With a winning season behind them, the UAF basketball team stepped off the ball court and has hit the slopes last week.

Senior forwards Ivan Miskovic, a pro skier, and Justin Bourne and Andrew Smith, both pro snowboarders, are spending hours in preparation for the competitive snowsports circuit next winter.

"Jus, Drew and I all got offers from professional basketball leagues over in Europe," said Miskovic," but we knew we could make way more money competing in the X-Games and other events."

Smith said he has perfected his double backflips, Bourne was working on adding a switch 720 (two full rotations) to his bag of tricks, and Miskovic said he's starting to nail the elusive 1080 triple frontflip.

"In Serbia, we did 1080s before breakfast every morning, or we didn't get to eat," Miskovic said. "I was one dizzy Serb!"

"Yeah, I don't know about all that," Smith said, "but having Ivan around definitely pushes it to another level."

"You just have to remember one thing about these guys," said basketball coach Frank Ostanik. "These are just some outstanding athletes, period."

It may come as a surprise, but Ostanik might lose his entire team to snowboarding next year. Kenny Barker, Mike Titus, Andre Moss, Bryan Hamey, Auston Autry, and even hockey player Adam Powell have been practicing their moves at Moose Mountain, a local ski area.

"I'm so fuckin' stoked dude," Autry said. "Check this hat. Bro, tell me that's not the perfect hat to wear when you're hucking off a gnarly booter," Autry said, taking off down the hill.

Bourne summed up the group's passion for the snow nicely: "We've got hops, and whether you're going big on the court or in the halfpipe, it doesn't make much difference. Big is big."