RebKell's Junkie Boards

[summertime blues]

Missouri State, with 11 players on its roster, has announced tryouts for walk-on spots.
http://www.missouristatebears.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/090914aaa.html

One would think 11 would be sufficient. I wonder what Kellie's thought process is here.

_________________
Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

[ClayK]

Maybe just to fire up some interest, generate a couple of stories in the school paper ...

It won't have any impact on the product on the floor, that's for sure.

_________________
Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[Phil]

11 means that if two players have ailments serious enough to miss practice, a relatively common occurrence, you cannot run a proper five on five drill. Adding a couple walk-ons helps ensure that you are always likely to be able to run such a drill.

(Obviously, if a team has designated practice players, other than the main roster, this isn't an issue. How prevalent is that? I know the top teams have practice squads but I do not know if a team like Missouri State has that luxury.)

[summertime blues]

If you read the story, she's also looking for male practice players. Kellie came up from UT, which has had male practice players for years, so I would tend to doubt that she's *just* looking for (female) practice players. She may be trying to toughen up the team.

_________________
Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

[Phil]

I hate it when people comment on an article without even reading the article, and I just did it myself. Ouch. Yes, I see that she is looking for male practice players. That would partially address the situation I mentioned, but my guess is that the male practice players are not at all practices.

I'll add that I am slightly surprised that the request is specifically for "male" practice players. I am fully supportive of the notion that the use of strong and tall practice players can help a team, but why not specify that they want practice players who meet certain height and strength attributes, note that both male and female candidates are acceptable, and if a female meets the requirements, they would be considered.

[GEF34]

As ClayK mentioned the tryouts could be used to generate interest, get the student body talking about the women's basketball team. It certainly doesn't hurt.

As for the practice players comment, some big schools get many, many male students who are interested in becoming practice players, other smaller schools sometimes get 5 male students interested in becoming practice players, and they are not required to attend all practices, plus with school, work and everyday lives they aren't always available for every practice.

BTW practice players are not allowed to travel, where as walk-ons can, so when they are on the road all the walk-ons can run the scout, so the team can get more reps. Of course they probably won't get 5 walk-ons, so some of the team will have to switch over to the scout team, but it does allow for more options.

[ClayK]

Male players are better than female players ... any female who would meet the list of attributes would be on the team.

When Notre Dame won the national title with Ruth Riley at center, the Irish were unbeaten. Somebody asked Riley how it felt to never lose, and she said "Never lose? The practice players beat us every day."

_________________
Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[scfastpitch]

Remember the little backup PG at Louisville a couple of years ago , Shelby Harper . I think she walked on as a freshman and wound up starting some games before that season was over .
Back a few years ago , South Carolina had a player who started out as a team manager , joined the team as a walkon her sophomore year, and was put on scholarship as a senior (and started half a dozen games) .

[summertime blues]

As far as that goes, Tennessee has had a few walk-ons, girls who turned down scholarships at other schools and chose to sit on the bench at UT because their dream was to be a Lady Vol. The two I remember best were Sarah Edwards and Amanda Canon, both known for their work ethic and high GPAs, They both earned scholarships in their sophomore years. They were great crowd favorites and as soon as the LVs got comfortably ahead, the crowd would start yelling for them to be subbed in. Sarah played 3 years and then went on to medical school, Amanda played her full 4 and graduated with a degree in nursing. Amanda's younger sister Abby walked on for a year or two but didn't stay. I don't think we've had any since.

_________________
Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

[loneycafe]

[Phil]

[ArtBest23]

Just a guess, but I think that if they didn't specifically say they were looking for male players, most guys would probably assume that a tryout for the women's basketball team was only for women. If they want male practice players, they probably need to say so explicitly.

[scfastpitch]

Shouldn't be confusing . It's a dual subject headline with a semicolon in the middle . The article references both announcements .

[Phil]