It's Too Easy proved to be too much for its competition as it swept the first three-on-three basketball tournament of the year, with a decisive 11-7 victory over the Dean's List on Sunday.
The score was close throughout the game, but the Dean's List was unable to make the grade once It's Too Easy grabbed the lead and never looked back. Reggie Stovell, a senior center on the Tufts varsity team, explained the reason for his trio's victory.
"It's about consistency on a regular basis," Stovell said. "Everyone played hard out here, but It's Too Easy is just too tough."
The games were half-court, double-elimination battles that had pride and, more importantly, free T-shirts on the line. The atmosphere at the outdoor basketball courts by South Hall was casual and fun. With teams like The Gadd and Balla Status, it was hard not to have a good time.
Rap music thumped softly in the background during the games, and free bottles of water were available to the players. The games were refereed, though there were no signs of foul play. Residents of South Hall watched from their windows, and one group of students even sat on their windowsill dangling their legs in the breeze.
The tournament was completely free for both the players and the fans, and it was open to anyone on campus.
"[A] goal of this tourney is love," said Jamil Ludd, an R.A. at Wren Hall who was a driving force in organizing the tournament. "It's an event for people to play together and compete all out of fun. The main reason why it's free is for the love of basketball."
Tufts Personalized Performance, an organization that brings a greater awareness of health and fitness issues to Tufts through one-on-one personal training sessions, also helped coordinate the successful tournament.
"One of our goals for programming, as residential staff members, is to promote physical activity and health as a way of bringing people together," said Ludd, who played for the runner-up team in addition to organizing the games.
Several teams showed up to play at the 1:30 start time, and more players eagerly surfaced hoping to participate despite the chilly weather. The tournament began as a community builder for Wren Hall residents with eight teams initially signed up, but by the time the games wrapped up at around 4:00, ten teams had signed up and played.
Though the members of It's Too Easy got T-shirts acknowledging their win, everyone involved in the tournament was victorious in some way.
Ludd explained his vision in organizing an event that brought some of the Tufts community together.
"'Tufts' means 'clot,' which is a compact group," Ludd said. "In other words, it means 'community together.' So we're trying to help make a 'tufts' out of Tufts."
Whether it was in bringing people together, giving away free shirts, or just having a good time playing basketball, Ludd's sense of "Tufts" came through on Sunday.
