Imagine practicing and training six days a week and up to four hours a day for a Division I sport and hardly be given the chance to perform in game action. That is what DU men’s basketball player Brian Giometti and numerous walk-on athletes around the country go through every year.

“As a walk-on, it basically translates into being a practice player and your job is to make sure that the guys that play are ready to go for the game. You got to bring it everyday,” said the San Diego native.

“He comes to practice every day, works just as hard as everybody else. The only difference is he is not on scholarship; we treat him no differently than any of the other guys,” said interim-head coach Kevin Reynolds.

Giometti started dribbling the leather ball and swishing through the hoop during elementary school. Then he realized he had some talent and took it to the high school level where he played three years of varsity for Francis Parker High School.

During his senior year of high school, Gio met with his college counselor and she recommended visiting DU. He came to Denver with his dad and met with the coaches, who said he would have a chance to get onto the team.

“Of course you want to be a scholarship player; nobody wants to pay for tuition. When it came down to it, my options were limited and this [DU] was my best opportunity and I took it,” talking about why he chose Denver.

Life as a college basketball player has not been easy for Giometti, who saw action in just four of the Pioneers 31 games last season. He played all of seven minutes combined in those four games and scored five points and recorded one assist, rebound and steal throughout the season.

“It can be real tough sometimes, especially if we are struggling, you just got to keep working hard and hopefully when the opportunity presents itself you can take advantage of it.”

Struggling is definitely what DU has been going through this season as they are currently 4-21 and in jeopardy of amounting the least amount of victories in DU Division I history. Even during the tough times the sophomore has still managed just 12 minutes in seven games, scoring two points and recording two assists.

“I haven’t given him the extra time in the games, that is the unfortunate part of it, but it says a lot about him, though. He doesn’t hold that against the coaches or the team,” Reynolds said.

Last season, Giometti said that he was still trying to get caught up with the college game, but has said that this season he is ready to go.

“This year they have been telling me that they are not going to discriminate against me because I am a walk-on; if you are going to give us the best chance to win, then you are going to go into the game.”

The limited minutes have not put a damper in his playing experience.

“It has been a lot of fun, it has been a great experience, there are ups and downs, but definitely an experience that I will hold for the rest of my life.”

Giometti is a six foot guard, who is quick and can shoot the ball well from the outside, a fact he’s proven while averaging 14.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game as a senior in high school.

“I am a pretty good shooter, I can knock down open shots given the opportunity and also I go 100 percent every day.”

Not only is Giometti talented on the court, but he also flashes his skills in the classroom with a 3.8 GPA.

“Brian is a great guy, very good person and that is the first criteria to being a walk-on, second thing is he is a good player, he just doesn’t get the chances that the other guys do,” said coach.

The DU men’s basketball staff holds open tryouts the first couple weeks of school for any Denver students to try-out. The staff typically takes one walk-on per season.

“If you look across the country, if walk-ons do get a chance to play it is usually in their junior or senior year, it’s one of those things where Brian has to wait his time and hopefully next year or senior year he gets his chance to be an integral part of the game action,” said Reynolds.

As you can see, being a walk-on is no easy task and Giometti has made the best of his time on the DU basketball team.

“We are very grateful that we have a guy like Brian on the team, most teams aren’t as lucky to have a guy like him on their team,” said Reynolds.