And then there were two.
Only two teams remain in the hunt to be crowned All-University intramural basketball champions — UISSC and Ole School.
The field began with 135 teams vying for the chance to take home the honor during the five-week regular season. The 135 teams came from three divisions: Men’s Open, Residence Hall, and Fraternity.
UISSC, a top seed, will face the Cinderella of the intramural playoffs in No. 12-seeded Ole School at 8:30 p.m. today in the Field House.
Sophomore Logan Kutcher picked UISSC to win the All-U title. Kutcher’s team, Tom Pettis and the Heartbreakers, lost to UISSC, 65-44, in the second-round of the playoffs.
UISSC went on to beat the Cardinals, 62-51, and MBA Jam, 78-45, on the way to the semis.
“All they did was drive through and overpower us and then hit lay-ups,” Kutcher said. “The only team that had a chance to beat them was Cruncheazy.”
Cruncheazy had its shot in the semifinals, but fell, 59-51, as UISSC moved on to the All-U Final Four Tuesday night after beating Sigma Chi, 67-46. One UISSC player said they hope to continue their dominance and bring home the All-U title.
“We’ve always been optimistic,” said UISSC’s Clark Anderson, a first-year graduate student. “We’ve been playing together for a long time. We have a lot of fun playing together.”
Ole School had a tougher road to the All-U Final Four, beating the Squakeyes, 65-54, and Off Constantly, 70-45, in the first and second rounds. Then, Ole School beat top-ranked MGR Express, 74-51, the American Gladiators, 63-59, and There’s Nothing Funny, 60-50, en route to the All-U Final Four, in which the squad beat Cash Money Records, 66-55.
Women’s Division
The No. 7-seed Lady Ballaz is the second-lowest seed to advance to a championship game. The squad beat the Slum Dunk Millionaires, 43-16, in its opening-round game, then upset No. 2-seed the Breakfast Club, 51-38.
The Lady Ballaz finished its run to the finals with a win over the Mighty Hoagies, 47-34, in the semifinals.
The team’s finals opponent, Tune Squad, shocked no one; it was the top-ranked team for most of the season and proved it by advancing to the finals.
The Tune Squad beat the Heartbreakers, 53-44, in its first playoff game and followed that performance with a 57-50 win over team Miralax in the semis. The Tune Squad will plays at 7:30 p.m. today.
Co-Recreational Division
The top-seeded team in the Co-Recreational bracket also made the finals.
Blar won its first game against Tune Squad, 57-34, and followed that performance with a 61-49 win over P=md in the semifinals.
Its opponent, No. 3-seed Team Miralax, dominated the Hawkeye Flying Club, 70-31, in its opening-round game. Miralax concluded its run to the finals by beating the Defenstrators, 55-35, and the No. 2-seeded Dime Pieces, 65-52. The Co-Recreational Division Championship will be played at 6:30 p.m. today.
The Co-Recreational and Women’s Division Championship games, as well as the All-U Championship will be played in the Field House, a change from previous years, when the title games were played in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“This year we won’t be in there because of renovations,” intramural sports graduate assistant Daniel Payne said.
