FAIRFAX, Va. - After the confetti falls and "One Shining Moment's" last iconic image fades out on Championship Monday, college basketball fans turn their attention to the Masters, the NBA and NHL Playoffs, early season MLB contests and a host of other marquee sporting events on the spring calendar.
 
But for the players that make up the 351 Div. I NCAA basketball teams, hoops season is anything but over.
 
The spring and summer months provide an outstanding opportunity to hone skill development, heal lingering injuries, focus on academics and begin an offseason conditioning program aimed at getting the player fitter and faster for the upcoming fall preseason.
 
At Mason, this key portion of the college basketball offseason is a critical building block to ensuring successes carry over into the 2017-18 season.
 
In addition to NCAA sanctioned spring workouts, open gyms and voluntary strength & conditioning sessions, men's basketball student-athletes at Mason are given the unique option of participating in studies in conjunction with the University's sports science program and lab.
 
Mason student-athletes gain valuable biological data about how their bodies perform, while the lab is provided with elite athletic subjects to help with the development of key research findings in the areas of kinesiology and sport performance.
  The partnership is made possible by an athletic department innovation called the Center For Sports Performance, which fosters student-athlete growth and development in the areas of sports medicine, nutrition, sports psychology, strength & conditioning and sports science.
 
"I don't know of many programs nationally that have the capability to offer this level of testing for their student-athletes," Mason head strength & conditioning coach Robert "Handy" Handerahan said. "The sports science lab here at Mason is outstanding and provides our athletic department with excellent resources that help us develop individualized conditioning programs and assist in helping our student-athletes get better."
 
This past April, a number of Mason basketball student-athletes took part in a study that incorporated VO2 max testing and other conditioning measurements. The study, conducted by Mason professors Dr. Jason White and Dr. Margaret Jones, provided some key data the athletes can use as they seek to improve their conditioning and basketball skill sets in the offseason.
 
A VO2 max test numerically measures the body's ability to consume oxygen. Utilizing a progressively more difficult treadmill regimen and breathing data apparatus, the test determines when a person's oxygen consumption redlines or peaks and how the body responds.
 
Dr. White and Dr. Jones also incorporated lactate readings, which help the athletes understand how they reacted when they reached that oxygen threshold. A high lactate reading means the body pushed through and overcame the road block, while a medium level would mean the athlete pushed against the threshold but had more in the tank to continue pushing further. A low level means the athlete didn't engage effectively when challenged on the treadmill.
 
This information can prove valuable to student-athletes and coaches as the 2017-18 season approaches. An athlete that feels as if they're exerting the max their body allows can be encouraged by a lactate level that shows they had the ability to keep going. And an athlete with a high lactate level can find comfort in the fact they are pushing themselves as far as they can go to achieve their goals on the court.
 
Regardless of what the data shows, Handerahan is grateful for the ability to help facilitate these studies and for the holistic strength & conditioning resources Mason can provide its student-athletes.
 
"Anytime we do this type of research, it shows our student-athletes we're trying to take away every possible barrier that could keep them from improving," Handerahan said. "There are certain barriers they have to hop over or plow though, but if we can remove certain inhibitors and tell them we're assisting them in the improvement process, they can take ownership of that process and realize we're all in this to get better and elevate the program to greater success."
 
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