Twin plyometric boxes tower courtside in the practice gymnasium at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, infamously responsible for the elimination of the Trojans' men's basketball team's on-court mistakes.
Nearly 4-feet tall, the boxes have the words "Accountability Builds Champions" boldly emblazoned on each side, and they rule like the tower of law in ancient Babylon.
It's the code of Wes Flanigan, who dragged the boxes out after the Trojans went 15-17 in his first season as head coach.
"We let some things slip that are a part of the process of winning games," Flanigan said Thursday at UALR's media day. "These are the things we want our team to be about, and if we can be about these things in practice, I think it gives us a chance to be successful."
Last season, UALR had the third lowest assist-to-turnover ratio (0.92) in the Sun Belt Conference and was eighth out of 12 league teams in rebounding margin (+0.8).
Those sort of things, Flanigan said, became the focus of blame instead of the loss of three significant contributors to injury or transfer.
The rules of offseason practice were stated: a turnover required five box jumps. A missed block out, five box jumps. Not talking on defense, five box jumps. Any mistake, five box jumps.
The players loathe the boxes.
"Oh yeah, the knees," said 6-9, 226-pound junior forward Oliver Black. "I think they felt like we were going to make some mistakes during the first practices, so they kind of told us multiple times what not to do. But then it got to the point where they were just like, 'Box. Go to the box.'"
It's an effort to eliminate the buffers in what Flanigan hopes can be a fluid stream of high-paced aggressive offense and defense -- a system which he has wanted to implement since he was hired.
"I want to get up and be a defensive personality," said Flanigan, a former guard at Auburn. "That's who I am as a coach. That's who I was as a player. I want my team to exemplify that."
UALR lost last year's top scorer, Marcus Johnson Jr. and top rebounder, Lis Shoshi, to expired eligibility. Black, junior guard Deondre Burns and redshirt junior guard Ben Marcus are the only holdovers from the Trojans' 2016 run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Flanigan tapped Malvern sophomore guard Andre Jones as "probably one of the most talented players to put on a [UALR] uniform."
"There's not a day that goes by when I'm out in public and people ask me about Andre Jones," Flanigan said. "He's a heck of a talent."
Jones, who has dazzled crowds with dunks, is the type of player Flanigan said he'd trust to handle the ball when the shot clock winds down, which Flanigan said he lacked last season.
Transfer forwards Wadley Mompremier (Ohio; 6-11, 228-pound senior) and Cezanne Carson (St. Petersburg College; 6-6, 200-pound junior) will support Black in the front court.
Last season, UALR ranked seventh in the Sun Belt in steals per game (5.72) and 10th in opponent field goal percentage (.445).
The Trojans are hoping the plyometric boxes could lead to an improvement in the box scores.
"We make an emphasis on 'deny' now," Jones said. "We don't just let nobody catch it easy anymore. We're just basically stepping out a whole new level of pressure and making it way harder for a team to run offense"
Sports on 10/27/2017