It was a first practice in name only.

The Hawaii men’s basketball team had its inaugural 3-hour session of the 2011-12 season on Friday night. One couldn’t tell by a casual glance.

Unlike last season — when the drills of then-new UH coach Gib Arnold were unfamiliar to everyone, including his assistants — players knew exactly where to go and what was expected of them.

Arnold didn’t even need to yell.

Much.

"I didn’t recognize myself. I didn’t know what to do," Arnold said with a laugh. "Everybody was where they were supposed to be, I didn’t get upset, I dunno. Maybe I’ll go recruiting or something; they don’t need me here anymore."

With the "Ohana Hoopfest" season tip-off event for fans not happening for another week, UH got a jump on a full workload while many other teams around the country began with Midnight Madness events.

It helped that most of the team spent nearly a month together in August for the "Warriors to Asia" tour. The once-in-four-years NCAA allowance included 10 full practices prior to the trip.

That package made a huge difference in the mind of freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes, who offered a positive review of his first Division I practice.

"The China trip helped us out a lot. It showed us that we could play with each other, get to know each other. As a person who was new to the team, it was great," Stokes said.

Stokes may be a big part of UH’s future, but several key players are back from a 19-13 season that featured an appearance in the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament.

At the top of the list is guard Zane Johnson, now the team’s lone senior, who was the Rainbow Warriors’ top scorer (15.8 points per game) last year. He missed most of the action on the China trip with a severely sprained ankle but was back in top form Friday in UH’s Gym 2. All 14 players (not including the absent UH football slotback/basketball point guard Miah Ostrowski) were at full strength.

Johnson declared himself "100 percent" and was eager to cement a leadership role.

"Of course," he said. "I have to be the extension of Coach Gib out there on the court every practice and no matter what I have to be positive and I have to bring it every day. A lot of the guys are looking to me because I am a senior, the senior, so I can’t show any weakness out there."

Junior center Vander Joaquim also appeared improved coming off a summer spent with the Angolan national team, hitting some longer-range shots with regularity to go along with his deft hook shots.

Practice began in Arnold’s usual way, with an emphasis on defensive fundamentals. From there the team went through myriad halfcourt 1-on-1, rebounding and 5-on-5 drills.

"It’s not normal that you spend a month with them in the summer. It still had that excitement of, here comes the season, we got a lot of work to do," Arnold said. "It was nice, it went a lot smoother than most first practices."

UH follows with two practices today. The Rainbows have some time to prepare before outside competition opens against Hawaii Pacific on Nov. 11.

NO. 8 HAWAII DEF. LOUISIANA TECH 25-9, 25-9, 25-14