At the tail end of a recent Duke practice, a scrum of blue and white jerseys fought for a rebound under the basket. Neither Alison Bales nor Wanisha Smith emerged with the basketball-Jason Jacobs did.
Just a few minutes later, Carrem Gay made a nifty post move and beat her defender. She elevated for the easy deuce, but the ball was swatted in mid-air-by Leonard Medlock.
These male practice players-two of about a dozen male Duke students who each attend a few women's practices each week-do the on-court dirty work for the top-ranked Blue Devils. They simulate opposing players, execute the other team's plays and run the floor during full-court scrimmages.
In mid-December, however, the NCAA committee on women's athletics issued a position statement calling for the ban of Jacobs, Medlock and their counterparts at other schools across the country from practicing with the women in all sports. The committee cited Title IX as the driving force behind the proposal, claiming the male practice players rob female students of practice time and potential scholarships.
The proposal has not been received well, with the biggest complaints coming from basketball coaches. At Duke, the women's basketball team is the only female team to regularly practice against men.
"It would be a travesty for the game of women's basketball if they ban male practice players," head coach Gail Goestenkors said. "They've become an integral part of what we do on a day-to-day basis.. They make us better because they're quicker, faster and stronger in most cases."
Even if most coaches agreed with the recommendation in theory, they would be hard pressed to follow it in practicality.
While the majority of Division I women's teams use male practice players, they are especially treasured at top programs like Duke. One of the Blue Devils' greatest assets is Bales, a 6-foot-7 center. There are not many people that tall wandering around campus-and there certainly are no other women of comparable height. The practice players, however, are strong and athletic enough to provide a challenge for Bales.
In addition, there are only 11 players on Duke's roster, and forward Chante Black has not played all year due to injury. If one more player were to suffer any sort of minor injury at practice, the Blue Devils would not be able to run five-on-five drills with just their scholarship players.
The stop-gap for Duke's practice problems? Jacobs and Medlock and their brethren.
Both players have long basketball backgrounds, as Jacobs played four years of varsity basketball in high school and Medlock played AAU ball. Before coming to Duke, Medlock's only exposure to women's basketball was the high school games he had watched. He quickly learned that the Blue Devils played at another level. This competition, even in practice, was almost unparalleled at Duke.
"If you like to play basketball, this is the best game you can find at the University, besides the men's team," said Medlock, a senior.
It is not just the basketball itself that motivates the players to take charges and box out in practice, though. Goestenkors and her squad provided Jacobs with one intangible sorely missing in pickup basketball games around campus-camaraderie.
"For me, it's great being a part of the team," said Jacobs, a junior. "The girls are just great girls."
The friendship between the men and women is evident in practice every day. When Emily Waner threw Bridgette Mitchell a perfect backdoor cut in practice, Jacobs accidentally knocked her over, and then offered his hand to help her up. On a foul shot, both Mitchell and Jacobs entered the lane early and struggled to regain their balance, which prompted a shared laugh.
The women have a visible appreciation for the men, and for good reason-during practice, the men are part of the team. When Jacobs and Medlock's team lose a rebounding drill, their squad is forced to run a full-court suicide in less than 30 seconds. The two men run with them, making sure to touch every line and not be the last to finish. They may receive little more than personal satisfaction, but as Medlock said, they do not get any slack.
From the perspective of almost all nationwide coaches, including Connecticut's overtly outspoken head coach Geno Auriemma, losing the male players would be an unfortunate result of bad judgment on behalf of the NCAA committee.
Goestenkors could not think of one potentially positive result of the proposal. The male players, too, are in vehement opposition.
"The coaches have spoken out about it," Jacobs said. "Everyone has spoken out about it, and they are not for it. It just doesn't make too much sense."
The recommendation is currently going through the NCAA's regular legislative process, and NCAA Senior Vice President Joni Comstock said the governing body will work to form a consensus on the issue. The only legislation scheduled to be voted on this year is for Division III. For now, the male players continue to play on.
And for them, the fruits of their labor-evident in Duke's 19-point win over Maryland Saturday-are reward enough.
"You sit in the stands watching the game, and the opposing team's player does the move that you simulated," Medlock said. "And we stop them just like they stopped me-you feel like you've done your job."
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