Aggie intramural team in Nationals
What started as a group of friends getting together to play basketball has turned into something bigger for Utah State’s men’s champion intramural basketball team. Something much bigger. The team, which is named “The Pheasants,” will travel to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the 2008 National Campus Championship Series basketball tournament Friday through Sunday at Ohio State University. The Pheasants are a team of eight USU students who played the regular intramural season at USU and won the school’s tournament, which qualified them for a state tournament. The team had no idea that there was a state tournament. “We had no idea. We won the Utah State tournament and thought, ‘That’s the end of the road and we got a shirt which is great and we’re on top of the world,” said team member Jake Christiansen. Teammate Clint Lee agreed. “We started playing Utah State intramurals hoping to have some fun and make it to the tournament there and play well and win a cool shirt,” Lee said. “We had no idea it was this big.” The state tournament consisted of two teams each from USU, the University of Utah, Weber State and Utah Valley State. The winner of the tournament would be sent down to a regional tournament in Tucson, Ariz. “Our team won and so we sent them down to the regional tournament in Arizona,” said Scott Wamsley, assistant director of campus recreation in charge of intramural sports at USU. “They ended up winning the west region, which qualified them to go to Ohio State to play for the national intramural championships.” Wamsley said USU has had teams win the state tournament in the past, but this was the first year the state has sent a team to the regional tournament. The regional tournament was held in Tucson, March 28-30, where the team played in and won seven games to win the west region tournament. Lee, who was named tournament MVP in Tucson, is feeling confident about the team’s chances at the national tournament. “Down there in Arizona we didn’t lose a game and probably averaged 15-point wins at least, and we just played really well,” Lee said. “We’re feeling pretty good.” One of the reasons The Pheasants have made it so far is because they have been playing together for so many years. “About six of us went to high school together and played on the team,” Lee explained. “So we have been playing together for a number of years. We know how each other play and we know our strengths and weaknesses. That’s a big advantage for us.” The tournament director for the west region, who goes to the national tournament every year, was so impressed with the play of The Pheasants he told the team he feels they have a good chance to win nationals. “He goes every year and he says that we have a pretty good chance and he has never seen a team play together like we do,” Christiansen said. Aside from staying in shape for the national tournament, a big issue for the team was raising enough money to travel to Columbus. The team was mostly able to pay their own way for the state and region tournaments, but has had to raise about $4,000 to travel to Ohio State. According to Wamsley and Christiansen, some of the money has come from ASUSU, as well as local businesses-including ICON Health and Fitness. The team left for Ohio State early Thursday and will begin pool play Friday with the tournament starting on Saturday and lasting for two days. To prepare, Christiansen says the team has met together every day this week to play and stay in shape. “This is a great opportunity. It just shows that even though kids don’t play at the collegiate level, there are still opportunities for kids at campuses to play beyond high school with chances to win a national championship,” Wamsley said. -sam.bryner@aggiemail.usu.edu