The numbers were stacked against Kansas University’s student body in trying to garner a walk-on spot on the 2004-05 Jayhawk men’s basketball team.
Realizing the Jayhawks have a whopping 17 players on their roster, just 14 prospective players showed for walk-on tryouts Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
None of the walk-on hopefuls impressed enough to be invited back.
“Like we told the kids beforehand, this is a tough year to get one of the walk-on spots,” said KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend, who put the 14 players through 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 drills and scrimmaging.
“After 20 minutes, I called the kids over and said, ‘You guys are going 1-on-1. You think that impresses the coaches, but it doesn’t,'” Townsend said. “After that, they really did a nice job of sharing the basketball. Only a couple of them were in great shape, but they worked very hard while they were out there.”
Brett Ballard, a former KU walk-on, now an administrative assistant on the KU staff, talked to the players after the tryouts.
“Brett told them, ‘Don’t give up. Stick with it,'” Townsend said.
Case, a sophomore guard from McAlester, Okla., is a strong red-shirt possibility, while Vinson, a junior walk-on guard from Lawrence, is not expected to be in the rotation.
Galindo, meanwhile, is a freshman shooting guard from Puerto Rico, who had been expected to play major minutes this season.
“Alex is about half speed,” KU coach Bill Self said of the 6-foot-7, 205-pounder, who has been relegated to shooting on the side and doing some individual work since incurring a groin injury at Late Night in the Phog. “He is missing so much time, it’s going to be hard to catch up. We’re a little concerned he’s falling behind.”
Galindo, who will continue daily treatment in the hopes of getting on the court soon, is not a red-shirt possibility because he played in KU’s exhibition games in Canada.
Pocius, who visited Kansas for Late Night on Oct. 15, was in Durham, N.C., last weekend for the Devils’ annual Blue-White scrimmage.
“They actually have more playing time at Duke than they do at Kansas,” The Holderness School coach Jamie Gallagher told rivals.com. “(Kansas) has more players on the wing, and Duke was looking for someone out there. It worked out nicely.”
It is believed KU, which has filled three of four scholarship slots for the Class of 2005, ultimately decided to go in a different direction and not tender an offer to Pocius.
“I think he has a lot of potential to play well at Duke. He loves to shoot the ball and push it for that up-tempo style that they run as a team,” Gallagher said.
KU, which has four scholarships available in the Class of 2005, has received commitments from Mario Chalmers, 6-1, Anchorage, Alaska; Micah Downs, 6-8, Bothell, Wash., and Julian Wright, 6-8, Chicago Heights, Ill.
The two former Jayhawks survived last weekend’s Knights tryout session. The Knights have signed just one player for the upcoming season, Joe Crispin of Penn State.
