It was unclear whether the Stan Sheriff Center court was occupied by basketball players training for a marathon, or distance runners drilling by hooping it up.
Another Hawaii practice nearly four hours in length blurred the line between activities.
In the first two days of 2013-14 full-team sessions, UH coach Gib Arnold has so far taken his team near the maximum length of instruction allowed — even though he’s generally not enamored of the idea.
The NCAA’s new guidelines let teams practice in early October for the first time, but they may only practice five days a week now, not six.
"In all my experience, you really don’t get a whole lot after Hour 3," Arnold said. "But because of how it’s set up, you have 20 hours a week (to practice) but you only have five days to do it. So just do the math. You’re going to have to have some four-hour practices. Which I’m not a big fan of, but I was interested to see how guys responded today. And I thought they responded really well."
Tuesday’s session featured plenty of running off mistakes, especially in the first two hours, then up-and-down fullcourt drills to cap things off.
One possible first five emerged at this early stage.
In one introduction of an offensive set, Keith Shamburger ran the point while shooting guards Garrett Nevels and Brandon Spearman took to the wings, and forwards Isaac Fotu and Christian Standhardinger manned the post. Granted, it was just a glimpse, and subs came in liberally throughout.
First, though, the team’s endurance was tested in the first half of practice when Arnold ran them hard on mistakes in drills — particularly turnovers.
He expressly warned his point guards against dropping bounce passes to the UH centers, Davis Rozitis, Caleb Dressler and Stefan Jovanovic. No leaving your feet before passing, either.
Transgressions meant timed suicide sprints, and even more running if a player didn’t cross each line with his foot.
Before long, ‘Bows were doubled over, particularly some of the big men. But in a few instances, speedier guards Niko Filipovich, Nevels and Spearman helped them finish in time by jumping in when they weren’t required to.
"I think guys responded well to it," freshman guard Jack Hackman said. "I think everybody dug deep when the going got tough. When it felt like you couldn’t go anymore, everybody kept pushing. That’s good to see out of your team."
After the last drill — in which players went up and down the floor with 10 seconds of shot clock to make a play each time, switching from offense to defense rapidly — the team was grateful to have today off.
Arnold owned up to a little premeditation on the punishment he doled out.
"It was actually somewhat planned," he said. "I wanted to challenge the guys mentally today through fatigue. I knew we had tomorrow off. So knowing they were going to have a day off to rest their legs, I wanted to see early on who responded and who kind of shied away. Yeah, today, I knew it was going to be tough and it was meant to be a tough one."
