Kansas University’s 16 men’s basketball players successfully have completed a rigorous two-week bonding experience known as … Boot Camp.

“I think it was good for the team,” KU junior point guard Aaron Miles said late Friday afternoon after finishing 32 grueling “suicide sprints” — the final camp obstacle to overcome.

“I mean, it just made us tougher. Getting up at 6 every day, doing a little extra running will not hurt you. It gets you in better shape. It will help push us down the stretch this season.”

The Jayhawks gathered at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Friday at Allen Fieldhouse for defensive drills — and again late in the afternoon for more conditioning — the past two weeks.

“Everybody made it through. Everybody is still on the team, (so) it’s definitely a success, if you ask me,” KU junior guard Keith Langford said of Boot Camp, which also included being on time for all classes, tutoring and weightlifting sessions.

First-year KU coach Bill Self, who brought Boot Camp to Kansas this year after holding it at Illinois, Tulsa and Oral Roberts the past 10 years, would agree.

“They did fine. They did as well as any group I’ve ever had,” Self said. “The objective is to put them through a tough test, to make them do it together and hold each other accountable, come closer to becoming a team. I think that was accomplished.

“Another objective is getting our feet and conditioning to the point you can start practice. I think that was accomplished.

“I do not think we are in game shape. I do think we are ready to practice.”

Kansas University basketball players stretch before going through Boot Camp drills, led by Jeremy Case, front, J.R. Giddens, third from left, and Omar Wilkes, third from right. KU coach Bill Self's Boot Camp, a preseason conditioning and team-bonding program, concluded Friday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Self, who will open preseason camp at Friday’s Late Night in the Phog, said “mental toughness” was the unofficial theme of Boot Camp.

The Jayhawks had to be mentally tough to complete Friday’s suicides, which involved sprinting up and back from various spots on the court in a required time frame.

“All it is is you do things you didn’t think you could do or didn’t want to do,” Self said. “When you are finished with it, you feel pretty good about what you did. You can use it during the season.

“We’ll use that in numerous time outs throughout the year, say this is why we did this at Boot Camp.”

One of the toughest things about Boot Camp, the players said, was rolling out of bed at 5:30 a.m. for 6:30 sessions.

“Nobody wants to get up at 5:30,” Langford said. “Nobody is smiling anytime they wake up when it’s still dark outside. It’s not like you have a choice. Mentally you have to make yourself enjoy it. If you don’t get up, you let 15 other guys down.”

¢ 6Sports video: Jayhawks’ boot camp ends

Added Miles, “For me, one of the toughest things was getting your rest, as far as we had to get up at 6 in the morning, had meetings, go to class, lift weights.

“Most of us are night owls. I usually go to sleep at 2 (a.m.). Now if I go to bed at 1 and get up at 6, that’s five hours of sleep. I’d try to take naps, but a 30-minute nap doesn’t do you any good. I’d try to go to bed earlier, but early for me is still late for most.”

Self said he actually wanted to start Boot Camp at 6 every day, but picked 6:30 this year because “our first guy didn’t have a class until 8:30. If you start too early, they’d go back and go to bed. We try to fix it they go from here right to class.”

Self admitted waking while it’s dark wasn’t much fun for the coaches, either.

“I hate getting up early,” he said, laughing. “Boot Camp was hard on me, even though I didn’t do any physical conditioning. It certainly makes for long days.”

The suicide sprint drills proved just as difficult as waking before the birds, Miles indicated.

“We got through them by being strong and not giving up, not giving in,” Miles said. “It could have been easy for any of us to just quit because our legs gave out, our backs tightened up, but everybody kept going.”

As far as the stars of Boot Camp, Miles had his candidates:

Kansas University coach Bill Self talks with his players during Boot Camp. The Jayhawks completed their coach's preseason program Friday at Allen Fieldhouse.

“Stephen Vinson — we call him ‘The Standard,’ cause he sets the standard,” Miles said of the sophomore walk-on from Lawrence. “He goes hard regardless. He didn’t impress me because I know what he’s going to do. That’s the standard he always sets.

“J.R. Giddens impressed me a lot. His foot has been bothering him and everything, but he still pushed through,” Miles added of the Oklahoma City freshman who has been hobbled by an ankle sprain. “Jeremy Case (McAlester, Okla. freshman) impressed me. He didn’t have an injury, but he played real hard. Those three impressed me.”

Self lauded the walk-on foursome of Vinson, Christian Moody, Brett Olson and Nick Bahe.

“I don’t think you are going to find four guys on a team that work as hard as those four,” Self said. “Those guys were probably the most consistent through the entire week. All the other guys did better as we went. Those guys stood out in my mind.”

Vinson said Boot Camp definitely lived up to its name.

“I think a lot of that term is mental,” Vinson said. “Coming into it, the first couple of days it was definitely Boot Camp. I think after that we really came closer together as a team.

“Once we leaned on each other, we really picked each other up, and that term kind of went away.”

• Injury update: Langford, who had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Sept. 30, rode the stationary bike and also did some running Friday.

“It feels good. I could play right now if I had to,” Langford said. “We’re taking it slow. They say at Late Night I might get to scrimmage a little bit.”

David Padgett, who has a bruised right knee, rode the stationary bike Friday. It “is nothing major. It’s still sore,” Self said of the freshman forward’s knee. Padgett isn’t expected to miss any official practice time.