Dallas native Scott Green '05 is no stranger to disappointment or determination. After being cut from the men's basketball team during tryouts his freshman and sophomore years, Green finally managed to secure a spot on the 2003-2004 team last August. Green's dream has always been to play college basketball and for the two years prior to making the Brandeis team he worked non-stop to overcome the obstacles in his path.
One major roadblock was former Brandeis head coach Chris Ford. When Green tried out his freshman year he was cut early on. Green felt that Ford had overlooked him because he had not been recruited and therefore assumed he did not play at a high enough level. Even Green questioned whether or not he was good enough for the team. Current teammates believed that at that time, Green was a longshot to make the squad.
"He was this scrawny guy with a big heart," Omri Ayalon '05 said.
The following summer Green gained weight and trained hard to become a better player. But once again, his basketball hopes were dashed by the coach. When Ford called Green into his office he made it perfectly clear that he had no interest in Green as a player, even suggesting that Green would do better to pursue academia instead. Ford had no constructive criticism for the team hopeful, only harsh words. Green's frustration was compounded by the nagging feeling that Ford had disregarded him and had just presumed that he was the same player as the year before.
"Ford said some mean things that I will never forget. [His harshness] inspired me to prove him wrong," Green said. While Ford's impressive history in basketball suggested to Green that perhaps he didn't have what it took, Green didn't want to let one person get in the way of his dream.
He spent the spring and summer leading up to his junior year training intensively for tryouts. He gained ten pounds and spent day and night running, playing ball or working out at the gym in addition to working part-time for his father.
Towards the end of the summer, Green heard the news that Chris Ford had resigned from Brandeis to take the position of assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers. "My friends were calling a lot to see how happy I was," Green recalled, "I felt this was my chance to get a clean slate." - and perhaps a position on the team.
Going into tryouts at the beginning of the year Green felt good, but was still unsure of what would happen. At an initial meeting, Brian Meehan (Ford's accomplished replacement) announced that things on the team were going to change, and that each person would be starting over and would have to prove himself. Meehan's statement was just the encouragement Green needed: "I felt that this time I might actually be looked at," he said.
Throughout the tryouts, Green's goal was to work harder than everyone else. He was determined to "make the coach's decision for him. I didn't want to waste this opportunity, I wanted to use every chance I had," he said. Each time his phone rang, Green prayed it wasn't an assistant coach calling to cut him from the team.
On the final day, Meehan pulled Green aside and commended his hard work. However, Green's fight to make the team was hardly over. At the end of the day, the players performed an exercise where each player would shoot two free throws. If he missed, the whole team ran a sprint. On Green's second time at the hoop, Meehan took the ball from him and asked Green how badly he wanted to be on the team. "Very, very badly," Green replied. Meehan responded by telling him that that if he made the next two free throws he was on the team, but if he missed even one, he would be cut.
The rest of the players were stunned by the pressure Meehan had put on him; however, Green concentrated on remaining calm. "I was just so happy that my fate was finally in my own hands. I also kept thinking 'If I miss this shot I'll kill myself!'"
After sinking the first free throw, the team clapped and cheered while Green dribbled in preparation for his second. He took his shot and made it. "The whole team ran and tackled me - they were so excited! At the end of practice the coach told everyone to congratulate me [on making the team]."
"It was something like out of a movie. You have this guy saying after this grueling practice saying if you hit these two free throws you're on the team," Ayalon said. That's something Scott had envisioned in his mind, that scenario. Once it happened he was ready for it. While it was said in a half joking matter, he took it seriously and made the team."
While the men's basketball team did not have the season they would have liked, Green had a great time being a part of organized ball after three years on the shelf. Green didn't begin as a starter, but he saw his role as being the player who sets the bar for effort, ensuring that everyone works as hard as he does. "Other teammates look to me to make sure that I'm working harder than they are," Green said. "If I'm not helping the team get better then I'm not doing my job."
As the season went on, Green was gradually given more and more court time. During a game about half-way through the season, the Brandeis men were down in the game and losing momentum. Meehan put Green and other reserves in the game and pulled out a win for the team. As a result, Meehan had the usual bench start the game against Washington University, where they played well. After that Green started getting 10 to 12 minutes of playing time here and there and was eventually put in the starting line-up for the last several games.
Green is taking everything he learned this season back with him to Dallas for the summer so he can work on his ball handling, strength and speed. No one is guaranteed a spot on next year's team so Green is hoping that all of his work will once again pay off.
For Green, playing on the Brandeis team was everything he imagined. "Every single practice, every game, every time I wear my jersey I feel that I have to be the hardest worker," Green stated. "[being on the team] was so satisfying because the easiest thing I could have done is give up.