This past weekend I travelled to Nottingham with my basketball team, to compete in the British University Sports Association Championship. We took second place in the tournament, beating our archrival Brunel but losing to Oxford in the final. The pictures are of various places and people from the weekend, and the article that follows is one that I wrote for LSE's student newspaper, the Beaver. Enjoy.
Coming home from Nottingham seems like a good place to start, though it marked the end of our journey. The bus, though bigger than the one on the way out of London, fogged up within minutes. The lights, though yellow and dim, provided enough light to read for a few minutes, but the noise drowned out other productive aspirations. We told stories again, but for the first time. We talked taxes and politics again, but with a new vitality. And we recalled endless acts of debauchery, detergent and copulation, ‘slizzards’ and text messages, sore feet and bad music. Bobbing heads, trying to sleep; yelling mouths, trying to speak. Worthless attempts at study. It was galling, hilarious, unique, and induced the most important commonality of all: laughter.
“Just \$^%^%^ing text message me, $&%$%! I can’t hear you!”
“That reminds me of the time we had to strip nude and put on women’s panties…”
“That’s what you do in the Championship: You step up...”
In brevity that was the scene Sunday, as LSE’s returned on a speed-coach after having partaken in the British University Sports Association Championships. One would have would have expected nothing less from the diverse, distinct and entirely non-British Men’s Basketball 1sts.
The eight-team BUSA tournament of league champions featured Britain’s finest university teams, all vying for a shot at quasi-Hoosier glory. Having won all but two of their matches, LSE looked poised to continue its dominance of the British hoop hierarchy.
It started on Friday as LSE, in their first tournament match, stepped closer to British basketball royalty by lambasting Stirling, 78-55. The game was never close, and the starters sat out much of the second half. In a balanced scoring effort, Hassan Haralji led the Beaves with 16. Captain Nick Gregoriou, recipient of the AU’s prestigious Brian Whitworth Cup, added 11. After the game, Haralji foreshadowed future events by donning his black cutoff tee shirt. “My moves have just begun,” he muttered deeply with a smile. Later that evening, at the University of Nottingham’s version of Crush, Haralji made good on his promise, getting his shwerve on with several Sherwood Forest squirrels.
On Saturday morning, LSE prepared to meet their nemesis, the Brunel Sons of Bastards. The Sons, like a certain short Erkelesque referee, had produced a nagging pain in the collective LSE side. But the pain quickly subsided as the Beaves handed Brunel its only loss of the year, a convincing 81-63 bitch-slapping. LSE came out firing bombs, draining six trifectas in the first half alone, building a 36-24. The Beaves shut down Brunels’ defensively in the second quarter, holding the Sons to a dastardly total of three points. It came as sweet revenge for the Beaves, whose only two losses had come to Brunel by a combined four points. Lenas “This is Captain Slizzards speaking…” Thomas led the way with 21 points on five trey balls. An ecstatic crowd cheered on Jihan Bowes-Little, in what became a three-day, jaw-dropping display of inhumane handles. “You can’t handle The Truth!” they yelled. The game was much anticipated by the deep LSE fan base, as UCL groupies mixed with jolly German bikers, creating an aura of massively confused coition. The Beaves had been specifically preparing for the match against the Sons since their second defeat came in overtime two weeks earlier. The inspirational victory sent the Beaves into the Championship game against Oxford.
LSE took second in the BUSA Championship, losing to Oxford 116-73 in the hardfought final. Court leader Tshoop Tshionyi lead the way with 25, 18 of which came on three-point baskets. The Truth jumped, juked and wailed his way to 15 points, eliciting oohs and ahhs from a makeshift JBL fan-club. Highlights of Jihan’s killer crossover can be seen at www.streetball.co.uk
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The weekend journey produced more than silver medals and incredible stories. As with many AU sports clubs, friendships were solidified, jokes were told, and fun was done. Those memories, though necessarily hazy and broken, would last beyond basketball.
LSE will finish its season on Wednesday against King’s in the ULU cup finale.
