I have a D3 team that runs M2M/Motion. I always redshirt one player but even with only 11 players I feel the minutes the last man gets don't benefit him as much as they could divided among the other 10.

So my questions are... Does anyone typically run a 10 man M2M/Motion team that you use the last 2 roster spots for RS and Walk Ons? What are the pros? and what are the cons?

I was thinking the increase in recruiting AP and money might be worth the shorter bench.

Lots of people do this, with any setups that don’t involve press. If you’re pressing, it’s a little harder, but you can still win with 10 as long as you don’t run FB along with it, and have good position and stamina balance. What I mean is, a team might have high 70s stamina among the 10 they’re going to run with, which would be fine with position and stamina balance; but if the guards are all 85+ stamina, and the 4 frontcourt players are all sitting at 65 or under, you will have trouble. Playing man, this is much less of a problem. With man, slowdown generally covers up any stamina problems you might have at 10, or even less.

I usually run 10. Having a walk on can be very useful for recruiting $.

I run Motion/Man in D2 and agree that running with 10 is a useful strategy, at least for that level. I tend to have one walk-on and one redshirt each year. I love the extra AP and $ for recruiting - even though I haven't used it as effectively as I could/should - and also like the rating/IQ boosts for the redshirt while the rest of the players get more playing time. If you have recruiting classes spread out, no more than 4 in a season, the 1-2 freshman in the depth chart don't hurt the team much.

Agreed with everyone that, for most offense/defense combinations, you only need 10 active players, and you can live with 9 active players pretty comfortably in most situations as well. The extra AP and recruiting/scouting funds can be incredibly helpful, especially at the D1 level with the higher recruiting and scouting funds per open scholarship.

I wouldn't say it's always the best strategy in every situation though, as I do think you can get burned at the higher D1 level running this. If you have some bad recruiting luck and an unexpected early-entry, it can be nice to have a backup options already on the roster even if they don't contribute much to the team's performance as a freshman or whatever. At the D2/D3 level, or if you're just starting out at D1 and don't expect any early entries and are just handing out promised minutes/starts like crazy, it's probably okay to run with two walk-ons.

i agree with what was posted here, too. the extra 2 resources can be pretty huge. i often strongly suggest to folks running m2m/zone who are newer to d1 recruiting to intentionally take walkons, to help get in the mode of battling and dealing with unfilled openings (which will come through the competition and EEs regardless of your intentions).

but for d3, my take is this. more players is going to be better for you, and you mostly want to aim for more players and then use that 10 player allowance as a buffer. its not like you can go around battling like crazy in d3 with that extra money, although i'm sure the resources still help considerably, but you also have more reasons to fill those spots than in d1.

there's a few reasons more depth gives pretty big benefits even in man and zone. the main one is that your 7-10 core players are on average going to be significantly more experienced and more developed, if you are pulling them from a set of 12 players as opposed to 10. also, the same-season benefits are significant if you are playing a bunch of press teams, and especially if fb/fcp teams, which as a d2 or d3 coach is virtually guaranteed. this is more important as you get more and more competitive in the spectrum; going from 10 players of depth to 12 is more valuable when you are going for deep NT runs than going for a NT bids up to S16s.

finally, even with 11-12 scholarship players, you may only have 10 active players if you use redshirts, which i would highly recommend (redshirts are especially great for programs building or rebuilding, and for m2m and zone schemes, so you are hitting both sides of hit), or if you recruit ineligibles in recruiting, which is something you'll likely want to do from time to time (again, ineligibles can be especially beneficial for programs on their way up, and for m2m and zone teams who can much more easily tolerate that non-active year, and you hit both).

in summary - having 10 players is fine - but in your position, i would try for 11-12, and use falling to 9-10 players as a buffer. when you get to d1, you'll have much better reasons to consider taking walkons on purpose.