You've seen them walking around campus, but you probably haven't noticed them. They practice in Pauley Pavilion as often as five days a week, but they don't sport the famed blue UCLA backpacks. They are part of the women's basketball program, but they're men. Who are these mysterious warriors of the court, those who practice but never play and are said to put the "men" in "women's" basketball? Unknown to most except the close followers of UCLA athletics, the women's basketball practice squad, known as the scout team, is a group of approximately a dozen undergraduate male students who practice with the women's basketball team and simulate its opponents. That's right, guys playing with girls. Because of a lack of women on campus able to play at or near a Division I level, nearly all collegiate women's basketball teams utilize male scout teams. Read more...
Photo:
First-year psychobiology student Michael Wong is a member of the scout team that regularly practices with the women’s
basketball players at Pauley Pavilion. The scout team serves to simulate game situations during practice.
