Hoosiers try new strength strategy

Je’Ney Jackson has a vision he’d like to share.

Similar to any strength and conditioning coach, he sees himself molding IU men’s basketball players into unbreakable frames of muscle.

But differently than others in his position, he likes to break away from the weight room and onto the yoga mats.

Jackson is a big believer in visualization.

“If you see it happening good for you, then you can make it happen,” he said.

So he puts his players in typical basketball positions and instructs them to silently visualize the poorest phase of their game.

“If you’re a bad free throw shooter, focus on your breathing to shoot the free throw and be successful that way,” Jackson said. “Whatever is lacking or deficient in their game, that’s what I want them to focus on while we do those things.”

Whether that will help a team that finished 10th in the Big Ten in free throw percentage last year is yet to be seen. But the bodily results are something he can measure right

now.

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Jackson arrived at IU in July after former strength coach Jeff Watkinson left to be former Hoosier and current Los Angeles Clippers starting guard Eric Gordon’s personal trainer.

He last served as secondary coach for the Southern Mississippi football team, and he was the strength coach for IU assistant Steve McClain of the University of Wyoming basketball team.

Jackson wasn’t greeted with a large welcome party in Bloomington — just a group of men he needed to get into game shape.

“As soon as I got here, I got in the facility, put my stuff down, grabbed my whistle and I was literally on the court working them out,” Jackson said.

He put the players through a series of physical tests in his first week, and he saw a need to improve flexibility, balance and strength.

To help bring his players’ athletic ability to its full potential, Jackson worked out a system to keep them and, most importantly, their muscles guessing.

“I want every day to be something just a little bit different for them. Just to really keep them on their toes,” he said.

So far the results are exactly what he wants to see. The too small are getting bigger, and the too big are getting smaller. For example, sophomore forwards Derek Elston and Christian Watford are 10-to-15 pounds heavier than last year’s official weight.

“I looked at some tape from last season, and I was like, ‘Wow, we were thin,’” Jackson said. “But they were also really young. With each passing year, they’re going to mature and get bigger. They’re going to turn from young men into
grown men.”

Meanwhile, junior forward Tom Pritchard and sophomore forward Bobby Capobianco have slimmed down while packing on some extra muscle.

While getting stronger in the inside is an evident need for a team that finished seventh in the Big Ten in defensive rebounding last season, the outside is not safe from Jackson’s regimen.  

Junior guard Verdell Jones, a slashing guard whose lanky body type could only benefit from added strength, said in August he put on about 15 pounds since the end of
last season.

After a summer of working with Jackson, Jones is happy with his situation.

“He is pushing us like no other,” he said at the August press conference. “Every day we are doing ab workouts, and I’ve got a rock right here now.

“We have been working hard with conditioning, tire flips, running stadium stairs. It feels like boot camp right now, but it will work out better for us in the long run.”

For junior guard Matt Roth, getting back into game shape takes a different meaning. He missed all but two games last season with a broken bone in his foot, but he is through rehabbing the injury.

Roth said Jackson brought with him a hard-nosed mind set, something formed from five years as a football positional coach with Kansas, serving three years as the
cornerbacks coach.

“Some of the stuff we do is more football-oriented, as far as things like explosive strength,” Roth said. “At the same time, it’s going to help you with basketball. You just don’t have pads on.”

But getting stronger doesn’t end physically. Jackson said he expects this year’s team to be stronger mentally, being able to respond when an opposing team goes on a run or when a losing skid hits.

“We go above and beyond every single day,” Jackson said. “So I’m proud as can be that none of our guys quit. None of them give in. None of them try taking an easy
way out.”