How ’10th round’ boot camp prepared Wichita State basketball for adversity this season
During the summer when his time coaching was limited on the basketball court, Paul Mills found other ways to prepare the Wichita State men’s basketball team.
For the past five summers at Oral Roberts, director of sports performance Ashtin Meerpohl prepared a summer boot camp of sorts for Mills’ basketball players.
This offseason featured perhaps the most strenuous one yet, given the title of “The 10th round” in reference to the final four-minute “round” in a college basketball game when wins and losses are decided.
“We don’t want to just win games here, we want to win championships, so you’ve got to raise the bar a little bit,” Meerpohl said. “When things get tough, you can’t immediately tap out. It’s unacceptable here. We’ve got a higher standard.”
The five-day camp, held in early September, began at 6 a.m. inside Koch Arena with intense running drills.
On the first day, only two players met the standard.
“It’s brutal, just brutal,” said WSU assistant coach Kenton Paulino, who was also with Mills at Oral Roberts. “On that first day, it seemed almost impossible to them. But by the end, what they thought was impossible, they realized if they push themselves, they’ll get through it.”
Mills and Meerpohl design the first day where failure is typical. They want to see how players respond to adversity.
“We’re not going to wait until the season to find out how you respond to difficult environments,” Mills said. “We’ve got to put you in these situations now and squeeze you to see what’s on the inside. If I squeeze a can of Coke, Coke is coming out. So if we squeeze you and selfishness comes out, we’re not waiting until November to figure those things out.
“How resilient are you? Are you willing to fight through things? We have to make it hard in order to see what hard things you can endure.”
The most challenging part of boot camp came when the players were split into two teams and challenged to five different competitions, which required every player on a side to do their part to help their team complete the mission. The first team to three wins claimed ultimate victory, while the losing team was tasked with more running.
One drill saw the players head to Cessna Stadium to compete in a medicine-ball relay on the grass field. Players had to throw 17-pound balls overhead to one end, then back in a relay competition.
Point guard Bijan Cortes injured his shoulder during the competition but insisted on continuing. Coaches pulled him out of the drill, but Cortes remained on the sideline to cheer on his teammates.
“How many kids would be like, ‘I’m out of here?’” Mills said. “That ability to stay engaged, even when it’s tough, it’s impressive. That’s not easy to do.”
“I want to be a leader for this team, so I just try to lead by example,” said Cortes, who will miss the fall semester. “The 10th round was pretty hard and we went through some stuff for the first time, but that’s where we built that camaraderie.”
Paulino has been on teams before with a lot of newcomers, much like the Shockers this year, where players are hesitant to form early bonds because they feel like they are competing against one another for playing time.
The competition drills during the 10th round helped tear down those walls.
“The first day it was real quiet in the gym because nobody really knew what to expect,” Paulino said. “Then you saw guys open up and start to pull for each other because you needed your teammate to make it through or the whole team runs again. So you saw guys start to pull for their teammates and it brought guys closer together.”
Entering Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. game against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Koch Arena, nearly two months later, WSU players can see the benefits from the boot camp with the team’s culture.
“People wanted to give up because it was difficult,” WSU junior Kenny Pohto said. “That’s when you have to pick each other up and hold each other accountable. It was a great way of building team chemistry and building leadership. That’s really what it was about.”
“It helped us tremendously from a physical standpoint to get us in better shape, but mentally it made sure we have each other’s backs when things get hard,” WSU junior Colby Rogers said. “Not to separate, but to come together. Basketball is a game of runs, so you’ve got to have mental toughness. That’s the biggest takeaway from the 10th round is the mental toughness you need to get through adversity in games because one moment where you lack focus could determine if you win or lose a game.”
Western Kentucky at Wichita State basketball preview
When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita
Streaming: ESPN+ (Shane Dennis and Bob Hull)
Radio: KEYN, 103.7-FM (Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl)
KenPom says: WSU 75, WKU 69
Vegas says: WSU -6.5
Series: WKU leads 3-2 (tied 2-2 in Wichita)
