MADISON, WIS. ? When Scot Vesterdahl, the basketball coach at Madison Area Technical College, opened the gym for tryouts, he knew Brandon Watkins would have his work cut out for him.

Watkins was born with three fingers on each hand. Then Watkins took off his sweats, and Vesterdahl did a double take: Watkins was standing on prosthetic legs.

“When you look at him it’s an inspiration to see a young person that’s going through those kinds of challenges,” Vesterdahl said. “When you think about it, it’s not about putting your shoes on for practice, it’s about putting your legs on. And that in and of itself is fantastic.”

But did he have game? And could he actually play junior college basketball?

“Every time I’d seen him, he either had sweat pants or pants on, I had no idea. You could obviously see his hands and his fingers and the challenges he has there, but I had never seen the prosthetics until the first night of tryouts,” Vesterdahl said.

Watkins was born with clubbed feet so disfigured doctors had to amputate them below the knees when he was 2. His prosthetics are decorated now with the landscapes of New York, Chicago and Seattle. But that wasn’t what drew everybody’s attention.

Watkins hustled up and down the floor. He stayed with his man on defense, he could jump, he could shoot. If he hadn’t shed his sweat pants, nobody ever would have known he didn’t have legs, Vesterdahl said.

That night, Vesterdahl and his assistants began to seriously consider Watkins for a roster spot, and by the second night of tryouts, they decided he would make the team.

“Does he deserve it? Yes, he does,” Vesterdahl said. “Just based on hustle, how he got along with his teammates, attitude on the floor, all those things. Besides, he has basketball ability.”

Co-captain Jacob Keller calls him a “true inspiration.”

“He’s always the first one to compliment us, he’s always the first one off the bench when timeouts are called,” he said. “And when he gets in a game and makes a shot, it doesn’t matter if it’s an away crowd or a home crowd, they all stand up and cheer for him.”

The WolfPack reached the playoffs with a 22-5 record and Watkins played in half the games. Overall, the 6-foot-1 freshman forward made 5-of-9 shots, including four three-pointers, in addition to five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

“At the end of a game, if he gets in, if he makes a basket, you would think we’ve won the NBA championship,” Vesterdahl said.