How Toledo used its off week to prepare for the stretch run

Feb. 26—"Ref, are you blind? His whole foot was out of bounds!"

Those harsh words from Spencer Littleson would usually draw a technical foul. But Littleson's grievance was aimed at Brian Jones, Toledo's senior associate athletic director for health and wellness.

The UT men's basketball team doctor was dressed in a black-and-white-striped officials shirt, along with head coach Tod Kowalczyk and graduate assistant Ben Casanova, who played the part of referees — or three blind mice, depending on who you ask.

It's Tuesday — four days after Toledo's most recent game and four days until the next one — and the Rockets are in the midst of a high-intensity live scrimmage, hence Littleson's displeasure with the officiating. The competition is part of Kowalczyk's plan to keep his team engaged during an eight-day lull in the schedule.

"They played to win," he said. "The coaches got competitive. I think it was a good day."

The most important element was cardio and effort. The 21-minute double-overtime scrimmage featured players jawing and giving 110 percent, assistants Jeff Massey, Justin Ingram, Walter Offutt, and director of basketball operations Jordan Lauf coaching as if it were the Final Four, and Kowalczyk encouraged by what he observed.

"We compete really well," Littleson said. "We love playing against each other. When you get out and scrimmage, that definitely feels good going back at each other, being able to attack each other, and compete with each other."

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This is the second time in three weeks Toledo's gone without a weeknight game. And it comes at an ideal point in the season, just before the final week of the regular season and the Mid-American Conference tournament. While the Rockets propped their feet up, second-place Akron and third-place Kent State lost games by a combined 36 points.

As UT solidified its place atop the MAC, Marreon Jackson, gutting out injuries in the past couple of games, prepared for the most season's most consequential weeks, with an eye on ending Toledo's 41-year NCAA tournament drought.

"This week is definitely big for anyone who has injuries or any pain in their body," Jackson said. "It's a great week for treatment and to keep off your feet and get ready for this last stretch."

The last time the Rockets had a week off they lost their first game back, though their performance wasn't particularly poor. Toledo instead was more a victim of Bowling Green's potent shooting. Still, Kowalczyk opted to alter this week's schedule, believing that he made a mistake by not doing enough up-and-down action prior to the BG game.

Toledo chose to stay in Buffalo following last Friday's win, eschewing an all-night bus ride that would have had them arriving back in town around 5 a.m. Players were off on Saturday and Sunday. Monday was spent solely concentrating on themselves, not Western Michigan. The Rockets scrimmaged Tuesday, furthering preparations for the Broncos. They were off Wednesday, practicing again Thursday and Friday.

"It's a time to fine-tune a lot of things," Littleson said. "There's always something you can work on. We're working on some things that we've been seeing the last couple games, tightening things up a little bit. It's nice to get off your legs this deep into the season. A lot of teams don't get that opportunity."

And off days mean players are off. Kowalczyk advises them not to come to the facility, and if they want to shoot, he wants them catching and shooting, not doing individual workouts. There are only so many opportunities for a college basketball team to get rest.

"We don't kill our guys with hours," Kowalczyk said. "I learned so much from the 2012-13 season when we had the postseason ban and practice restrictions. We were only allowed to have five days and 14 hours over the course of a week, and that was plenty. We won the West Division with only eight scholarship players as the most penalized team in the country. In mid-January through February and March, less is better.

"Having that week sometimes in February is really helpful just to heal bodies and get fresh legs. Guys can get some needed rest because it is an absolute grind going all the way back to September 26, our first practice."

Four of UT's six losses have been by 13 total points, proof that small mistakes can have outsized consequences. With a fierce conference tournament on the horizon, a time when games are decided by the slimmest of margins, cleaning up minor blemishes is paramount.

Or if you're Littleson, who routinely guards the opposing team's best offensive threat, constantly putting stress on his body, it's a reclamation project, healing bumps and bruises while his energy level reaches new heights.

Just so long as the refs don't get in the way.

"I'm not the most athletic guy, so recovery is really important to me," Littleson said. "I'm stretching every day, foam rolling every day, ice bathing every single day. I make that a big priority, as well as mentally relaxing. When I'm home, I'm staying off my feet, hanging out, reading.

"Sometimes you have to step away to be ready when you come back into the gym."