Avery Benson slouched at his locker, one hand holding a bag of chips, the other fishing around inside it. His phone balanced on his thigh, white wires leading from it up to his earbuds, as he watched the mid-2000s TV show "Jericho" on Netflix.
But his picture of chill didn't last long before journalists interrupted the Texas Tech walk-on's binge-watching session.
Walk-ons, non-scholarship players who play mostly on the practice squads, prepared for a lot of downtime during the Final Four while their starting teammates were whisked away to news conferences and TV appearances. But they were able to enjoy their 15 — maybe more like five — minutes of media spotlight.
Fellow Texas Tech walk-on Andrew Sorrells brought a book on consuming behavior instincts from his organizational management class to U.S. Bank Stadium on Thursday, as he did during the earlier rounds. But he left it back at the team hotel Friday.
"They said, 'All right, open media for the locker room.' And everyone starts swarming in, and I started to pull out my book," Sorrells said. "And I started getting asked questions. And then I got asked questions the whole time.
"So I was like, 'OK, this is new. I guess this is the Final Four.' Everybody gets asked questions."
Those queries are mostly about the walk-on experience and how these players accept a role with little to no glory. But any inquiry is exciting for players who maybe have given one or two quotes all year leading up to this.
"I got my first interview. I was kind of nervous because, like, it's finally my chance," said Texas Tech walk-on Parker Hicks, who also downloaded the movie "22 Jump Street" to watch during the 1½ hours in the locker room but never had the time.
