It's easily the most amusing basketball drill I've ever had occasion to witness, this one with the blocking dummies that coach Jim Boylen runs with his Utes.

Blocking dummies?

Did I say, "blocking dummies?"

Yes, I did.

While the players are charged with dribbling the length of the court hard and fast while making juke moves along the way, Boylen has a couple of his team managers stationed at each end, almost under the basket. When each player closes in on the hoop, the nearby manager winds up with one of those big, red blocking pads that football players use ... and wallops the player as he tries to make his lay-up.

It's like watching a game that some kids invented in their basement on a rainy day, but Boylen believes it's going to help the Utes learn how to endure the inevitable blows that come with trying to get to the hoop in a real game.

"We're trying to simulate playing with contact," Boylen said. "We're trying to overcome our fear of playing off-balance and playing through contact" to get to the free-throw line.

Not only is the drill terrifically entertaining to watch, but it gives a concentrated glimpse at who's better at exploding through the contact. Forward Kim Tillie seems to do it pretty well most of the time (especially when Boylen tells him the blocking pad is German), and so do guards Tyler Kepkay and Lawrence Borha. Forward Shaun Green more frequently gets yelled at, from what I've seen, for getting knocked off-balance.

Of course, it sometimes depends on the end of the floor at which you're trying to make your lay-up. One manager who was swinging the blocking pad recently was clearly putting a lot more into it than his colleague at the other end.

"Ain't nobody going to hit you that hard in a game," guard Johnnie Bryant said.

So much the better, as far as Boylen is concerned. Now, about those shoulder pads waiting there on the sideline ...