Following an exhausting 45-minute conditioning practice, members of the Kansas University men's basketball team use each other for support as coach Bill Self brings the practice to a close in this file photo from last year's Boot Camp. This year's early-morning conditioning/bonding exercise begins today.

Following an exhausting 45-minute conditioning practice, members of the Kansas University men's basketball team use each other for support as coach Bill Self brings the practice to a close in this file photo from last year's Boot Camp. This year's early-morning conditioning/bonding exercise begins today.

Rule No. 1: Never be late for a session of Kansas University basketball Boot Camp.

“Me and Moulaye (Niang) missed one time because the lights went out at the (Jayhawker) Towers and our alarms didn’t go off,” KU junior Brandon Rush recalled.

“Coach was mad, really mad. He didn’t believe us at all. We all had to run extra at the end. He said in the future to set a different clock.”

Starting today, for the next two weeks, wise Jayhawk players will be setting more than one clock – some battery-operated – to make sure they are present and accounted for at 6 a.m., the start of coach Bill Self’s Boot Camp at Allen Fieldhouse.

“We’re going to tell the freshmen, ‘Please don’t be late, and when you are there, work your hardest,”’ KU sophomore Brady Morningstar said. “If somebody is late, we all have to run. I’m going to sleepwalk over here (fieldhouse), get my shoes on and be ready to go.”

The Jayhawks can take solace in the fact that, if they work hard and are on time for morning conditioning, afternoon weightlifting and individual drills, as well as nighttime tutoring sessions, they will be awarded the weekend off.

And if they do really well, Self just might call off Boot Camp a week from Wednesday or Thursday instead of Friday, Oct. 5.

Satisfying Self before the sun comes up is easier said than done.

Players perform a variety of drills without the use of a basketball, capping 50-minute morning sessions with a series of 22s (consecutive sprints up and down the court).”

“It’s one of the toughest things I’ve gone through,” sophomore Darrell Arthur said of the defensive shuffles and slides, backboard touches and sprints. “It really gets to your legs. You have to be self- motivated and have the will to not quit.”

The 6-foot-9, 230-pound Arthur provided teammates and coaches with a Boot Camp Classic last year. He started peeling off clothes about halfway through a set of 20 “22s.”

“It was funny because at the 10th sprint he took off his shirt,” Morningstar said. “With five to go, he took off his shorts. He had spandex on. It was like, ‘What?’ I guess he had to get lighter and lighter.

“I’m glad there weren’t five more sprints after that : who knows what he would have taken off?” Morningstar cracked.

“I definitely remember that. I couldn’t even run I was laughing so hard,” fifth-year senior Jeremy Case said. “He barely made the time when he had his shorts on. He took them off, and he won the sprint.”

No matter what, Arthur was going to finish the 22s.

“Everything felt heavy on me. It was so bad I took everything off,” Arthur explained. “I wasn’t going to quit. Hopefully it won’t happen, but I might do it again. I don’t know.”

He certainly gained the respect of teammates : once they stopped snickering at his strip show.

“In the end, ‘Shady’ (Arthur) prevailed. ‘Shady’ came through for us,” junior guard Mario Chalmers said.

Year in and year out, it’s the freshmen who suffer problems.

“I think of people quitting and stuff and some of the excuses, especially our freshman year,” senior Sasha Kaun said. “I remember Alex couldn’t run anymore and kind of was making excuses. We look back at it now and laugh about a lot of things you go through at Boot Camp.”

So, Alex Galindo had trouble his first and only season at KU. Anybody else?

“I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus,” Case said, “but the big guys have a tough time just because they are heavier. My opinion is they should do it a lot easier because they’ve got longer legs. They don’t have to stride as hard.”

This year, freshman big man Cole Aldrich and guards Tyrel Reed, Chase Buford and Conner Teahan will make their Boot Camp debuts.

The veterans plan to help them through.

“I’ll try to keep them in good spirit and keep them smiling,” senior Russell Robinson said. “I can’t tell them anything before that will help. I think the fact they don’t know what to expect will push them to the max.”

They’ve heard the horror stories.

“The seniors said it’s pretty rough. They said you’ve got to be ready mentally, that’s the main thing,” Burlington native Reed said.

“I don’t mind mornings too much. The morning shouldn’t be too bad. The individual workouts and weightlifting hours after that will be tough.”

“I’m going in with an open mind,” Bloomington, Minn., native Aldrich indicated. “I know it will be tough because a lot of the veteran guys say, ‘Hey, this is not easy. This is serious and it’s tough.’ We basically will be there until we are in playing shape for the season.

“I’ll go to bed on time, go to bed early. If I’ve got homework, I’ll do homework and go to bed. I’ll get as much rest as I can.”

KU coach Self merely expects players to give maximum effort : and show up on time.

“You see guys on good days, they get through everything. Some days they don’t. It’s probably more mental than anything,” Self said. “This is great for team unity, knowing they can get through and do something they didn’t think they could do. This adds an extra element of toughness they can draw from and during the season say, ‘This isn’t so hard, remember when we did this (at Boot Camp)?”’