It’s that time of the year again: Night League playoffs. New Trier’s Wednesday night intramural basketball league has entered its final stretch.

As postseason play begins, some players reinforced the idea that Night League is all about having fun and demonstrating good sportsmanship.

“It’s not about wins and losses. It’s about friendships made and strengthened,” said Will Rossi, who plays for Swishmas.

Some players value Night League more than others. Senior Grace Hemmer considers Wednesday nights the best night of the week. Hemmer is on the team Kiss my Pass and is committed to play lacrosse next year at the University of Michigan.

Despite her devotion to lacrosse, however, Hemmer can’t resist a good basketball game.

“Night League is my favorite hour of the week,” said Hemmer.

Hemmer’s teammate, senior Madi MacRitchie, was very hopeful for Kiss my Pass’s chances in the playoffs, setting her sights on the trophy: the Golden Shoe.

“Our team has a good shot at the Golden Shoe. We are tied for second going into the playoffs,” MacRitchie explained.

Seniors Natalie Moag and Kathleen Milan are members of LeBrontourage. Moag had hope for LeBrontourage in the playoffs, as long as the whole team shows up. Milan, on the other hand, was not as hopeful.

“I’m not even sure we’ll make it to the playoffs to be honest,” said Milan. Regardless, the LeBrontourage competitor understood the true meaning of Night League.

“You can make Night League as serious or laid back as you want it to be,” said Milan.

Girls leagues only have one playoff bracket; seniors and juniors play in one league while sophomores and freshmen make up a second girls league.

On the other hand, boys have a league for each grade, and there are two playoff brackets within each league: the Gold bracket (top half of the league) and the Silver bracket (bottom half of the league).

Senior Billy Cremin, widely considered the vocal leader and star of Cremin’s Tub, was very confident in his team’s abilities.

“I guarantee ‘CT’ will win the Silver bracket this year,” said Cremin. Cremin’s Tub is a sleeping dragon that just got woken up,” Cremin added.

Senior Charlie Pearlman, on team GIP (Get It Poppin’), disagreed with Cremin.

“It looks like we lucked out to be one of the top teams in the Silver bracket, as opposed to one of the last in the Gold,” said Pearlman. “So we expect to win the Silver.”

Senior Charlie Goldberg, also on GIP, explained that GIP is really trying to establish itself as the premier Night League program.”

Pearlman did admit that GIP does not possess immense basketball skill, but is up for having a great time every Wednesday night.

“It ends up being us just having a lot of fun, and getting amped to rep the ‘GIP’ nation,” Pearlman said.

Pearlman and Goldberg’s team name is inspired by “Get It Poppin,” a song by the artist Fat Joe, and according to its players, it also serves as GIP’s team and life motto.

In the sophomore bracket, Charlie Burton, of the U, was confident that his team would be successful for the second time this year.

“I expect to win the playoffs, because we won last year and want to do it again,” said Burton.

Sophomore Jack Raith, a rival of Charlie Burton’s, is on Loyola Girls Basketball. Raith simply said, “I expect to dominate.”

Raith’s teammate, sophomore Kevin Donahue, had a more philosophical approach towards their playoff chances that proved to be in line with his team’s name.

“At the end of the day we know that God is going to take care of us and get the win,” Donahue said.