Rotations and would-be starters come and go like the tide.

A week out from the season-opening exhibition for the Hawaii men’s basketball team, that’s exactly the way coach Gib Arnold likes it.

“I don’t have a set starting lineup,” Arnold said. “That will most likely change throughout the year. I’m a big believer in you bring it every single day and you earn it every single practice. You don’t … and someone else at that same position does, they get a chance to play and a chance to start. And I want practice to be tremendously competitive from the second you walk into the gym.”

The ebb and flow has most recently produced a first group featuring the Rainbow Warriors’ two centers, Vander Joaquim and Davis Rozitis, playing in tandem as a 14-foot frontcourt.

In one Thursday lineup they were joined by point guard Bobby Miles and off guards Zane Johnson and Garrett Jefferson. Either the true center Joaquim or the improvised 4-man Rozitis — both capable of hitting a mid-range jump shot — could lure his defender away from the basket to create space for the other.

“I think it’s really good because I can go high-low and I can find him in a two-man game,” the sophomore Rozitis said. “And he can find me. It’s more spread out, it’s hard to guard both of us. We both go hard for the rebounds, so that gives problems to opponent teams.”

Junior Joston Thomas is still the more likely starter at power forward, but it’s clear the team is still taking its time experimenting with different groups. In the past week, nine players have shared time in the white jerseys representing the first team.

A major beneficiary of Arnold’s freewheeling promotions and demotions has been junior swingman Hauns Brereton. The third-team Junior College All-America from Western Nebraska Community College started the preseason wearing the black side of the reversible practice jerseys, but has settled in and consequently received consistent time with the first team this week.

He will be counted on for perimeter scoring and offensive rebounding after putting up 20.3 points per game on 51 percent shooting at WNCC.

“Coach keeps mixing it up, and I think that’s good,” said the 6-foot-6 Brereton. “It makes us work every day. We’re always on our toes.”

Regarding Brereton, Arnold said his biggest improvement must come at the defensive end, similar to Johnson last season. Johnson put in the work to become a respectable defender, and now Arnold expects the JUCO transfer to do the same.

“You’ve gotta have both or you can’t be a very good Division I basketball player,” Arnold said. “In junior college you can kind of just outscore teams. Usually you’re a little better athlete than the guy you’re guarding if you’re a good player. But it’s not true at this level and he’s starting to see that. As he learns that, I think his minutes, his value will increase with this team and we’ll be able to play him a lot more.”

Thursday notwithstanding, freshman Shaquille Stokes has the edge on the sophomore Miles at the point, at least for the moment. Playing them together with Johnson at small forward is yet another option.