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0
TEAM         W  200 23 48 30 32 9  31 13 18 86  10 16 9  5  9

            ORtg    %Poss   %Shots   eFG%    PPWS    TO%     OR%     DR%    %Stls

Inge        161.3    18.4    12.5    50.0    1.49    8.4     14.8    23.5    0.0
Kelley      95.1     29.3    18.5    50.0    1.19    34.9    16.5    13.1    0.0
Williams    82.0     13.3    20.1    14.3    0.50    0.0     5.1     20.3    2.1
Harrison    164.0    21.9    31.5    100     1.95    15.2    4.0     12.7    0.0
Benjamin    117.2    23.5    24.1    36.4    1.08    13.8    0.0     6.2     11.3
Miller      172.9    16.6    20.0    66.7    1.52    0.0     0.0     0.0     0.0

(With thanks to Charlie Board's ACC stats archive.)