After seven grueling days, the Kansas men’s basketball team has reached the finish line of their annual training camp.
Barring anything unforeseen, the Jayhawks will wrap up this year’s preseason conditioning after Wednesday morning’s practice.
After Day 1 last week, Kansas coach Bill Self said things “just went well” and he expects the Jayhawks to get better as they go. as the camp progressed.
Junior forward Jalen Wilson said Monday that’s exactly what happened.
“It went really well,” Wilson told the Journal-World. “It’s my fourth now, so I’m pretty good at everything we do and it’s been pretty easy. When I was a freshman I was definitely (less comfortable).
Boot camp is always the biggest test for newcomers, and this year four transfer freshmen, Kevin McCullar Jr. and Wilder Evers.
Junior point guard Dajuan Harris, who is also a veteran of past training camps, said he and Wilson talked about helping new players as much as possible long before the event started.
“Oh yeah,” Harris said. “We just tried to make sure everyone wakes up on time and comes out here and competes. J-Wil and I are just trying to lead the way and help young people get through it all.
The first wake-up calls usually came around 6:30 a.m. and sometimes earlier. Regardless of when the alarm sounded, it was crucial that everyone was in the gym and ready to go by 6:50 a.m. at the latest. Wilson and Harris said newcomers and veterans alike are doing well in this area and it’s clear everyone is ready to put in the work every day.
Boot camp is not about basketball. At least not directly. Instead, it’s about the Jayhawks pushing their minds and bodies as hard as they can so they’re ready to handle the practices and games ahead.
Harris said his favorite part of this year’s session was how hard everyone was working. As defending national champions, the Jayhawks know they have an even bigger target than normal. They also have new memories of what it’s like to reach the top and want to do everything they can to get back there in 2023.
“Even though we don’t do defense or basketball drills, we work here as hard as we can and everyone participates in the conditioning drills,” he said.
For Wilson, it was always the mental part of KU training camp that was the hardest.
“With training camp, you don’t know what’s next,” he said. “But as we went through it, I know every drill, I know what’s coming next, I know the order. New guys are like, ‘Man, I don’t know what’s next.’ But you can understand the kind of wide-eyed look, but everyone’s been good. The energy has been really good. It’s definitely up there with one of the best training camps.
The next key date for the Jayhawks is the official start of practices in early to mid-October. After that, the Jayhawks will host the annual Late Night in the Phog on Oct. 14 ahead of the Nov. 3 exhibition contest against Pitt State at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU would also face Illinois in a so-called “secret scrum” at the end of October. They played a similar game last season in Tulsa, and scrimmages are not open to the public or media, and stats or the final score are not officially recorded.
After all that, KU will open the regular season against Omaha on Nov. 7 at Allen Fieldhouse.