“To maintain that intensity, it’s important to make sure we’re doing the right things in the weight room.”
UConn’s brisk, two-hour practices are designed to prepare the regulars to play 30 or more of a game’s 40 minutes
and to make quick and correct decisions when they are tired — to be able to hit a shot, make an intricate pass and guard the opponent’s top scorer in the closing minutes.
“I’m not a big data guy,” UConn Coach Geno Auriemma said, adding with a laugh, “I’m not smart enough.”
Instead, the most dominant team in basketball places a premium on rigorous
and varied preseason workouts, nutrition, sustained weight training through the season and, especially, on intense practices meant to simulate game conditions.
Yet, she added, “At times they just made us look bad in the way they pushed the ball.”
Robust conditioning is a particular imperative, and a stealth weapon, for a UConn team (34-0)
that rotates only seven players — five starters and two reserves — as it seeks a fifth consecutive national championship.
“We do things to get us tired, and then when we get tired, we do things
that require us to be mentally smart,” said Kia Nurse, a junior guard who has hit a remarkable 15 of 19 3-point attempts in this N. C.A.
“That’s why we always look so good at the end, because we’re still getting stronger, or at least maintaining, where other teams are not lifting, possibly, or they’re backing off
because they want to stay fresh for the tournament,” said Kimball, the strength and conditioning coach.
“The reason we’re fit is that we practice at an intensity
that no one else does,” said Amanda Kimball, the team’s longtime strength and conditioning coach.