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CEDAR CITY -- Following a split of two exhibition games last week, the Southern Utah men's basketball season will tip-off its 2009-10 season at the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii this weekend.
SUU will face off against tournament host Hawaii on Friday, Northern Colorado on Sunday and finish out the trip to Hawaii with NcNeese State on Monday.
"I'm excited because we've worked hard as a coaching staff to make this program visible, where we're going to Hawaii and playing in the Rainbow Classic," T-Bird head coach Roger Reid said. "I've coached against Hawaii 17 times as coach of BYU and to play the Rainbow Classic is a great opportunity for our guys."
Last week, SUU played a pair of exhibition games against Division II teams and fell to Mesa State 67-64 on Tuesday prior to a 71-56 victory over Adams State inside the Centrum Arena.
Reid said he was pleased with the progress of his young team, which is composed of seven freshmen and one player who sat out last season as a transfer.
Of those eight players, three of them help make the starting line-up this season.
After the first two exhibition games, the T-Birds have selected a line-up of freshman guard Scott Friel, senior guard Davis Baker, sophomore guard Jake Nielson, sophomore forward Matt Massey and freshman center Matt Hodgson.
After the win over Adams State, Reid showed his excitement for the young guys and especially Friel, who has taken over the starting point guard spot.
"Let me tell you, (Friel is) a strong 6'5" guy, he had one turnover (on Friday) with all the minutes he played, he's a big league player," Reid said. "When you look at Friel, he's playing 30 minutes as a freshman running the team."
Reid said he was happy with the way Friel ran the point guard spot during the win and with his maturity level as a freshman.
"I've coached a lot of good players over the years and here's a guy that gets five assists, one turnover and, as a point guard, five rebounds," he said. "That's a big night for a freshman and keeping his head up and having composure— unbelievable."
Reid said the major difference from last season's 11-20 team and this year's new look team is the presence of depth the team has.
"If guys are not playing well, somebody else will be ready to step in because we have depth," he said. "Last year, we couldn't do that because we didn't have anyone that could play after (the first person)."
He said a teams' depth of roster is what separates good teams from bad teams.
"If you don't have good depth on a team or competition, you won't have a good team," Reid said. "Guys know they can be complacent and won't behave."
With the new depth of the team, SUU will begin the Rainbow Classic against tournament host Hawaii.
"(The Rainbow Warriors) have all five starters back in the Western Athletic Conference," Reid said. "It'll be a good challenge for us."
Hawaii will be led by senior guard Roderick Flemings, who, as a junior last season, averaged just over 16 points per contest.
The Rainbow Warriors have one other returning double-digit scorer from last season, which is senior forward Bill Amis.
After Hawaii, the T-Birds will return to the court in Hawaii against North Colorado on Sunday. The Bears, much like SUU, is a team full of young players.
NCU will most likely be anchored by senior center Ben Jenkins on Sunday when battling the T-Birds. Jenkins, a 6-foot-9 center and forward combo player, led the Bears with 12.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in the teams' 14-18 season.
SUU will finish its Hawaii retreat with a matchup against McNeese State, a member of the Southland Conference.
The Cowboys, who finished last season with an 11-18 record, are most famous for being the college of former NBA great and 2006 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, Joe Dumars.
However, McNeese State will be without two of its three leading players from last season. Forward John Pichon and center Kleon Penn combined to average nearly 20 points per contest last season for the Cowboys before graduating and moving over to Europe to pursue careers overseas.
Penn also blocked 264 shots in his career with McNeese State, which broke a school record, and was sought after by a couple of NBA teams before inking in Europe.
The Cowboys will have returning top-scorer from last season, senior guard Diego Kapelan, who averaged 11.7 points per game last season. Tip-off for the game against Hawaii and the 2009-10 season for the T-Birds is slated for 7:35 p.m. Hawaiian (11:35 p.m. Mountain) Friday in Honolulu.
"We're going to go there and have a little fun and win a couple of ball games," Reid said.
