Men’s basketball intramurals are expected to begin the first week of February. Intramurals sports are available in volleyball, softball and new this year, floor hockey. The season lasts for four to eight weeks beginning with the first game and ending with the championship game.
“Intramurals are student-created teams that meet to compete against each other one to two days per week. There are no official or formal practices, although some teams may meet to play during open gym, and the teams play for bragging rights and light prizes,” Orlin Jespersen, assistant director of recreation, said.
Mike Bowens, Shae McPherson, Adrian Prawl and Brett Kinney can only think of one phrase to describe the goal for their team this season. “We want to win.”
“Some people get discouraged and don’t put their all into the game because they do not look at it as competitive basketball, but my team and I are in it to win it,” Bowens, sophomore business administration major, said.
The teams are comprised of players who have the caliber and drive to play varsity basketball. Some of the players couldn’t fit in their schedule to play varsity basketball or don’t want the competitiveness of intercollegiate sports.The teams coach themselves, put together team practices and make plays for the game.
“I love basketball. I played AAU basketball in high school but because I did not play during college I still want to play. It is also a great workout and playing basketball with my friends is better than running on a treadmill,” David Watson, freshman education major, said.
There are six or seven teams registered now but more are expected to sign up in the next week. Last year intramurals basketball had a great turn out of players and fans.
“I went to every game that I could go to last year because my friends were playing and it was just a nice relaxing time watching the games,” Abiu Santos, sophomore accounting major, said.
The game is played in a round robin format. Each team has a division and plays each team in their division at least once. Teams keep their place in the tournament by winning their division in the round robin. Teams are then seeded for the playoffs. After the playoffs, a single- elimination tournament is played to choose a winner. Games occur roughly once a week.
“I played with my team last year and we almost made it to the playoffs but weren’t successful but this year we will make it to the final tournament,” Prawl, sophomore psychology major, said.
