Every player has a role

Rick Hall, who played for Rick Majerus at Ball State in the late 1980s, recalls in Coach Majerus' book "My Life on a Napkin" how his coach made sure every player stayed involved in the game -- even the 12th man on the roster.

~~~~~~~~~~

Every player had a role in the game. It didn't matter if you sat the bench, you had a role. Each player had to know a specific play from the other team. As soon as the other team started to run that play, our guys on the bench were supposed to shout it out. They might have a lob play where they run an alley-oop for a certain player. Our guys would be able to identify it by the way the team set up on the court.

I remember how proud [Coach Majerus] was that the last guy on the end of the bench recognized a certain play, and that we were able to stop it. He'd say, "Brian Slick, that was a great read by you. That was really key."

Brian was a walk-on for us who sat the bench. But Majerus recognized his contribution."