More practice means one thing above all for the Hawaii men’s basketball team — more defense.

Thanks to a new NCAA timetable, UH gets two more weeks starting today to hammer out a starting lineup, rotation and schemes for the regular-season opener on Nov. 8 vs. Tennessee State. Most of all, coach Gib Arnold wishes to use the 30 team sessions to mold his players back to a formidable unit with their backs to the basket.

Seven newcomers join 10 returnees from a team that went 17-15 overall and 10-8 in the Big West, good for fifth place in 2012-13. The Rainbow Warriors had first-round exits in the Big West and CollegeInsider.com Postseason tournaments.

Gone are three senior starters in three-year center Vander Joaquim, point guard Jace Tavita and swingman Hauns Brereton. Three reserves — guards Garrett Jefferson and Manroop Clair and small forward Ozren Pavlovic — departed the program early.

Arnold picked up five guards in the offseason with a mind toward upgrading the team’s speed and athleticism.

"I think we have a chance to be a real good defensive team," the fourth-year coach said. "I like our quickness on our guards. Our bigs are quick, too. So I think we’re the quickest team we’ve had since I’ve been here. Hopefully that will translate into a much better defensive team."

At the turn of October under the old NCAA rules, UH would still be doing workouts with coaches in smaller groups at a time until about Oct. 15, when "Midnight Madness" events launched the start of full practices. But a change was made to allow coaches more time to work with their players.

"It’s early, but I think it’s good to get into it so we can prepare early," said sophomore forward Isaac Fotu, the 2013 Big West Co-Freshman of the Year. "The earlier the better, I think."

Arnold named his three seniors — Brandon Spearman, center Davis Rozitis and forward Christian Standhardinger — as his team captains.

"I don’t know if I should say (it) now, but if we stick together we can be really good," said Standhardinger, a first-team All-Big West Conference selection who led the team with 15.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game last season. "We just stress we all stick together and be one unit and I think we’ll be fine."

San Jose State transfer Keith Shamburger projects as the team’s starting point guard coming off a redshirt year in Arnold’s system, but he should be pushed by athletic sophomore Quincy Smith out of the City College of San Francisco.

"Just progression as a team," Smith said of his goal over the next month. "We’re playing up-tempo this season, so we’re trying to get into the best shape we can get in this next month before our first game."

Arnold said all starting jobs are up for grabs, with the caveat that some players are already established in his system — namely, Fotu and Standhardinger. But a key question is depth in the post, and how often the two 6-foot-8 forwards will be the biggest bodies on the court for UH. Among the three UH centers, the 7-foot Rozitis, a reserve to this point, is the only one with Division I court time.

Arnold’s first UH team in 2010-11 went 19-13 thanks in large part to a defense that held opponents to a field-goal percentage of .389, a school record that was eighth-best in the country that year. But the ‘Bows haven’t been able to replicate that degree of stinginess since.

Last year’s ‘Bows were strong in some areas, most notably rebounding, but severe defensive lapses against quicker, perimeter-oriented BWC teams cost the Rainbow Warriors several games. The ‘Bows’ guardplay and backcourt depth were suspect, especially once Spearman went down with a late-season ankle injury at Pacific.

The critical weakness was apparent in the 69-65 season-ending loss to Air Force in the CIT, in which the Falcons bombed 15 3-pointers. It capped an underwhelming final stretch of the season in which UH lost six of its last eight.

League opponents shot an astounding 39.4 percent on 3-pointers against the ‘Bows.

"I thought we got hurt a little bit with some of the quickness in the Big West, taking us off the dribble and defending the 3," Arnold said. "That’s going to be a huge emphasis. We’re really going to key on that. And I think our offense might be a little bit behind early in the season, but you learn great defense in October, vs. learning it in March."

Arnold said no determination has yet been made on redshirts, aside from ex-Missouri swingman Negus Webster-Chan, who must sit out games this season as a Division I transfer.