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vtusnahopeful

5-Year Member
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Nov 9, 2013
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I am hoping to play basketball at USNA and I was wondering what they give you. For example, are you given basketball shoes or do you have to bring your own? Also, how much free time do you get on the weekends? I know you don't get as much liberty as the rest of the brigade, but do you get any time? How much time do you get at home during the holidays?
Thank you!
 
I was also wondering, do basketball players get paired up to room together? Or are they just put in with the rest of the class?
 
vtusnahopeful... I was a women's basketball player at Navy. The experience and time commitments between the men's and women's team is the same. Are you being recruited? Have contacted the coach? If you are not, I am not trying to dash dreams, but give you the truth. It is a long shot to make the team if you are not. While I was at Navy, no walk-ons made the men's team and only 1 women's player did. The men's team traditionally brings in 6-8players a year between direct entries and NAPS. If you look at the roster, there is normally 3-5 players per a class (numbers have been a little off on the mens side lately with new coaches and transfers). That tells you that there is about a 50% attrition rate for recruited players.

More than likely you will not room with a basketball player. At Navy you will live with others plebes within your assigned company. Some plebes have their rooms assigned and other companies will let you select your room mates. Youngster-Firstie year you can pick your room mates. You will spend so much time with your team, I recommend players to not room together. There won't be three of you (normal room at Navy, there are exceptions) and the burden on the third room mate to do it all while you are on the road during the season isn't fair. Plus it helps to get rid of the "athlete stereotype" by roomie with others.

Your liberty schedule will differ from other Mids. During the season you will see very little liberty and leave. I never had Thanksgiving leave, xmas leave was generally 3 days and spring break was only a few days if we got it all. This is D-1 basketball, it is like any other university in the regard to the time commitment. It is a grueling and long season. I can go in depth on out of season and in season schedules if you want.

During Plebe Summer you can sign up for basketball for your sports period. They always need extra bodies for scrimmages. This will really let you know if you can hang with the team or not. Bring your shoes. If you are on the team, you will be issues more shoes, uniforms, shirts, and gear then you can fathom. I think we got 5-7 pairs a shoes a season (I easily could wear out 4 in a season alone), tons of sweats, shirts and other gear. Feel free to ask any other questions or PM me.
 
Thank you! I have not been in contact with the coach yet but plan to. It would be great if you could go more in depth on in season and out of season stuff. As far as plebe summer goes, how much of plebe summer did you actually participate in with the rest of the plebes? I know a lot of sports teams, especially football, "left" plebe summer to be training with their teams. Is this true for basketball? Also, do basketball players get zero term for the summer terms so they can be back at the end of the summer? I am just trying to figure out if Navy Basketball is something I want to look into and pursue, so as much information as I can get would be helpful.
 
An Asst Coach would be very helpful here

for you to get the most accurate picture. An email or quick phone call will work wonders. They can give you a sense of whether to spend one more second of your time thinking about the IC team. As has been said, this is D1, don't think because its a SA that's it any easier. All players are recruited, walking on happens so rarely as to almost not be worth taking up a non-Coaches time. Talk directly to get all the answers you want, they are in the business of being polite, thorough, and honest. Plus, what they say is accurate to the minute. I found SA Coaching Staff's to be honest, direct, and straight forward. Good luck, you will find the level that suits best.
 
Only being a sophomore, when should I make my initial contact? Do they look at sophomores in high school, or do they spend most of their time on the juniors?
 
Most D1 athletes

play their most competitive sports outside of high school. In basketball its AAU. Its important to get hooked up in that space. As HS and College bball season coincide a lot of college recruiting is done out of season. Most sports are like that. That's where AAU comes in, and any other competitive situation you can find. Get a hold of a Recruiting Service, and depending on your location, they can help 'market' you to a wide base of applicable College Coaches. The very top players are ID'd in 10th grade, recruited in 11th, signed in 12th, and play regionally and nationally. Its ok not to be in that top 1%, lots of other opp's for everyone else. ID where you might want to play, location-type of school-schools that have ur major-etc., and then be proactive and reach out to those Coaches. It helps tremendously if you are not a 1%'er to have a highlight video professionally made that you can email to prospective Staffs. Get to high level College Camps, practice, practice, practice. There is a place for all to play at, be realistic, and get some help. A decent place to start is ncsasports.org.
 
As pointguard said, you will know if you are good enough to play at the next level. No need to answer the questions here in this forum, but to answer them yourself: Are you on your varsity team? Are you playing AAU ball? Have you received letters (I can't remember when the NCAA allows contact, but I think my mail after your Freshmen year)? Do you have the size, strength and speed to play D1? It is a SA, but it is also D1 and they want D1 players. There is an proscpective student-athlete questionnaire on the Navy Sports website. Fill that out and send it in. Have you attended a Navy Basketball camp?
 
In season means that you are within the NCAA allowed time frame to have formal practice and/or games. For D1 basketball this is generally mid-October to your last game in March. As you can tell that is a very long season and takes up most of the school year.

Schedule (my times might be slightly off by 30 minutes or so. Schedules do changed and I am sure on one of the Navy sites they have the current times listed):

0530-0700 - Normally this is time for Plebes to do come arounds with upper class, but sometimes there is PT, etc. As a basketball player you won't do the PT. You could have extra practice, conditioning, shooting drills, strength training or rehab if you are hurt during this time.

0700-0730 - Breakfast

0800-1200 ish - Morning classes

1200 ish - 1330 ish - Lunch. During this time you will have film, weight lifting, practice of some sort. Lunch is on the tail end at team tables. We normally had only 10-15 minutes to eat and run to class.

1330 ish - 1530 ish - Afternoon classes

1530ish - 1900 ish - Practice time. Practice is no joke at the D1 level. It is intense, long and physical.

Right after practice you run to dinner. Usually only have a few minutes to eat.

1930 - lights out - study time

As you can see the days are very long and full. Its not like a regular school where you will be taking 12 credits. You will have a few free periods, but not many. You will also miss a ton of classes for games. A D1 basketball schedule is about 35 games a season with half being on the road. It requires a lot of time management to balance it all. As mentioned you will miss most liberty and leave periods. You do not drill while in season. You will have team tables for lunch and dinner. Yes it is nice to not get yelled at while eating. But in reality you really only have a few minutes to eat most of the time with such a tight schedule, you normally aren't hanging out and relaxing much.

As far as plebe summer you will not miss any for basketball. That is only for fall sports and varies based upon sport and where folks fall on depth charts too.
 
Out of season is essentially from Mid-August until Mid-October and then from the end of season until the end of the school year.

Pretty much follow the schedule above, but we did not have practice and team tables during lunch (they might now, we didn't when I played).

Practice time during the off season is regulated by NCAA regs. Essentially coaches can't be a part of it except for regulated small group sessions. Not sure on the current limits, but these were limited to one coach and 2-3 players for 1 hour twice a week. There is a lot of conditioning and weight lifting sessions (these are a lot harder than practice, trust me). You will be pushed in these sessions like no tomorrow. There is also a lot of pick up games. This is the time to also develop and work on things as a player. We did have team tables for dinner during this time. We usually had a little longer to eat than in season also.

As to zero block.... not sure. We didn't have that while I was there. From what I hear, yes it is used by athletes a lot. There are 'perks' to being an athlete at a SA. But the demand is very great. Many players stop playing because they can't handle the academic load or they lose the drive. It is very competitive, even at Navy. A lot of liberty time is spent at practice or at games. Same with leave. Some road trips you arrive back at 0200 in the morning. Yes, you get to sleep through formation, but you better be to class on time. Our Officer Reps and Academic Advisers would proctor exams on the road and we would turn in assignments to them to keep things on schedule.
 
Just a few examples of what it takes...

Right now the women's team is hosting their own tourney. They played yesterday and today. Guess who had practice on Thanksgiving Day and didn't get any leave? Its a choice they all made to play basketball and attend USNA. They knew what they were getting into. When we hosted recruits we always made it very clear (another obligation that takes up a lot of time and liberty is hosting recruits). In 4 seasons at Navy I had Thanksgiving Dinner in 4 states because of tournaments. Our coach always made sure "we earned our dinner" at practice that day too.

A lot of week night games are at 7:30 pm. Guess what most of the Brigade is doing? Studying. For a 7:30 pm game by the time the game ends, treatment and showers and get back to your room it is 10 pm at a minimum. What if you have a test the next day or paper? As you can see time management is so critical to succeeding as an athlete at Navy.
 
They didn't have a problem with it. At any school you will have room mates. Have to learn to be courteous. Plus at Navy you develop an amazing new ability... learn to sleep through anything.
 
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