The LSU intramural basketball season may have ended a month ago, but the men’s basketball champions aren’t finished yet. The Monstars, who defeated Sigma Nu A on March 16 to win the men’s basketball intramural championship, competed March 27-28 in the American Collegiate Intramural Sports Regional Basketball Championships.The Monstars finished second in “Magnolia Madness,” losing to host school Mississippi State in the finals of the nine-team tournament. The top two teams from the regional receive a chance to play in the national tournament April 30 to May 2 in Raleigh, N.C. The tournament will feature more than 20 teams from across the country. Each competing school sends their respective men’s intramural champion.Monstars captain Brian Kelley said the talent level of the teams in the tournament was surprising.”I didn’t realize how many good players there were that don’t play Division-I basketball,” Kelley said. “I had never seen that before, so when I saw it, it was cool. It was good to see the competition.”The Monstars had a great showing on the court as three team members were selected to the Men’s All-Tournament Team. Kelley, Kevin Hobbs and Thomas Straughter were selected to the team.Kelley said he believes his Monstars have a good shot at competing well in the national tournament.”We have a good team. We won intramurals here, so we know we have a good team,” Kelley said. “We’ll see what happens.”While the Monstars compete for an intramural championship, UREC continues its busy schedule with playoffs this week for softball, dodgeball and indoor volleyball.Todd Smith, graduate assistant of leagues and tournaments, said playoffs for these three sports will run for a couple more weeks and should be done well before exams. Softball and volleyball have a way to go before narrowing the field, but the second half of the dodgeball final four will be determined tonight, with the championship game set for Tuesday.One of the problems facing playoffs has been the seeding of the teams, Smith said. UREC has received complaints and questions concerning team’s seedings. The seeding is more of a placeholder as opposed to a team’s ranking, Smith said.”It’s tough to compare which teams are better,” Smith said. “If you’ve done well in your division that guarantees you the same time and day to play. Seeds just represent the time slots.”Table tennis and racquetball playoffs also continue to run. Table tennis is down to the final four, and racquetball is left with eight competitors. These tournaments are harder to organize because of the open scheduling, Smith said.”It’s a little bit tougher to report those scores because of the freelance schedule,” Smith said. “We’re trying to wrap up the last couple rounds.”The last event on the schedule for UREC is a badminton tournament. The tournament is set for April 25, and registration is in progress.”I’m not sure how popular badminton is around here, but when we have open night with badminton the courts are always full,” Smith said. ”It’s pretty cool to see.”—-Contact Mark Clements at [email protected].