Every coach makes his players run sprints, of course. That's a part of the basketball practice routine from sixth grade on. Maybe earlier. But most basketball coaches run sprints essentially the same way: After practice, in timed intervals, up and down the length of the court. Sometimes players have to make free throws to save their teammates from running. (It's never a good idea to miss these free throws.) Other times, they just run.

John Beilein's regimen is slightly different, at least in the preseason. Get a load of this:

The workouts, though, are nothing new. It’s something he has done since he started coaching, tweaking it from a similar training regimen he read about in a journal about Louisville basketball workouts under former coach Denny Crum in the 1970s. Essentially, the players run two miles in shorter intervals. They run sets of two 400-meter runs, two 200-meter runs and two 100-meter runs twice. That’s it. In between are breaks of varying lengths, although Beilein has structured it similar to breaks players would receive in basketball games.

Running two miles on its own at a jogging pace is tough enough, especially for guys in basketball shape, which is much, much different from long-distance running. Running those miles in short, speed-burst intervals? That just sounds awful. Doesn't it, assorted Michigan basketball players?

In Beilein’s first year at Michigan, players who were healthy couldn’t complete the workouts initially. Now, even guys coming back from injury are getting through it, even at a slower pace. So far, Beilein said his players - even the freshmen - have rarely missed the predetermined time.

I'll take your grunted, breathless nods as a "yes."

Granted, this is coming from someone who hasn't done a solid bit of running in weeks (don't worry, though, because my new diet plan -- starvation -- is keeping me slim). But still, anyone who has spent time running to and fro in a frigid gym can't identify. Michigan may not be quite as good as Purdue and Michigan State, but they'll be just as well-conditioned.

Related: Big Ten Basketball