Fast Break: Hoosiers win it all, swim does not

A duck in a Willamette jersey about to score a goal on the soccer field while the crowd cheers behind them. Art by Wes Mowry-Silverman.

Welcome back, Bearcat Fan! We enter our semester with blissfully sunny (if quite cold) weather and a likely mediocre Fast Break because to be honest, I hardly remember how to write these. My brain probably deteriorated over winter break. Anyway, let’s get on to the news! 

Men’s basketball kicked off conference play at the beginning of this month and have started 3-3 coming off a 67-61 loss at Linfield on Tuesday. Our ’Cats are now tied with the other, worse Linfield ’Cats for No. 4 in conference standings. They now hold as many conference wins as they did at last season’s end.

Women’s basketball, too, began conference play in January and are 2-4 after also losing to No. 1 Linfield 64-54 on Jan. 13.

Men’s swim has yet to win a meet as a team this season. Over the weekend, they battled the Whits in Sparks Pool, losing both meets but claiming some first place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and several individual races against Whitman.

Women’s swim won their first meet in November and have yet to win another, following the trend. Apologies to swim. I am but the humble messenger of the bad news. Such is the life of the Fast Break writer. They also faced Whitman and Whitworth over the weekend and coincidentally also won the 200-yard medley relay vs. Whitman. 

In the wider world of sport: My Bears were eliminated over the weekend by the Los Angeles Rams, who will face the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC championship in Seattle on Sunday. The Patriots will face the Broncos in Denver for the AFC championship on Sunday as well, and the Pats (ew) are looking for a hopefully simple path to the Superbowl following the season-ending injury to Denver’s starting quarterback and Oregon legend Bo Nix. Indiana accomplished the first-ever perfect season in the expanded CFP era after they won the National Championship against Miami on Monday. Congratulations to the Hoosiers! They probably read these.

In the coming weeks: Swim looks to break their losing streak against Pacific and Lewis & Clark at home over the weekend, their last regular season meets before heading to the Northwest Conference Championship in mid-February. Men’s and women’s basketball also face Pacific and Lewis & Clark over the weekend and hope to find some momentum as they hit the mid-ish season mark.