By Glypie Grider

Twelve student equipment managers for the University of Louisville men’s basketball team won the Halloween Basketball Tournament sponsored by the Intramural Department on Saturday. The 12, who assist with practice sessions and game preparation for the D-I team, showcased their own basketball talent in a three-game sweep for the intramurals championship.

According to Tim Britt, one of the co-coaches and players on the intramural team, the group was called “Babycakes,” a nickname for Tim Sypher’s daughter. Sypher, the equipment manager for the Cardinal basketball team, sponsored the team’s t-shirts, which sported a screen image of his daughter on the front.

“We’re like a family,” said player Matt Morris. “We live together, work together and hang out together.” The student managers live with the men’s basketball team in Billy Minardi Hall.

But despite all of their basketball connections and the pickup games they play on the side, Elliot Hardesty, co-coach of the team, admitted they didn’t practice or meet prior to the one-day tournament. “We didn’t run any plays or prepare really. We just came out and played,” he said.

That lack of preparation might account for the Babycakes’ rough start to the tournament. “We were down by 10 points at two different points in the game, and it didn’t look good,” said senior Daniel Garcia.

It came down to the wire in the championship round, but the Babycakes pulled out the victory with a few minutes to spare. They overcame an eight-point deficit with 16 minutes left in the game, but Garcia said a full-court press helped the team overcome the deficit.

“We started hitting the threes which gave us the edge,” he explained.

The group of 12 plans on joining the intramural basketball league in the spring semester, said Ryan Dozier, another team member. “I really hope we’ll be back,” he said.

Pending, of course, the U of L men’s basketball schedule.

Chris Brawner, the undergraduate intramural supervisor who helped supervise the event, said most of the teams in the tournament were comprised of a close-knit group of friends, but none perhaps as close as the Babycakes.

Other Babycakes team members were Pat Blake, Jon Ford, Pat Harwood, Josh Pittman, Mason Revelette, Chris Szatko and Chad Thompson.

Nine men’s teams competed in the tournament, while only three competed on the women’s side.

Tiffany Taylor and Latora Schmidt, both 18-year-old freshmen and Louisville natives, were on the winning female team dubbed No Problemz.

Taylor came up with the team name. “It’s one of those things you say – ‘I don’t have no problemz, you don’t have no problemz.'”

Unlike the men’s team, No Problemz overcame a first-round loss and made their way back through the ranks to claim the championship title.

Taylor and Schmidt plan on joining the extramural traveling women’s basketball team in January. Both have spent the past two months conditioning and preparing for it.

“We didn’t get recruited [in high school], but now we have the opportunity to travel and play basketball in college,” said Schmidt, a small forward.

Other No Problemz players were Noreen Cousins, Christina Pellman, Brittney Ridge, Brittany Talyor and Lindsay Windell.

Intramurals basketball will continue this week with the one-on-one basketball tournament slated for Nov. 6 in the SAC. The three-on-three basketball tournament is scheduled for Jan. 19, and according to Brawner, rosters should be available in early January.

The intramurals basketball league also starts in January and is open to any U of L student, faculty or staff member.

For more information on the Intramurals Department, call 852-6707 or visit http://www.campuslife.louisville.edu/intramurals.