The men's basketball team enters into NCAA Tournament play on Saturday at LeFrak Gymnasium for its fourth home postseason contest in the past three weeks. The 2004-05 Lord Jeffs, who are ranked second in the nation, compiled a 25-1 overall record and went 9-0 in conference play, won their first NESCAC championship in three years, beat Williams College twice (at home and in Williamstown), crushed opponents by an average of 17.6 points per game and, we're happy to report, have not done any of this quietly. Indeed, even at the "early hour" of 12 p.m. on Sunday, LeFrak was packed with Amherst fans redolent in purple and white.

While we so often use this space to make requests of our fellow students and the administration, this is a time for commendation rather than exhortation. We commend both the members of the men's basketball team as well as the members of the student body and the faculty and staff who attended the team's NESCAC Tournament games. Their support for the team represents more than simple school spirit.

Above all else, Amherst is a community, and while yelling yourself hoarse at a basketball game may not be the most intellectually challenging activity, it is as vital to the life of our community as attending lectures and performances outside of the classroom. The students who attended the basketball games (and, to a lesser extent, those who listened on WAMH) showed support for community members and for the College in a unique and valuable manner.

The playing courts and fields are the only public spaces that require students of the College to wear purple and white and to emblazon "Amherst" across their chests. Our teams are a very public face of the College-and so are their fans. We are proud that our community cares about the face we present in competition, and while this face often seems only to come out for "the Williams game," the support for the men's basketball team's postseason (with that putrid shade of mustard conspicuously absent) proves otherwise.

We encourage support for all College teams, both the most and the least successful, and in particular for the spring teams whose seasons begin in just a few weeks. And if you haven't been to a game all year or all season, now is a good time to start; on March 5, men's basketball faces the winner of Norwich University and Springfield College to decide who moves on to Sectionals. And while the next three rounds take place over Spring Break, they will most certainly be televised at least regionally as well as broadcast by WAMH, and we encourage those students who can to attend.