Tigers pumped about getting fit
It’s 8:45 a.m. and practice is over. The players already have spent 80 minutes on the court – working, learning, being put through the physical and mental paces by coach Penny Hardaway and the rest of the Memphis basketball staff.
Six of the team’s seven freshmen have gathered inside the D.D. Spurlock Weight Room, where Darby Rich will spend the next 40 minutes carving, chiseling and conditioning the fresh-faced Tigers.
It’s Rich's task to prepare all of them – including the upperclassmen , who will descend upon the weight room almost immediately after the freshmen wrap up – for the demanding rigors of college basketball and the grueling gantlet of big, physical Athletic Conference teams they will begin seeing in less than six months.
“The teams that have won in this league, Cincinnati and Houston and others, they’re tough, physical teams,” said Rich, who was hired about a month ago. “No matter – and this is coming from Coach Hardaway – no matter how talented we get, if we’re not willing to get in there and have physical street fights with those kinds of teams, our talent will only take us so far.
“Right now, our mindset with our practices and conditioning, we have to be the most physically tough team. At that point, our talent will rise.”
‘Some hungry Tigers’
The Tigers’ workout space is about 3,300 square feet inside the Laurie-walton Family Basketball Center and features eight racks, four face-pulls, four versa climbers, four weight benches, four airbikes and a wide array of free weights, resistance bands and exercise balls.
This morning’s session begins in earnest when the freshmen are divided into two groups: James Wiseman, D.J. Jeffries, Precious Achiuwa and Damion Baugh are in one, while Boogie Ellis and Lester Quinones are in the other. Malcolm Dandridge continues to rehab an injury. The first group completes eight reps of chest presses, while Ellis and Quinones tackle a set of pulldowns as Drake’s “Can’t Take A Joke” bangs over the facility’s sound system. And Rich likes what he sees so far. “I like our attitudes right now!” he shouts. “We’ve got some hungry Tiamerican
gers in here today!”
The players are into it, too. They’re all smiling. Clapping. Encouraging the next guy. About 10 minutes into the workout, assistant coach Tony Madlock stops in.
“Keep working, D.J.,” he says with a 21 Savage and Metro Boomin collaboration track echoing throughout the room. Jeffries makes eye contact, smiles and gives Madlock a reassuring thumbs-up.
A few minutes later, they’re through with the dumbbell presses for the day. Rich grabs the dry-erase board he uses to keep track of the players’ progress. Wiseman started with a pair of 60 pounders before finishing with 75 pounds in each hand.
“Right now, James is already stronger than people would think (just by) looking at him,” Rich says.
The right mindset
A major component of Rich’s strength and conditioning philosophy is engineering workouts so they don’t feel like a workout to the players. Rich is a former player who spent five seasons at Alabama. As a senior, he was one of three co-captains alongside former NBA stars Latrell Sprewell and Robert Horry.
“When we’re doing certain movements in the weight room, I don’t want them to think we’re in the weight room,” he said.
Rich quickly pivots, lest anyone think Memphis is employing gimmicky, basketball-specific training.
“I don’t want them thinking we’re lifting a bar," Rich said. "I want them thinking we’re going up through traffic trying to get an and-one. If we’re working a lateral lunge, yes, we’re holding a dumbbell or a barbell. But what I want them course of eating right and training right, if he gains weight and his vertical goes up an inch or two, that’s perfect.”
Jayden Hardaway
“I’ve been really surprised and impressed with Jayden from Day 1. Really good athlete. Really hard worker. If anything, I’d like to see him come out of his shell as a person. It’s almost like maybe being the coach’s son, he feels like he can’t step out. But his work is really good. At the rate he’s working, there’s no reason he can’t step out of his own shoes and challenge guys to work as hard as he is.”
Tyler Harris
“I think everybody in our program, we would just like to see his work capacity thinking is this is your first step. You’re doing this to get by somebody or to get in front of somebody.”
Everything starts with the core
While beefing up in the arms and shoulders is necessary, Rich spends the majority of this workout – and most others in June and July – focusing on improving the team’s core strength. Hips. Back. Mid-section. Legs. That’s where it all starts for basketball players.
“The hips and core have to be super strong,” Rich said. “Any explosive movement a basketball player makes, whether it’s a defensive slide guarding the ball or jumping or whatever, it all comes from being powerful in the hips. The be greater. He likes to play basketball and score the basketball. But from a strength and conditioning sense, we would like to see Tyler get stronger and gain some more weight as long as it doesn’t cause him to lose any amount of quickness. We want him to be powerfully quick, where he can play through contact, stay in front of his guy. All those things will help his minutes on the floor be more productive.”
D.J. Jeffries
“He’s a little different than the rest of them. He doesn’t have a lot of previous training in terms of strength and conditioning. So we’re spending a lot of time with him. Teaching him how to sit down in a good squat. Teaching him how to move while at the same time helping him make strength gains.”
Alex Lomax
“He’s done a good job so far. I think if he continues to trend his body up, he’ll be fine. We’re working on his body composition. We’re working to make him more explosive. He’s got the shear athleticism. If he’s a little leaner, that makes him quicker.”
Isaiah Maurice
“We think Isaiah needs to get a lot stronger. Hopefully that strength will give him a greater physicality on the floor.” first thing we want to do is strengthen those areas so guys can be more powerful and explosive. And with that comes better quickness and things of that nature.”
Memphis, like much of college athletics, uses social media to showcase various aspects of its program. In recent weeks, fans have been given glimpses of the Tigers’ offseason workout regimen. Hardaway himself posted a 31-second video on Instagram last week of his players running wind sprints up Beale Street Landing at Tom Lee Park. It has more than 81,000 views and counting. A 52-second video clip, posted on Twitter last week, of the Tigers going through drills in the sand has 63,400 views, 513 retweets, 2,833 likes and 70 comments at last check.
“Everybody looks at the pictures and wants to see arms, abs and shoulders,” Rich said. “What I want to see is guys that can stay in a stance and big men that can switch onto a guard off a ball screen. Guys that can get balls off the top of the backboard. Or, guys that want to get into a war with both feet on the ground.”
So, on this day, Rich spends the rest of his time with the freshman group working on its foundation. Resistance bands are first, followed by medicine ball up-downs.
“I want your feet straight ahead. Lock in,” he tells the players with a Tee Grizzley (featuring Lil Yachty) song setting the tone. “Short, choppy steps the whole way down. Almost like you’re rocking. Down and back. Every little step matters!”
Quinones claps his hands and shows why some of his teammates already have identified him as a vocal leader.
“Let’s work. Gotta work,” he shouts. “Work!”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
“Coming off the broken foot, he just needs to work on his body composition. He’s lost weight, but he’s still about 8-10 pounds over where we want him to be. Lester is really, really strong already. He’s going to be a powerful player. I think as he trims down and gets his body fat down even lower, that he’ll keep his strength and remain just as explosive. He will be fun to watch over the next couple years.”
Lance Thomas
“He needs to keep getting bigger and stronger. He has narrow shoulders to begin with so I would like to see Lance put on some hypertrophy in his shoulders and back side. Playing for coach Hardaway, he won’t make his living shooting 3-pointers. He’s got to get in and battle and take rebounds away from guys. If he’s a bit stronger and able to play through contact, it will make him much more valuable.”
James Wiseman
“He’s got a lot of physical gifts that are just God given. But he’s probably got a 32-inch waist. Broad shoulders. Good legs. There’s not much piecing those two things together, though. So we’re really working with James on his core strength. His hips, lower back. We’ve got to tie together those unique qualities he has to make sure it all functions as one. He’s coming in extra on days off to do extra core work to make this happen because if it’s not all tied together in a good package, stuff will start to chip away.”