Monday, April 29, 2013

Scholarships to walk-ons

Occasionally in college basketball you will see a walk-on player be awarded a scholarship. It is rare, but it does happen. In a few cases, the player simply shows that he is indeed D1 caliber and the coaching staff does not want to let him get away. A player’s parents may have the financial means to pay for his college costs, and so he can go to the school where he wants to play, and take a chance on getting a scholarship. Sometimes a scholarship will be unused for whatever reason and a senior walk-on will be put on scholarship in a more-or-less honorary fashion to recognize and reward his dedication to the program, even though, all things being equal, he probably would not have been given a scholarship.

The hard fact is that players who are not signed at some level of D1 out of high school usually did not have D1 skills, and it is very rare that they play their way onto the roster. Any time it does happen, though, it is a very nice story that inevitably leaves a warm feeling with the team and the fan base.

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