New uniforms?

What are LeBron James and Dwayne Wade doing? LeBron James and Dwayne Wade were at a basketball game yesterday in Miami. Not playing but watching. And cheering.

The University of Miami has had an ambivalent attitude toward the game of basketball. The school sponsored a team, then dropped the sport altogether, then revived it, and has since struggled for attention and relevance in a city more enthralled with professional sports teams, models in bikinis, and the sun and beach.

Yes, like that. That is the third google image under search keyword "florida gulf coast."  At the beginning of this college basketball season Miami played against a university named Florida Gulf Coast. And lost. When you're competing for attention against the Heat, Dolphins, Marlins, and Models you cannot lose to the Florida Gulf Coast "Eagles." Ditto when you're struggling for relevance in your sport. After that embarrassing November 13 loss Miami lost twice more before the new year. And then...

They have not lost since. They have now won eleven games in a row. And they have been killing teams (they do that in Miami): 71-47, 72-50, and on January 23 they beat the number-one ranked team in America, Duke University, by the score of 90-63. 90-63! :o  That got people's attention and they started going to games. It also made the "Hurricanes" relevant.  They entered the top-25 of nationally ranked teams and have risen to eighth.  In its on-again off-again history Miami has never been ranked higher than as the eighth best team in America. Yesterday before a sell-out crowd including LeBron James and Dwayne Wade Miami routed another team, the University of North Carolina, 87-61. When the new rankings come out Miami will best its historical high.

The most enchanting thing about sports is the unexpected and nothing has been as unexpected in the sport, perhaps in any sport this year, as what the University of Miami basketball team has done.