I don’t think people appreciate how exhausting it is to play defense in a real game, especially at the D1 level. It is nothing like playing defense in a pick-up game.
I did xc/basketball/track sr year of high school. (football/basketball/baseball as a soph).
Distance and hoops just different fitness. First BB practice after State xc meet, winded and vomiting from shuttle sprints. (Nobody else on 15 man varsity basketball could run 6:00 for mile, but all could do the suicide shuttles.)
First end March track mile 5:05, then down to 4:18 for June State meet. (ran 4:30 as a jr at State)
By end basketball, I weighed 175. (need some bulk in paint, lift eat) By June 145. (no diet, just 50-70 miles/wk)
I still don't believe these times, but there is the whiff of credibility in that it was at end of a summer program with 4 time trials across the summer as benchmarks.
So the claim should be: Houston players run 5:19 mile after full summer of training and 4 race efforts.
The post makes it look like they are doing it with no training, just basketball fitness. Clearly that's not the case.
Sounds likely you were a distance runner that could play basketball. There were some guys in my section that played basketball and made it the state meet in the half-mile or mile. They were better distance runners than basketball players and only ran in college.
That's impressive and they say how the human body has evolved and pro basketball players are some of the most highly tuned athletes.
Impressive except that a person in the 1960's , a center no less ran 49 seconds in the 400m and ran a sub two minute 800m yep that was Wilt Chamberlain :)
That's impressive and they say how the human body has evolved and pro basketball players are some of the most highly tuned athletes.
Impressive except that a person in the 1960's , a center no less ran 49 seconds in the 400m and ran a sub two minute 800m yep that was Wilt Chamberlain :)
A 7'1" 240 lbs player could run a 2 flat 800 in the early 60s but it's a surprise that Cryer (6'1" 200lbs) Usan (6'4" 190 lbs) Sharp (6'3" 210 lbs) Tugler (6'8" 230 lbs) Arceneax (6'6" 205) and Roberts (6'8" 235 lbs) averaged 5:19?
Sounds likely you were a distance runner that could play basketball. There were some guys in my section that played basketball and made it the state meet in the half-mile or mile. They were better distance runners than basketball players and only ran in college.
I had humorous sports life. Really good at all age 8-13. Late developer, who then suddenly got crap kicked out of me by kids with beards and muscles. Switched sports for my personal safety.
Jr spring finally started to mature, ran good mile. Sr year even hoops went well again as I grew 6".
Only ran in college.
I was also way young for my class. Jan birthday could still run U20 as college soph.
No regrets. Both triumph and humility, got off to a quick start in real world career.
That's impressive and they say how the human body has evolved and pro basketball players are some of the most highly tuned athletes.
Impressive except that a person in the 1960's , a center no less ran 49 seconds in the 400m and ran a sub two minute 800m yep that was Wilt Chamberlain :)
The basketball coach at my cillege had the guys on the basketball team run 8 laps on a 160m track thinking it was a 200m track. The big guys clocked some fast times.for the "mile" during those time trials.
This settles a lot of the debates on just how fast high level athletes (who aren't distance runners) actually are.
These guys are very good basketball players...but they could not beat a decent middle school boys XC team in a race.
These are muscular men. The 5'10" equivalent of these player is 170 to 190 lbs. Terrible weight for distance. If they cut down to "ideal" distance weight and spent a year training specifically for distance they'd make a very good high school varsity squad.
But obviously their elite talent is explosiveness and speed. They'd never be elite distance runners.
THIS
I'm 5'7, 175, and ran 4:32 in the 1500. Not the ideal distance build, but with training obviously going to be faster than these guys. If they had the D3 grind in mind for running, they'd likely be about the same.
I know a 6'4", 220-lb guy in his thirties who routinely runs miles 5:30-5:40 miles in workouts like 4 x 1600 or similar. I'm sure he could run pretty close to 5:00 in a time trial. While I bet he runs more volume than the Houston basketball team (dude has run several marathon and even a 50-miler), I also bet the Houston basketball guys are better athletes than he is. I have no difficulty believing that many of the Houston guys could stay with or at least close to him for a mile.