A loud shriek echoes around the Collins Courts of the John
Wooden Center every intramural basketball season. The noise
resembles that of a cat, if it had its tail stepped on ““
repeatedly. It’s obnoxious to many, but familiar to one team:
The Altoids.
The Altoids know the cry all too well. It originates from the
team’s fourth-year center, Shey Anderson.
This past quarter, en route to the team’s first IM
championship, Anderson knew how to get the ball each game: the
shriek was a great communication tool. When Anderson got the ball,
he used a 40-inch vertical leap to his advantage, slam dunking the
ball with authority.
Now he and his teammates will try to defend their A league IM
basketball title during their second season together this
quarter.
“I think we’re going to repeat,” third-year
team manager and shooting guard Yussuf Haid said confidently.
“We’re better than everybody. We’re not taller
than the other teams, but we’re just better.”
The Altoids’ first game is April 16 in a rematch against
the past quarter’s runner-up, Sigma Chi. The game has no
championship value but it is still important. The Altoids want to
dominate the same way they did the past quarter, minus the
team’s shaky start.
After losing its first game and tying its second, the team
refocused and strung together a couple wins, going into the
playoffs with a 2-2 record. They got even hotter and rolled through
the playoffs, winning all five games.
The Altoids finished the season not only with a title, but a
seven-game winning streak.
“I don’t think it will be easy to repeat,”
third-year forward Asion Jackson said. “We really clicked
last quarter.”
The team will compete again in the A league ““ reserved for
the most competitive players. Yet, some Altoid players feel that
the opposition is not so difficult.
Haid laughed when he recalled how his team won many games by 30
and even 40 points. He said he wasn’t arrogant about beating
his opponents.
“The competition is not the greatest in the world,”
Haid said, but added that he is still satisfied with the opposing
talent available.
Ironically, the team never practices. The players say
they’re just very comfortable with each other’s styles
and abilities. Haid and Jackson go back the farthest, having played
together since seventh grade. All of them have played as a group
for a couple years at UCLA.
The chemistry is there, and according to Jackson, “We have
to desire to play for a championship.”
The players vouched that they would go out, play hard, have fun,
but, most importantly, win.
“When we actually get out there and play, we want to
win,” Haid said.
However, if the team doesn’t win, no hearts will be
broken. The players are witty and carefree about the whole
situation.
For instance, the name of the team was a joke that stuck. During
the first week of play this past quarter, Jackson and Haid walked
onto the court saying they would be the Altoids because they were
going to freshen up the competition.
They did more than freshen up some teams. The Altoids destroyed
most of their opponents.
So when Anderson comes down from his dunk he will look at his
teammates and acknowledge the ongoing joke with the team’s
hand symbol ““ making a circle with your thumb and index
finger as if to show an “a” as it appears on a
typewriter.
The players throw up the sign to give the deserved credit to
teammates. This quarter, there will be many shrieks and hand
signs.
The Daily Bruin will chronicle the Altoids every Friday for the
remainder of the IM basketball season.