Hoops team has best walk-on tryouts ever
It wasn’t the size of any “American Idol” audition, but 21 players showed up for the annual Utah State men’s basketball team walk-on tryouts Saturday in the HPER.
Out of those who were there, Aggie assistant coach Tim Duryea pulled aside four players (Steve Holland, Mike Cook, Brady Mallory and Rory Patterson) at the end of the hour session and told them he needed to talk to Head Coach Stew Morrill to see what they needed to fill out the scout team.
Duryea said the scout team is especially important to the team because it runs the plays of the upcoming opposing squad.
“It’s a grind,” he said. “Being on the scout team is a mental and physical grind. It’s a thankless job and there is no glory in it. As coaches, though, we appreciate what the scout team has done for us preparing our team for the teams it is about to face.”
The players were pulled aside because of their size or athletic ability.
And as far as size is concerned, Duryea said this year’s group probably has the most size of any he has evaluated in the last three years.
In the past, Utah State hasn’t had to worry about filling a scout team because it had a surplus of redshirts and invitational walk-ons.
“We’ve basically had a scout team within our own team and really haven’t needed somebody in a true walk-on capacity,” Duryea said. “This is what I call a true walk-on situation where we just pick you off the campus. There is a real chance that someone can get in our program.”
Duryea said it helps if those trying out have a high school basketball background or have been coached before and has a high basketball IQ because the scout team has to learn the other team’s playbook.
And as nice as it would be to be on the basketball team, Duryea stressed that the players need to do it for the love of the game and not the hopes of getting a scholarship in the future.
“It isn’t really something you should go into thinking it will lead to a scholarship because with the NCAA rules that limit the number of scholarships, it makes it almost impossible for a true walk-on to ever get into a scholarship position,” he said. “We want to be honest with the guys up front and tell them the realistic side of it.”
He said being on the scout team is a good opportunity for someone who is interested in coaching or wants to see the inside of a college basketball program.
Duryea said he is not aware of any NCAA rules stating that a school must hold walk-on tryouts, but the Aggies do it yearly as a courtesy to the student body.
“Sometimes you get in a situation where you need bodies to fill the scout team or your roster,” he said. “Sometimes it is just a courtesy. It depends on where the program is at. We do one every year anyway.”
Patterson, a former stand-out player for the Logan High Grizzlies, said he felt good after tryouts and did it because he was looking for something fun to do.
While at LHS, he avereage 13.6 points in his senior season, including a 17-point, 11-rebound performance in his final contest.
Duryea is entering his third season with Utah State, with his primary duty being on-campus recruiting.
He came to Utah State from Hutchinson Community College in Kansas where he was head coach. His team posted a 40-25 record from 2000-01 and made back-to-back trips to the Region Six Championships.
Duryea graduated from North Texas with a degree in business administration.
-juag@cc.usu.edu