WASHINGTON – The exhaustion, the fainting, the vomiting and the second-guessing built Marquette. The toughness to withstand late-game comebacks from opponents, and the intense ride through the NCAA Tournament to the Elite Eight is rooted in two weeks of preseason pain, where the Golden Eagles wanted nothing more than to leave the gym but barely had enough energy to do so.

In the two weeks leading up to the start of the season, Marquette head coach Buzz Williams runs his team through a brutal boot camp that leaves his players gasping for air. Conditioning is only half of the purpose, with the other resting in Williams’ desire to build up his players’ mental toughness. At the end of the two weeks, the goal is for the Golden Eagles to reflect back on them and be able to battle through anything.

“It’s what defines us,” Marquette guard Vander Blue said. “If you were to watch how we play defense, how we’re so emotional, it’s because we think about everything we’ve been through, the boot camp. That just defines our team.”

The players don’t use a basketball. Instead they go through an assortment of drills, but mostly, they run. And it forces the players to strategize. The players have to meet a certain time for the conditioning drills, and the time they’re supposed to meet decreases from round to round.

So the slower players, like big men Davante Gardner and Chris Otule, went first. The faster players, including Blue and reserve guard Derrick Wilson, would go last and might have to finish a drill in as little as 30 seconds. No one can leave until everyone’s finished the drills.

“You go through boot camp, in the real world, boot camp’s over,” guard Junior Cadougan said. “You can’t rely on boot camp for the whole year. But you go through it and it’s so hard you refer back to it. You’re like, ‘I went through boot camp, I can go through anything.’”

The players also can’t receive their practice gear from Marquette until they complete boot camp. Until then, they have to provide all their own clothes.

Williams gives his players the first week or so of school to get accustomed to classes and acclimated to college life. After the first week, individual workouts start, and that’s where Williams will condition his players to be ready for the arduous conditioning during boot camp.

Blue said when he first arrived at Marquette, he was still somewhat unaware of how difficult college basketball would be. There weren’t any organized workouts. He could essentially do what he wanted and work out at his own pace.

After that initial time off, though, Williams changed. He transformed from an easygoing coach to an explosive drill sergeant.

“He’s screaming at me, going crazy. He keeps telling me go harder, go harder,” Blue said. “He’s screaming. I’m about to faint. ‘We’re not leaving until Vander finishes.’”

And those were only the individual workouts. Blue still had to go through boot camp.

“Now we have boot camp, I’m like, ‘OK it can’t be harder than individuals. It just can’t be,’” Blue said. “And then the next thing you know, we got to boot camp, I’m crying, I’m like ‘What is this, what did I sign up for. I don’t want to do this.’”

Blue said those two weeks, plus individual workouts, were worth it. He said personally, he’s in the best shape of his life. For the team, though, it builds a mental toughness that helps the Golden Eagles fight their way through the Tournament.

It’s evident in games like Marquette’s second-round matchup with Davidson. The Golden Eagles were down six with 1:10 left in the game, and hit three 3-pointers and a layup to pull out a 59-58 win.

And it’s evident in games like Marquette’s third round matchup with Butler, where the Golden Eagles traded punches for the entire game before pulling away in the final minute to earn the 74-72 win.

“I think it’s where our team is made and those days where you don’t think you’re going to get out of the gym,” guard Trent Lockett said, “you really don’t think you’re going to get out of the gym because no one can make sprints but we find a way somehow.”

Through this NCAA Tournament, Marquette has continued to find a way.

During boot camp, Williams places a bell at half court. At any time, a player can ring it to tap out to rest, but if they do, they have to start the drills all over again. Blue said in his three seasons with the Golden Eagles, no one has ever rung that bell. No one’s been ready to rest.

So far in the Tournament, Marquette hasn’t shown any sign that it’s ready to rest just yet.

If the Golden Eagles survived boot camp, they believe they can survive anything, including this Tournament.

Said Blue: “Without boot camp, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

Published on March 29, 2013 at 5:33 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman