In the Courant, Lori Riley has an excellent piece on male practice players.

At Hartford, Jen Rizzotti doesn't use them because she doesn't want to limit any of her players' practice time. Doug Bruno, however, says that having guys doesn't hurt anyone's development.

Any coach that knows what they're doing, the male players are used maybe 20 percent of the time and they are used against all the players on the team, not just the first five or six.

Pitt coach Agnus Berenato says she needs to use them because her squad is short-handed. And while Coach Harry admits that it affects practice minutes, he says it's worth it.

The kids don't get on the court as many minutes as they would. But I would rather them be on the court lesser minutes and play against faster players.

In the Waco Trib, Jerry Hill discusses the issue with Kim Mulkey-Robertson and Jody Conradt, both of whom use guys in their practices.