For Princeton basketball, March also means thesis madness
Ryan Langborg had some analytics to crunch before his Princeton University basketball team traveled to Louisville for Friday’s NCAA Tournament South Regional semifinal.
No, we’re not talking about the tendencies of Sweet 16 opponent Creighton, although that certainly is on his plate.
The senior economics major is knee-deep in writing his senior thesis, a 50-page paper due next month. The topic?
“Assessing NBA travel across multiple time zones and the effect it has on winning percentages across the league, and how that affects money lines, spreads and betting,” he said.
Welcome to life at Princeton, where the basketball is good but the academics are king. Every Princeton senior must turn in a thesis, which is a publishable research paper in a field related to their major. Juniors are required to write a “junior paper,” which is a smaller version of the thesis.
These projects are due in April, so this is crunch time for upperclassmen across the campus, hoopsters included.
“We talk about the thesis all the time,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said. “This is Princeton. These guys know what they signed up for.”
Henderson’s been through it. As a senior economics major at Princeton in 1998 – and part of the last Tigers’ team before this one to advance in the Big Dance – he wrote about portfolio diversification.
“Mine’s probably in the trash somewhere,” he said. “You wouldn’t find it in any libraries.”
His players’ theses sound much more interesting.
What they're writing
Here’s a rundown of what these guys are writing about.
Tosan Evbuomwan
Senior forward, economics major
Thesis topic: How diversity in executive management in the NBA affects team performance.
Due date: April 13.
How it’s going: “I was able to make some progress before all this (March Madness) happened. I wouldn’t say it’s almost done, but I’ll get it in on time.”
Keeshawn Kellman
Senior forward, sociology major
Thesis topic: How professional sports performance in season affects the surrounding communities’ cohesion. What are the crime rates like, what is the turnout in an election year, etc.
Due date: April 14
Projected length: 80 pages
How it’s going: “I started writing, but I still need to finish the rest of the data. It’s been hard the last two weeks because we’re so locked in (on basketball). At the same time, I have a duty as a student. Today (Monday) it was all thesis.”
Ryan Langborg
Senior guard, economics major
Thesis topic: Assessing NBA travel and how it effects sleep patterns and impacts results.
Due date: April 20
Projected length: 40-50 pages.
How it’s going: “I haven’t run my statistics yet, but my hypothesis is the betting lines assess this pretty well – they have that stuff down to a T. But absolutely, there is something about traveling east to west that hinders performance.”
Konrad Kiszka
Senior guard, psychology major
Thesis topic: The hot-hand fallacy. For a basketball shooter, or a gambler, is there such a thing as a hot hand?
Due date: April 28
Projected length: 45-50 pages
How it’s going: “It’s really a false sense of confidence” (his findings, not his progress).
Zach Martini
Junior forward, English major
Junior paper topic: The placement of home in dystopian literature (A Clockwork Orange, 1984, Brave New World). “A lot of dystopias are run by totalitarian societies,” he said. “The government runs everything, so there’s no privacy.”
Length: 21 pages
How it’s going: “I had my final draft set before all this madness. I’m in good shape.”
Matt Allocco
Junior guard, sociology major
Junior paper topic: How television impacts social dynamics.
How it’s going: “Older people spend more time watching television because their social lives have decreased. It’s also how they keep up with the times.”
Cramming it in
By now, Princeton’s upperclassmen have become accustomed to juggling books and ball. The difference right now is: March Madness engulfs anyone’s normal routine. The Tigers held two media sessions and a pep rally at Jadwin Gym this week, then flew to Louisville Wednesday morning, meaning they missed class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (most have Fridays off or a light schedule).
All of that is highly unusual for a program that mostly plays on weekends and travels regionally, by bus. Last week, when they won two NCAA games in Sacramento, it was spring break. This week, the Tigers did their best to cram in studies in before heading to Louisville. Langborg turned in a midterm paper for his “Italian Cinema” course Tuesday and received a one-week extension on his thesis due date. Evbuomwan was late to Monday’s media session because of a three-hour business leadership seminar. He arrived beaming that the economics department chair sent congratulations to him and Langborg on their Big Dance run.
“The support from all the faculty has been great,” he said.
Martini has two essays due Friday. He asked for extensions, and as of early in the week was nervously awaiting a response.
He is shelving the thesis for the next few days.
“All of the focus will be on Creighton, I can tell you right now,” he said.
Martini is, however, bringing some books with him to Louisville.
“Leisure reading,” he said.
Leisure dystopian reading?
“Franz Kafka,” he said, “so more or less.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Princeton vs. Creighton, NCAA Tournament: thesis madness
