The Indiana Women’s basketball team has garnered a ton of popularity due to the recent success of the team. The team won their first Big Ten Championship since 1983 and has reached the second round of the tournament in three consecutive seasons.
Athletes like Sydney Parrish and Mackenzie Holmes have become stars while their coach, Teri Moren, is a superstar in her own right.
Behind the scenes, this team has worked hard for their on court success with a tough practice schedule that prepares them for the season.
What many people don’t know is that a group of male basketball players that make up ‘The Black Squad’ help the team prepare by competing against them each practice. ‘Black Squad’ players like Gavin Dowell have a similar schedule to the girls but get none of the glory.
For them it doesn’t matter as they just want to do what they can to help the girls succeed on the court.
When Coach Moren is getting her team ready for games, Dowell and his ‘Black Squad’ teammates are studying opposing teams to help the players scout their opponents.
While many schools have practice players for their women’s basketball team, Indiana takes it to another level. Graduate Assistant Madison Green emphasized that when comparing her experience at Indiana to her previous school.
Madison Green, a graduate assistant, spoke about the differences between the practice players at IU vs other schools.
Being a practice player is not an easy job. They work hard studying opponents and preparing for practice to do their best to help the women’s team. Their main focus is scouting opponents to mimic their play style in practice.
The ‘Black Squad’ gives Teri Moren’s squad a chance to see what their upcoming opponents will play like before the game. The practice players help prevent the team from facing any surprises when they get to the real games.
While the ‘Black Squad’ members face a very different challenge than the actual players, they all have basketball experience. Most played at least high school basketball and all tried out to make the cut as a practice player.
Gavin Dowell knew about the opportunity because of his brother who was a practice player at Valparaiso and after seeing a social media post about upcoming tryouts, he knew he had to do it.
‘Black Squad’ member Gavin Dowell, spoke about his basketball experience prior to joining.
Some of Dowell’s favorite memories as a practice player revolve around the team’s success. He recalls battling with Purdue fans at Mackey Arena as one of his favorite memories.
Dowell is a die-hard supporter of the team, who has to save his voice before each game because he will be yelling throughout the entire game.
Gavin Dowell shared some of his favorite moments from his time as a practice player.
Another special moment for Dwell was when the team won the Big Ten Championship. He has put so much time and effort into helping the team prepare, and getting to see them accomplish a big goal is special even if he is only on the sidelines screaming during the actual game.
While it might seem like a thankless job to many, the team recognizes their contributions and the ‘Black Squad’ has been able to to help the Indiana Women’s team accomplish some special feats.
