Photo by Graham Cullen Kelly Beidler shoots over Pierre Brown during the Mount's first practice of the season Saturday at Knott Arena.

It requires players to run full court in a three-man weave and make as many baskets as they can in a two-minute period. Brown said it was inspired by the Los Angeles Lakers.

"The old Lakers," he said, mindful that his players are too young to remember the fast-breaking days of Magic Johnson and James Worthy in the mid-to-late 80's that helped earn the moniker "Showtime" for their team.

"(The players) are probably saying, 'Kobe and those guys aren't Showtime,'" Brown joked.

In Brown's mind, though, the drill directly addresses a problem he felt plagued the Mount last season, which is finishing games. Finishing has already become the theme for the season, which starts Nov. 14 at Oklahoma.

"We had a couple games that we won by 12, 11 and 10 points (last season) and we were up 15, 17, 18 points," he said. "If we're up, let's finish it. If you can keep it at 18, let's finish it at 18."

It also helps establish the tempo at which Brown wants to play.

"We're probably going to play a little bit faster than what we've played. So, we are going to have to make plays in the open court," he said.

"But it's more so about the end of practice. Let's finish at full speed. Sometimes it's good to put in a couple of drills that have some things with a little bit of chaos in them because it works out that way sometimes in the games. You are going to have to make some plays."

The Mount will attempt to improve on its 19-12 record from last season with a small, but veteran lineup.

There are eight returning players, including five big contributors, from the team that played in the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago.

Size, however, could be an issue. There are no players on the roster taller than 6-foot-9. At this point, Brown isn't even sure what his front line will look like.

"We're going to have to find some guys to step up," he said. "It's probably going to be more like a round robin type of thing because all of the guys bring a little something different to the table."

In addition to the graduations of 6-7 post players Sam Atupem and Markus Mitchell, the eligibility problems of two freshman are compounding the Mount's frontcourt issues.

Raven Barber, a 6-8, 200-pound forward from Edgewood who was expected to contribute, is an academic non-qualifier. He won't be eligible to play for the team until next season.

"It's a big blow, but the good thing about this team is we don't just rely on one (player)," 6-7 junior Shawn Atupem said. "We lost one, but we have some people here who are ready to step up."

Redshirt freshman Jacolby Wells (6-7, 225) is academically ineligible. He is able to practice with the team, but won't appear in a game until mid-December at the earliest.

It's all enough to make Brown "uncomfortable" about the current state of his frontcourt.

But the emergence of Atupem as an all-around player and the addition of freshman Kristijan Krajina (6-9, 230) from Croatia might help calm his nerves. Junior Tayvon Jackson (6-7, 205) could also fill some of the void.

Atupem was the leading frontcourt scorer off the bench last season, averaging 9.6 points and 3.5 rebounds.

"Markus and Sam are gone, but our best post scorer is back and he's better," Brown said.

The Mount also returns its leading scorer from the past two years, shifty senior point guard Jeremy Goode, as well as regular contributors Kelly Beidler, Jean Cajou and Will Holland.

Expectations are high for a team that has played in the last two Northeast Conference tournament championship games.

"It's always different from when you go from being the hunter to the hunted," Brown said.

After going through a rough patch at the start of last season, losing six in a row at one point, Brown admired how his players got the season on track. The Mount won 16 of its last 22.

"I think the way that we handled it was great," he said. "Once we figured out what we needed to do and relaxed ourselves, we controlled our emotions of the situation at hand. Let's just play the games that are in front of us rather than worrying about what's going to happen in March."

MOUNT WOMEN

Coach Bryan Whitten opened practice with just 10 players on the roster. An 11th player, junior Kristin Scheitrum, is injured and will miss the season.

The lone senior on the roster is guard Hassanah Oliver, who is the leading scorer among the six returning players. Oliver averaged 10.4 points per game last season and led the team with 102 assists.

The Mount will depend on its stingy defense, which only allowed 58.2 points per game last season.

The team finished 14-16 overall, but was 9-5 when it held the opposition under 60 points.

The Mount will open its season against Canisius on Nov. 14 at Knott Arena.