What UConn men’s basketball is really like

Let’s start by acknowledging that yes, I’m on the men’s practice team and I really do look like this:

I know—it doesn’t make any sense.

But, you probably want to hear about the inner workings and behind the scenes of the best basketball team in the country! Sorry to disappoint, but I’m a practice player for the men’s team, not the women’s, so we’ll have to settle a little.

What’s a practice player?

In addition to learning that my friends don’t really care what I have to say if its not about the basketball team, I’ve also learned a little bit about what goes on at practices.

First, let’s get something straight: I’m a practice player, which is a full step below a walk-on, and a good few-steps below an actual player. On my first day, when I asked if I could shoot around, I was harshly told:

“No. Just don’t touch a ball, and you won’t get in trouble.”

Since then, I’ve been given more rights and responsibilities, but I still don’t get to use the player locker room. Instead I must make the pilgrimage to Gampel’s moist and murky basement, where my gym locker resides. Once I walked by an old dude taking a shower—it was not my best day.

UConn country club

But seriously…what goes on in practice, huh? Well first we shoot around before practice, then we do some drills for a few hours, then we shoot around after practice. It’s not much different from a normal high school basketball team practice, except every player is a seven-foot tall athletic god sent from the basketball heavens instead of some scrawny pimply kid from your fourth period class.

After practice, all the players are invited up into the second floor of the brand new, million dollar, state-of-the-art Champions Center for a catered meal. What is this mystical food exactly? I haven’t gotten close enough to get a good look, for it’s a mystery only revealed to the actual players. All I know is that the food comes in these beautiful white containers that I can only presume contain the most delightful and delectable of treats.

If that’s not convincing enough that they’re living the high life, let’s continue with an explanation of the team’s “shoe selection process”. They are all given a choice of brand new shoes. I’m not talking about Sketchers or Geox (I’m legally obligated to tell you that Geox are “the shoes that breathe”), but rather they are given new Kobe’s or Lebron’s, for free. Each player receives a white pair and a dark pair, for home and away games respectively.

Kevin Ollie is chill

Let’s get back to the actual meat of what is happening during practice, though, shall we? After about 20 minutes of joyful shoot around, Kevin Ollie will quietly walk in, blow his whistle, and like clockwork the team will immediately being running laps around the court. Then, the real work starts: through a series of drills focusing on developing the team’s offense, defense, and rebounding, each player’s work ethic is put to the test, and sometimes the team falls short.

One particular practice included a layup drill, in which the team was consistently falling behind, it became clear that the typically calm and collected K.Ollie had to step forward to confront his struggling soldiers.

“I can’t tell you the same things everyday! If we want to beat the good teams, if we want to make it to [the final four], you have to want to work hard. Someone’s gotta step up and be a leader!

I know what it takes, trust me, I’ve been there, and I know how hard it is.”

Recalling last season’s late game woes, Ollie asks, “how many games did we lose in the last seconds last year? Goddammit!”.

Ollie’s plea for a player to inspire and to motivate the rest of the team is answered by the quiet Daniel Hamilton. The sophomore doesn’t say much with his words, but does a hell of a lot of talking with his competitive nature and contagious energy that is apparent throughout practice. Clapping, patting guys on the back, and a fierce intensity that matches coach Ollie’s tone is a perfect way to get the team back on track. They resume the lay-up drill. This time, almost no lay-ups are missed, and the team moves on with practice.

Funny business

Every player is putting in individual efforts to make the team better. However, the constant hard work must be offset with some joking around, after all, they are there to enjoy themselves. This can take the form of freshman guard Jalen Adams and center Phil Nolan having to be separated by coaches for joking around too much, which admittedly, was kind of cute. Or coach Ollie challenging Daniel Hamilton to a three-point shooting competition, and winning, twice in a row! That’s right, the man’s still got it, and he’s not shy about trash talking. It was a beautiful sight, mostly because of the pure exasperation on Hamilton’s face.

Even I get involved in the fooling around by playing short games of one-on-one with some of the players. I have very little hopes of ever scoring on any of them, except for Cornell transfer Shonn Miller who I could take any day of the week. I’m kidding of course, but he did call me “lil Dyl” once, to which the starting point guard Sterling Gibbs responded “man, don’t let him call you that”.

“It’s okay,” I tell him, “I’ll let it slide”, as if I have a choice. Other daily shenanigans of the team include poking fun at any player who misses a dunk, Rodney Purvis teasing Sam Cassel Jr. by telling him to “Go Home Roger”, an inside joke I don’t understand but still find hilariously funny, and captain Amida Brimah constantly whipping and nae-naeing to himself (probably the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life).

It may seem like the players have it all: good food, new sneakers, cool UConn gear, a beautiful building to play in, the support of an entire college campus, the list goes on. However, don’t be fooled, each player WORKS EXTREMELY HARD EVERY DAY. Because for every luxury they are afforded, they must do something doubly insufferable.

They participate in morning and evening workout sessions, health check-ins, mandatory study sessions, film-watching, study scouting reports for every game, not to mention going to classes and being a normal student. There is of course the myth that athletes don’t work hard as students, but Kevin Ollie puts this false rumor to bed by checking in at the end of practices to make sure everyone is doing well in classes, reaffirming that he “wants everyone to graduate”, a simple, but meaningful and honorable sentiment.

Each player is basically working two full time jobs: student and athlete, not to mention the celebrity and scrutiny they must handle which ranges from being constantly stopped for selfies to being picked apart on ESPN. It’s not an easy role to fill, but each player does it excellently and takes on the challenge with pride. The entire team is down to earth, kind, hard working, but most importantly, wants UConn to succeed. Being a consistently elite basketball squad is a group effort that requires the work of managers, coaching staff, and the players in order to be successful.

The opportunity to be a practice player for the Huskies has helped me see just how great these guys are, and how hard they work. Its sort of like in the second Spiderman movie where the train of people see Peter Parker without his mask and gasp because they realize “he’s just a kid”.

These players are my peers, but their incredible dedication to honing their craft while remaining kind human beings has surely earned them more than that. So next time you see Amida Brimah walking down Fairfield Way, tell him “thank you”. Oh yea, and ask him to whip and nae-nae for you, I promise, it’s a wonderful sight.

If you still have questions about what happens in practice or about the team in general, leave a comment below, and I will be sure to respond.