IM Basketball: The Team of Destiny

Its not March yet but the madness is underway. I'm talking about basketball season in full swing. Now, Michigan State is doing great, as they have all season, and in fact, as I write this MSU has just wrapped up a signature win in Columbus. I am truly excited to watch and write about this team moving forward but at the moment I want to make a shout out to my IM Basketball team.

Our first game was our easiest opponent, which was lucky because we played sloppy. We were missing a few players and it was the first time a lot of us had played together.

The second game ended up being our hardest game. It was a battle back and forth and we really struggled for points in the first half. We fought back in the second half and we were down two with about thirty seconds to go, but we didn't have the ball. We intentionally fouled and the sequence that followed couldn't have been scripted any better. First the other team missed the first free throw. The ball awkwardly bounced to the corner where there was a scramble for the ball that we won.

So with 25 seconds left we passed the ball around on the perimeter and tried to penetrate. The ball ended up being deflected out of bounds. The refs didn't see it so they called a jump ball which meant our possession with five seconds left. We called a timeout, and there down 2 with no overtime, we were going for the win. We isolated our best player at the top of the key, who immediately drew a double team, he took a step back fade away  from 5 feet behind the 3 point line contested by two defenders that touched nothing but the bottom of the net. 48-47. Game Over!

We went on to easily win our next two games due to our new team chemistry and a confidence built by that trial by fire game. Its a really cool story and a Hollywood finish to that game which is why I love the sport of basketball. I cannot wait for the playoffs, and this is a message to other teams: give up now, you're facing the team of destiny!