The El Pomar basketball gym is packed with a gaggle of penny-clad, squeaky sneaker-wearing basketball players practicing their three-pointers and vying for the subsequent rebounds.
It is Monday, and the amateur athletes are taking part in the intramural basketball pre-holiday tournament’s first matchup: the Tigernets versus Flint Michigan MegaBowls.
The Tigernets, who featured a deeper bench and taller bodies, prevailed. After the game, junior John Dugas was proud of his team’s victory. “Well, we started off down by a lot, but we were passing well, just missing open shots,” he said. “I thought the team stuck with what was working, and we trusted that shots would fall if we kept playing hard. Total team effort.”
The double elimination tournament is divided into two groups: the Co-Ed and Open brackets. The Tigernets, led by captain En Seok ‘Scott’ Choi, will be a tough opponent for anyone in the Open bracket. They describe themselves as “legit” and a hardworking team unafraid to grind out a win. And while they were a non-factor in 2014’s tournament, deep-threat Nick Erly insists that this year’s team is more talented and committed.
The Tigernets will be a formidable challenge to Like Mike 3: The College Years. Like Mike is composed of the core players from last year’s tournament winners, The Jed Ballers. These core members include the speedy, well-rounded and charming Connor Hainey, the scrappy, titular Jed Ball and their leader, Isaac Salay.
Despite retaining these central players, uncontrollable forces, like “graduation” did leave Like Mike without some major contributors, namely Karl Oman. However, Ball believes that this lost production will be made up between Reed Young and the towering big man, Ben Justman.
On the Co-Ed side of the bracket, play will likely be dominated by Shift Show, the reigning champions. Shift Show consists of many CC volleyball players, including Sophie Merrifield, and All-Americans Courtney Birkett and Abbe Holtze. Including tall women, Shift Show also has the additional benefit of an unchanged roster.
Team captain Karina Guerrero claims that last year’s success was the result of “awesome team chemistry and the just enough moments of us playing like shift and us playing like the pros.” Guerrero predicted that if her team can maintain this balance and hit the three ball, Shift Show will be christened with fresh IM championship shirts.
Guerrero also concedes that there are throngs of good teams signed up for the tournament, all of which will provide some stiff competition. One of these teams is Five Finger Death Slam, captained by Mercedes Whitman.
Five Finger is new to the tournament, and according to Whitman, the team is still developing. The team hasn’t yet grown accustomed playing together and the roster remains a work-in-progress.
However, Whitman believes there is raw talent on her squad and that they stand a good chance of winning the contest. Whitman, for her part, seems to be an ambitious and determined captain, going so far as to conduct layup drills during halftime.
Both brackets should be very spirited, very exciting competitions, and for the interested public, free seating is available in the rafters of El Pomar.