Hoosiers start season at Maui Invitational

The IU men's basketball team starts their season in paradise tonight. The No. 21 Hoosiers traveled to Hawaii Saturday morning to prepare for tonight's game against Massachusetts. The two teams meet in the first round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.\nThe game, which will be aired on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. tonight, marks the fourth time that IU has played in the Maui Invitational. The last time the Hoosiers were in Hawaii was 1998, when the team fell in the championship game. Overall, IU is 5-4 in the tournament.\n"We're trying to prepare for a higher intensity as far as the other team is concerned," senior guard Kyle Hornsby said. "In Maui, the Big Ten or any other game, there is going to be a lot more pressure defense. We're going to have to get back because they are going to want to push it down the court as fast as they can and that's something we're trying to prepare for."\nIn addition to preparing for a more difficult challenge than the Hoosiers faced in the first two exhibition games, IU spent the week prior to leaving adjusting to the experimental rules that the Hoosiers will see in Maui. IU has to adjust to a wider free throw lane, which had been expanded by two feet. The three-point line has been moved back by nine inches, making the experimental length 20 feet, six inches. The third change is moving the free throw lane block farther back.\nIU played with these new rules in the Nike Elite exhibition game, and went 13-for-24 from the new three-point arc.\nFollowing the Nike Elite win, IU coach Mike Davis made his intentions in Maui clear.\n"Our main focus right now is to work on Maui, to go over there and make a good showing and try to win it," Davis said. "But it's tough when you're playing three straight games."\nThis is the first time the Hoosiers have faced the UMass Minutemen. Last year, UMass finished 13-16 under first-year coach Steve Lappas. Should the Hoosiers beat UMass tonight, they would be facing the winner of the No. 22 Gonzaga-Utah game. \nOne advantage the Hoosiers have going into the tournament was the benefits from the summer conditioning. The IU team has described the six-week intensive workouts as being similar to "boot camp." But these warm weather workouts will make adjusting to the steamy Maui climate easier.\n"The Maui Invite was quite a motivation throughout summer and preseason conditioning," assistant strength and conditioning coordinator Geoff Eliason said. "We had discussed the need to push beyond our limits this summer and preseason in our running to prepare for the adversity that we will face in Hawaii. It was to our advantage that this summer was uncommonly hot for days on end."\nProbable starters for the UMass game are Hornsby, senior guard Tom Coverdale, freshman guard Bracey Wright, senior forward Jeff Newton and junior center George Leach. Junior guard A.J. Moye and freshman guard Marshall Strickland are expected to make early entrances into the game.\nBut the Hoosiers aren't expecting Maui to be all work and no play. The team hopes to get a chance to enjoy the weather and the scenery.\n"I'm bringing two cameras," Strickland said. "I can't wait to see palm trees again, and I'm looking forward to the warm weather"