Kansas Basketball 50 in 50, No. 35: Boot Camp Begins and other Assorted Stuff

50 in 50 is a feature here at RCT counting down until the Jayhawks kick off the 2011 basketball season on November first. Got an idea for something you'd like to see featured here? tweet @rockchalktalk or @fetch9 or email me at fetch9 at gmail dot com.

Yesterday the KU basketball team began its infamous two week conditioning drills known affectionately as boot camp. I took part in my fair share of conditioning for basketball, but something tells me middle and high school conditioning is a teensy bit different than at a major Division 1 program. The camp begins at 6 AM with "sprints, defensive slides, backboard touches and more sprints for 50 minutes or so ... with no basketballs in sight."

Then, of course, they get right back at it in the afternoon with more individual work and lifting. I briefly thought about trying to talk the coaches into letting me do this as a writing assignment for RCT but I am assuming the university wouldn't want a wrongful death lawsuit on its hands.

My favorite three nuggets are as follows:

• Tyshawn Taylor said that a lot of guys are a bit sicker and more banged up around this time than in other times. Sounds like 99% of people I played sports with (including me, of course).
• This is Conner Teahan's 5th boot camp. Now that's a masochist.
  
• Marcus Morris told Freshman Merv Lindsay "they are going to kill you." Sounds like a great time.

Other goodies after the jump:

• The latest excerpt from Beyond the Phog was released, involving Wayne Simien. 
• Ben McLemore and Jamari Traylor haven't been cleared to practice by the NCAA yet, but Bill Self says he doesn't expect it to take as long this year as it did with Selby last year, and expects them ready to go on Late Night.
• At that same link, several of the participants in Legends of the Phog tweeted about the experience, with Paul Pierce saying we have the best fans in the world, and Wayne Simien remarking that Allen Fieldhouse is the best venue in college hoops. Nothing we don't already know.