For walk-ons, life is all about challenge and opportunity

By ZACH BOND
Northern Colorado Sports Information

GREELEY -- There are certain types of players that almost all successful basketball teams have. For most of those players, fans can easily see what they bring to the table. Most fans easily recognize their team's star players, other starters and even the bench players who enter the game and make an immediate impact in some way.

What most fans don't see on those successful teams, though, are the players who spend just as many hours in the practice gym, in the weight room or sitting in team meetings. On top of that, these players, known to fans as walk-ons, get to pay tuition.

For Northern Colorado, this year's walk-ons are, fittingly, as young as the rest of the roster and consist of a sophomore and two freshmen.

Together, these three unsung and virtually unknown players—sophomore Xzaivier James; freshmen Kendall Godley and Odessa Lear—work behind the scenes to push their teammates to another level.

Walk-ons on teams across the nation are held responsible for being at practice every day and playing with the same intensity every time they step on the court. But many will not see more than a few minutes of playing time this season or sometimes even in their careers.

While fans may not notice the work walk-ons do, a good group can be the difference between success in March and an early end to a season.

"[Our walk-ons help in] a bunch of ways," Northern Colorado coach B.J. Hill says. "No. 1 one is just depth in practice. We try to go pretty hard and pretty physical, and we like to think our practices are demanding, so you're going to get guys banged up and injured throughout the year. The depth [the walk-ons] provide is crucial for us to have efficient practices."

Hill says he aims to be honest and upfront with all the walk-ons and lets them know life won't be easy as in the background of the program. He says the most important thing for any walk-on to have is a passion for the game. He also lets them know that they have a chance, through hard work, to earn a scholarship.

During his six years with the Bears as either an assistant or head coach, Hill has seen three walk-on players earn their way to scholarships. Thanasi Panagiotakopoulos, Terry Anderson and Mike Bedford all came to Northern Colorado as walk-on players and left as accomplished scholarship athletes.

James, a sophomore and the elder statesman of the group, has been tasked with growing up fast in order to give an example to freshmen Lear and Godley. It's James' task to display to them what it's like to be a successful NCAA Division I walk-on.

James, from Greeley Central High School, has done that and more this season, as he even found himself in the starting lineup in an early December game against Johnson & Wales.

Although only a year into Hill's system, James has worked hard and become a leader on the Bears' young squad.

"The toughness Xzaivier brings, specifically, really helps us," Hill says. "He is a very physical kid. He plays the game the right way and plays with all the intangibles. He's been a great asset for us because he never takes a day off.

"That's something we're trying to build as a cornerstone in our program, and to his credit, the things that he lacks, he hasn't stopped working on to try and make himself a guy that sees time in a more regular fashion."

James came into the Northern Colorado program after a stellar career at Greeley Central in which he averaged 12 points and five assists in his senior year. He dished out a total of 127 assists in that final year, breaking the previous assist record at Central held by former Bears' head coach Tad Boyle, largely considered the best basketball player in Greeley history.

In his first season with the Bears, James made his presence felt, surprising some by playing in seven games for a team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament. He also earned the team's Northern Colorado Bear Pride Award at the end of the season.

James says he is proof that Hill doesn't just talk the talk when he says any player who works hard has a chance to play.

"It felt good to start because it just proved to all of us walk-ons that if you work hard, Coach Hill will give you a chance," James says. "After, I just told Kendall and Odessa to work hard all the time and things will work out."

For the walk-ons, working hard means working not only in practice with their teammates, but also individually, when the rest of the team is on the road. Usually not able to travel with the team on road trips, James, Lear and Godley use that time to work on their individual games so they're ready when the Bears return home for practice.

Hill also wants to give walk-ons in his program a better opportunity to get individual help during practice.

"We just met on this the other day," Hill says, "about starting to do individual workouts throughout the regular practice for them in order to keep their skills sharper and try and get them more individual attention.

"Especially when they're freshmen, it can be awful fast for them. Just the fact that they're at the Division I level for the first time, in a new program and new system, it can be pretty overwhelming. That first year is really just an adjustment period in most cases, and so far these guys have done a great job."

As for the freshmen, Godley and Lear have already begun to make the transformation from high school standout to Division I athlete.

And both say they are having a great time learning on the fly.

"I just really love basketball," says Lear, a 6-4 swingman from Denver. "I come every day ready to work, but loving the school is something that really keeps me going when it gets tough."

Lear played high school ball at George Washington High School, and as a senior averaged 17 points per game and helped the Patriots to an 18-7 record. The athletic wing player showed a knack for explosive scoring, as he scored a season-high 36 points in a win against Doherty.

Godley, like Lear, is a 6-4 combo-guard and Colorado native who played for Falcon High School in Colorado Springs. During his senior campaign, he averaged 19 points, five assists and two steals while helping lead his squad to the Colorado 4A boys' basketball championship Sweet 16.

"I really like [Northern Colorado] a lot and I really like the program," Godley says. "For me, it's not about playing time. It's all about the program. I was looking at a lot of Division II colleges, but I wanted to try a Division I school, so that's why I decided to come here."

Hill says he's glad to have both Godley and Lear on his squad and says they both have the potential to earn scholarships.

"What's neat about those two guys is they both have such great basketball bodies. They're both long and have great frames to build on and great skill-sets to build on. It just comes down to how important basketball is to them. If it is that important, they both have the potential to be very good players at this level."