Walk-ons

[Texas Western]

We have 11 players for practice with Luke and Wally. So from that perspective we don't need a walk on. Yes we are thin if there is an injury, but I think the players would prefer to soak up as many minutes as possible.

I think there needs to be some further clarification as to what a walk on is. Most " walk ons" are invited to play on the team but there is no open scholarship for . Michigan State has done this for years as there are some kids who love the school and want to part of it. Sometimes they turn into key role players, the way Austin Thornton was for MSU a few years ago. Sometimes they are just practice players.  Many times, these are highly motivated academic kids, who love the sport and want to be true student athletes. Other times they are kids who are low D-1 or D-2 who want to be part of a high D-1 experience. In most cases they are pre identified. I think over time , Wojo will  see the benefit have a few of these players on the team, rather than having a disgruntled recruited kid leave because he is the 13 player on the roster. Marquette is a popular school so I can see something like this evolving with kids from the region. Particularly ones with size.

[Brewtown Andy]

We have 11 players for practice with Luke and Wally. So from that perspective we don't need a walk on. Yes we are thin if there is an injury, but I think the players would prefer to soak up as many minutes as possible.

I think there needs to be some further clarification as to what a walk on is. Most " walk ons" are invited to play on the team but there is no open scholarship for . Michigan State has done this for years as there are some kids who love the school and want to part of it. Sometimes they turn into key role players, the way Austin Thornton was for MSU a few years ago. Sometimes they are just practice players.  Many times, these are highly motivated academic kids, who love the sport and want to be true student athletes. Other times they are kids who are low D-1 or D-2 who want to be part of a high D-1 experience. In most cases they are pre identified. I think over time , Wojo will  see the benefit have a few of these players on the team, rather than having a disgruntled recruited kid leave because he is the 13 player on the roster. Marquette is a popular school so I can see something like this evolving with kids from the region. Particularly ones with size.

Depending on whether they want to take on the price tag to do so.

[Nephew]

Do any current students know whether there were tryouts for walk-ons prior to the season?  If they did have tryouts, maybe the coaching staff just didn't see anything they were looking for.

I doubt that Wojo has philosophical opposition to walk-ons, but Coach K/Duke's philosophy towards them might shed some light on the issue.

[bilsu]

I suspect that if we need a body for practice, that Diener could play. It could be more of an issue this year, but an MU player rarely fouls out. I would guess that under Buzz that there were less than 10 players fouling out in 6 years.

There was noboby close to fouling out in the Ohio St. game.