Week five had plenty of exciting outcomes, a lot of upsets, some controversial endings, and a few downright blowouts, as per usual. Week five was also the first time that players were able to play maskless, and take that as you will, but it was definitely fun to see the facial expressions of players after airballing a wide open layup. The top of the standings stayed relatively the same, but there were some big shake ups among the basement dwellers. Here are our new rankings, and we implore you to tell us your opinion on the changes in the comments below. 

Rankings:

1. No friends In the Industry (7-0) 
2. LoveShaqs (8-0)  

   

3. Heezy Bop (6-1)  
4. Shake and Bake (7-2) 
5. Garrigan St. Antelopes (5-0) 
6. Vatican City Valedictorians (5-1-2)  
7. Victorious secret (4-3-1)
8. Puck Bandits (3-3-1) 
9. BrickLayers (3-2-1)
10. Vanilla Long Johns (3-4)
11. Shanghai Shootaz (2-5)
12. Cream Team(2-4)
13. Team Halo (2-5)  
14. Handlers(2-4) 
15. Scandinavian Swan Wranglers (2-4)
16. Gryffindors (3-5) 
17. Team Coht (2-6)
18. Bug Eaters (2-5) 
19. Tropic Thunder (2-5)
20. Curry Crusaders (1-5-1)  
21. Youngbloods (0-3-1) 

    

22. DaBois (0-4) 

Girls:

1. Snoop Dawgs (5-0) 
2. Chicken Noodle Hoops (3-1) 
3. Patty’s Daddies (3-1) 
4. Ballerz (1-5) 
5. Airball grabbers (1-4) 
6. Tommy’s Tot’s (1-4) 

Surprises:

Team Coht has done what nobody thought they could do, they won, and not once, but twice. The athletic, defensive minded team was 0-6 going into last sunday, but they showed the league that they are not an automatic win. Team Coht looks to build on this performance against a youthful Youngbloods team this weekend.

The Puck Bandits took down a high ranked Victorious Secret team. It was a thrilling clash, ending with just 1 point to split the difference, with a final score of 17-16. The freshman Puck Bandit team are sure to see their stock rise after an impressive win against a group of skillful juniors. 

Team Halo got a surprising blowout victory against Shake and Bake. A team who had previously proven themselves against tough opponents like the Heezy Bops, and has a dynamic duo with Lucas Scroggins and Patrick Lindemann. Some are baffled as to how this result could have come about, others are unfazed, as this is just the uncertainty that intramural basketball brings to the table every week. 

Game of the year preview: 

February 13th, 2022 has been marked on many people’s calendars for a long time, but not for The Super Bowl. The 6 and 1 top ranked Heezy bops look to ruin Team “No Friends in the Industry” perfect season. This is more than a matchup of two top ranked teams. If you recall, in “Inside Intramural Week 1,” we covered the shocking move that Aaron Kurian and Mac Chamberlain had made by leaving their team to form a new one. The Heezy Bops have not forgotten in the slightest. They have gone as far as ignoring these prior teammates in the hallway. The move was said to “benefit the league.” “Nobody loves super teams so the split had to happen,” MVP contender Mac Chamberlain said. Sitting at one in our rankings, they seem very pleased with their decision. On the other side was the Heezy Bops, a team that had been together since 2018.  “We had a master plan until they snaked us, but we have not forgotten. We are out for blood this week,” Heezy Bops starting guard, Nicholas Fontana said. 

The Heezy Bops have a big advantage in size and speed, but lack the shooting and scoring ability that No Friends has. NF has yet to play a defensive unit like the HB, who use tight man to man defense and various chirps to throw opponents off. We asked both coaches what they are doing in order to prepare for the big game. “We will mentally prepare the night before, and I will implement a John Beilein esque coaching style that emphasizes hard defense and quick ball movement with tons of high ball screens.” HB head coach Sam Gibson said. This has been Heezy’s bread and butter all year and now is no time to change that. NF coach Louis Novelli has had his success this year. “I frame our play style off of the 2016 warriors with a high powered offense centered around a highly dynamic point guard and a 2 way wing,” Coach Novelli said. That dynamic guard is year long MVP frontrunner Aaron Kurian. We asked him about his final thoughts before sunday and he said “Heezy bops better not put the Jester(Nick Fontana) on me or else its wraps.” We cannot wait for Sunday Ladies and Gents.