As Middleview High School's woeful boys basketball team prepares for another certain loss, several unusual dramas take shape around its periphery. Ken, a cantankerous referee, finds himself charged with minding his soon-to-be ex-wife's pomeranian; Brent Davidson, the Middleview Ducks' obnoxious assistant coach, lobbies to install a complex offensive system; third-string point guard Joel attempts to explain existentialism to his teammates; and a group of theatre students plan a confrontational protest after their "post-colonial" King Lear is banned by the administration. —Laura Carlson