John Beilein coaches track

To be a college basketball player, you have to be in excellent shape. Between the constant running on the offensive end to the toll that playing tough defenses takes on your legs, it isn't hard to understand why coaches hate when their players show up to the start of practice in something other than peak physical condition.

But have you ever wondered what these guys do to get into such great shape?

AnnArbor.com gives us a little insight, at least into what John Beilein has his Michigan team doing:

The players run two miles in shorter intervals. They run sets of two 400-meter runs, two 200-meter runs and two 100-meter runs twice. That’s it. In between are breaks of varying lengths, although Beilein has structured it similar to breaks players would receive in basketball games.

Some breaks are 30 seconds, equivalent to a short timeout. Others are longer, equivalent to a TV timeout. And others are 10 to 15 seconds, just long enough that a player would be at the free throw line or going in for a substitution.

And those are just the pre-season workouts.

Pretty intense, no?

And remember, this is for a team that doesn't play at the pace of, say, a Washington or a North Carolina. Imagine what those kids have to do to get into shape.