There was a time when the first official day of college basketball practice was a central part of October.
That changed more than a decade ago when, like all NCAA sports, basketball became year-round and the “first day” started looking much like the days before it.
Still, the calendar does specify an “official first day,” and that arrived Monday for the UTEP men and women as they angle toward their Nov. 4 openers.
So how has the world changed?
“I was just having that discussion with our staff before I came down here,” coach Joe Golding said. “The way the game has changed, we’re pretty much 11 months out of the year. It’s just another day.
“The difference is it’s a bit longer. We had only been allowed four hours a week, now we have a lot more time. It’s longer, but it’s not like the old days when Oct. 15 was the first time you get official practice.”
As he said that the women were in full swing in the next door gym at the Foster Stevens Center, and this time of year is much different in the neighboring courts.
The women are welcoming nine new faces on their 14-player roster, and 11 of the 14 are internationals. A significant part of coach Keitha Adams’ offseason was spent working on the logistics and paperwork of getting some of the foreign players to El Paso.
The men return 10 players on their 16-player roster, a just about unheard of number these days and they have one foreign-born player. (Babacar Mbengue, a 7-foot tall native of Senegal, went to high school in New Jersey.)
At any rate, the UTEP men are supposed to be ahead of the women at this point, to that extent that Golding is worried about tapping the brakes.
“We’re farther ahead because we have so many guys back,” Golding said. “You have to be careful you don’t get too far ahead. You have to stick with the fundamentals.
“We can’t get going too fast, we have to slow down a little bit. The biggest thing is not putting too much in too quickly. I believe in simplicity. We keep things simple around here.”
As for the women, this part of the year is about learning each other.
“We have all of our players in and we’re excited to get started,” Adams said. “There’s going to be a lot of teaching, a lot of getting to know each other’s games. We have a lot to put in and we’re excited to get the season started. I’m excited about this group.”
The most accomplished returnee, sophomore forward Luisa Vydrova (a Czechian) admits what she was doing Monday wasn’t all that different than what she was doing last Monday, but there was more meaning.
“Honestly, not really,” she said of the difference. “It’s longer, we do more things, but it does feel the same. (Monday) is very exciting, it’s our first official day. We’ve been waiting for this, I can’t wait to start to get work done, to prepare for our season.”
Sophomore David Terrell, coming off a Conference USA freshman of the year season, said there is more urgency now.
“The intensity in practice is the real deal now,” Terrell said. “It’s not just workouts. We’re here, it’s official, we have to be locked in. It’s going to be intense. I’m excited.”
Senior Devon Barnes, the key addition this offseason as a transfer from Tarleton State, echoed that.
“You can feel it, it’s definitely different,” said Barnes, who lived in El Paso when he was in elementary school. “We’re close to basketball season, it’s the best day right now.”
That’s something that hasn’t changed in the continuing evolution of offseason basketball that just became in-season basketball.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP basketball kicks off official practices in anticipation of openers
