As March progressed, there was one thing occupying people’s minds: basketball. As Americans were preparing their March Madness brackets, Wildcats were not just doing the same thing, they were also gearing up for IM (intramural) basketball. 

IM sports are an important part of the Linfield community. After a long day of classes and extracurriculars, Wildcats look forward to getting on the court with their peers for some friendly competition.

ASLU Sports Director and junior biology major Ethan Ensrud believes that IM sports brings people together. He decided to take on the Sports Director position after participating and winning IM football his freshman year where he met a lot of people he wouldn’t normally interact with. 

“Linfield is filled with athletes that are involved in sports teams, but there are other students who did sports in high school,” said Ensrud. 

Even if these students no longer officially participate in sports, their love of the game still runs strong.

“As a former basketball player, I just wanted to have fun playing the game that I love,” said freshman sports management major Che Amaral. 

This year, six teams participated in IM basketball. Naming themselves, the teams included “Germany,” “Jose Gutierrez,” “Lob City Elite,” “Jellybeans,” “Free Agents” and “BBC Elite (Big Baller Corporation).” Since IM basketball requires no prior experience, there was a variety of skill levels.

“There is a dispersion of talent,” said senior finance and accounting major Radule Bozovic II. “There’s guys who have played high school ball that are pretty good and know basketball, and then there’s guys who don’t know how to play basketball and just do it for fun.”

While Lob City Elite was seen as the biggest threat early in the competition, beating their semifinals opponents Jose Gutierrez 107-40, they ultimately fell short in the finals against BBC Elite with a 65-49 score.

“It was close the whole game until the last five minutes or so, we pulled away and won,” said freshman exercise science major Jayden Cummins, a player from BBC Elite. “Towards the end, we saw them lay out the championship rings on the score table and we all got hype because we knew we were gonna come out on top.”

Interestingly, BBC Elite’s team consisted of only freshman players. 

“The best part was definitely just going out there and playing hoops,” said Cummins. “I get a lot of joy out of just even shooting the ball around, but to build the team we had of all freshmen and winning every game by a significant difference was all around a good experience.”

It seems that the general consensus around IM basketball and IM sports in general is that it’s there for students to have fun with their fellow Wildcats and play the game they love. As for the future of IM basketball, anticipate to see the reigning champs back on the court next IM season.

“Expect the back to back next year,” said Cummins.