Boot Camp

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Originally Posted by TheSultan

Yep. I am sure that this team will be a well conditioned as Buzz's despite the lack of a boot camp.

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Agreed. Conditioning and team-building can be accomplished by various means. Buzz just has his method. BTW, boot camp is now underway at Va. Tech.

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Originally Posted by RJax55

There's no way you could directly contribute that to Buzz's Boot Camp. A well-conditioned team is built throughout the year, both during the season and off-season.

The boot camp was nothing more than a team building exercise and marketing tool for Buzz. There's nothing work with that, but I think its a bit silly to think that his one-week boot camp contributed to better performances down the stretch of games.

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Not just Boot Camp, but much of our success was often pointed to as us being the tougher team. Boot Camp was supposedly a part of that. If toughness is truly determined in those last few minutes, in the clutch moments when you have gas in the tank and the other team doesn't, I'd love to see how we did in those last few minutes of tight games to see if we really were generally the "tougher" team.

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Originally Posted by Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"

Not just Boot Camp, but much of our success was often pointed to as us being the tougher team. Boot Camp was supposedly a part of that. If toughness is truly determined in those last few minutes, in the clutch moments when you have gas in the tank and the other team doesn't, I'd love to see how we did in those last few minutes of tight games to see if we really were generally the "tougher" team.

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Again, how could you determine that? What does "tougher" mean? How do you define it? Its such a vague term. Are we talking about conditioning, execution, talent, free-throw shooting, court awareness? All are factors in closing out games.

It seems that you're equating "toughness" to conditioning. The better conditioned team wins more often. Now, that might be the case, but I think its a little more nuanced then that.

For example, take a look at last year's team. They struggled to close-out games. Was that due to conditioning? To me, they look as well-conditioned as past MU team. The program was the same; Buzz, boot-camp, the same S&C team. Why did they struggle closing out games then?

Of course there are lots of factors that contribute to games, and coaching is as much an art as a science. I am sure Wojo will have his team in good shape. But it was something that Buzz really pushed, and it seemed to pay off. OT games are one thing to look at, but also look at how his teams did in close games. They generally closed out pretty well. Even against Wisconsin last year, I thought the game was over three or four times before somebody made a tough play and then someone else forced a turnover, and the game was within reach again. That could easily have been a 10+ point loss. Buzz stressed in boot camp pushing guys to their limits and beyond. I did not actually see any of the boot camp practices, but in one of the videos they did a few years back, he was having them run sprints and then break off into groups that did not divide evenly, so they had to figure out how to do it. The point was to give them some experience thinking when they were tired and oxygen-depleted.

Of course, that did not always work, as those of us who watched DePaul beat us for their only win of the year in a game we had in the bag can attest, but it worked more often than not. And different coaches have different styles. Mike Deane supposedly eased up on practices, and won lots of games by simply out-thinking the other coach. But give Buzz credit for what he accomplished.

Boot camp was physically demanding, no question, but it wasn't just about physical toughness and not running out of gas, it was more focused on the mental aspect of, "when you are completely fatigued, can you still outsmart your opponent? Can you still understand assignments, play calls etc.? Can you play mistake free basketball?"

During boot camp and individual workouts, whenever they got to the point of complete exhaustion, that is where the mental games would start coming into play. Kind of like Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge, "Can you adapt and overcome?" Pretty wild to watch.

I'm always concerned about stress fractures and shin splints with the boot camp type of regimens. Didn't Duane get his stress fracture during the boot camp?

Questionable.

Those types of workouts are more likely to lead to muscle strains and the like more than stress fractures. Todd is likely doing the same exact things he was under Buzz. Pretty common stuff.

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Originally Posted by TheSultan

Those types of workouts are more likely to lead to muscle strains and the like more than stress fractures. Todd is likely doing the same exact things he was under Buzz. Pretty common stuff.

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http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00379

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Originally Posted by CaribouJim

I'm always concerned about stress fractures and shin splints with the boot camp type of regimens. Didn't Duane get his stress fracture during the boot camp?

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I'm pretty sure with proper ankle taping, the addition of ballet to the program and frequent Listerine usage will prevent pretty much anything - stress fractures included. That's common knowledge among MU basketball alums. :cool: