The natural design of hierarchy: basketball versus academics

The power-law correlation between frequency and rank is a physics characteristic of natural fl ow systems (river basins, demography) in accordance with the constructal law. Here we show that this robust characteristic is a consequence of their design as area-point and point-area fl ow systems that morph freely and compete for access on an area. The emergence of hierarchical design is illustrated with the rankings of university basketball pro-grams. Although basketball rankings have the same character as the university rankings, there is no correlation between the two rankings. Academic excellence and basketball excellence are two different fl ow architectures on the same area, like the fl ow of humanity (demography) and the fl ow of water (river basins). Together, they show how the evolution of sports allows us to witness biological evolution in our life time.