Chippewas open season this weekend in Hawaii

• Tweet
• 

While most people were probably sleeping Wednesday morning, the Central Michigan men’s basketball team boarded a bus for paradise.

CMU will open the 2010-11 season in Honolulu, Hawaii, competing in the annual Rainbow Classic.

To prepare for the trip and anticipated jet lag, the team changed its practice schedule earlier in the week to adapt to the time zone changes.

“We were trying to put ourselves in a position to be as quickly adjusted to the difference in time with the travel,” said head coach Ernie Zeigler. “We were trying to hopefully get our body clocks turned as we approached getting over to Honolulu.”

The Chippewas practiced from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. on Sunday and Monday nights before practicing from 2 to 5 a.m. Wednesday morning. They departed for Honolulu later in the morning and, after connecting at LAX, arrived on the mainland late Wednesday night.

“It’s good for us because there’s a huge time difference we got to go through,” said senior guard Antonio Weary on the late practices. “It’s going to help us even more to be ready for the game.”

Weary is one of four seniors on the team that make up the only players with Division I experience.

Late-night games

CMU opens the weekend at 2:30 a.m. Saturday against Cal State Fullerton. The Chippewas have played CSU Fullerton twice in the past four years, including a 79-65 loss in Fullerton, Calif. They beat the Titans 79-76 at Rose Center in 2007. The Titans went 16-15 overall and 8-8 in the Big West conference and are without two of their leading scorers from last season.

The game will be the first of three in four days, starting the season for a freshman class touted as first in the Mid-American Conference, highlighted by 6-foot-5 guard Trey Zeigler.

“The biggest goal for us is to see how quickly we can play good basketball,” Zeigler said. “That’s the good part about having three games in four days — all hands are going to be on deck and everyone’s going to get an opportunity.”

The Chippewas continue play at 2:30 a.m. Sunday against Montana State, a program they have never played before. The Bobcats finished the 2009-10 season 15-14 and 10-6 in the Big Sky.

Defense will prove to be key for the key, something Zeigler has harped on since practice began in October.

“Our goal is to hopefully have some continuity with our focus defensively,” he said. “It’s going to be paramount for us to get off to a good start defensively, and at the same time still trying to figure out the best rotation to play.”

CMU’s tropical road trip continues at 4 a.m. Tuesday when it plays host Hawaii live on ESPN.

“I’m excited,” Weary continued, “just ready to get this thing started.”

New recruit, new walk-on

Holland guard Jorddan Myrick signed a national letter of intent on Wednesday, becoming the first member of the 2011 recruiting class. Myrick, a 5-foot-11 guard at West Ottawa High School, has averaged 14 points, six assists and three rebounds during his three-year prep career.

The team also added a player after annual walk-on tryouts.

Ernie Zeigler added Luke Weist, a 5-foot-10 freshman guard from Caledonia, to the roster in the last few weeks after holding walk-on tryouts last month.

Weist earned first-team all-conference honors during his final three years at Caledonia High School.