The University of Maine men’s basketball team will get a fast-break jump on its peers in the America East Conference this weekend as the Black Bears hit the hardwood for real during a four-day holiday weekend trip to Canada.

“This is just a tremendous head start,” said Maine men’s coach John Giannini, whose revamped lineup will be smaller and faster following the loss of Maine’s entire starting frontcourt, one of the league’s best last year. “This will allow us to do the intense competition now and then the first week of regular practice [which begins Oct. 18], we can focus more on individual development than competition, which hardly anyone gets to work much on.”

The Bears left Friday afternoon and will be in action Saturday at 7 p.m., when they meet the Saint Mary’s University Huskies in the second game of the AT&T NCAA Basketball Showcase at the Halifax (Nova Scotia) Metro Centre.

The rest of the weekend schedule includes a Sunday tourney game either at 2 or 4 p.m. against the University of Prince Edward Island or Dalhousie University, a flight to St. John’s, Newfoundland to play Memorial University on Monday and then the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton Tuesday before returning home.

The trip is possible through an NCAA exemption to the regular-season schedule format which allows an NCAA team to participate in one international competitive trip every four years, provided the trip does not coincide with classes. This weekend, being Columbus Day weekend, allows the Bears to play without interrupting anyone’s class schedule.

The trip also allows a somewhat young Maine squad to work out some kinks, develop some chemistry, get in game shape, and grab some game experience.

“First of all, when I saw the potential of this trip, I thought it would benefit our post players in getting experience and confidence,” Giannini said. “The second thing is we’ll see what works best for us offensively and defensively. We hope to answer a lot of those preseason questions early.”

The fact the preseason begins in earnest for Maine and every other team Oct. 18, just four days after the team returns home, means there shouldn’t be much letdown or lethargy in between.

“The benefits are so significant that the only potential downfall is burnout, so we’re really going to pay attention to that the first week,” said Giannini. “We want to continue to improve, but not burn out.”

Giannini and his staff have a lot of people and combinations and role assignments to look at and evaluate. Included in a slew of new personnel are 6-foot-4 junior college swingman Jermaine Jackson of Pahokee, Fla.; 6-10 freshman forward-center Olli Ahvenniemi of Finland; 6-3 guard Chris Bruff of West Hartford, Conn.; and two transfers – South Portland native Chris Markwood, a 6-3 junior guard from Notre Dame; and Ernest Turner, a 6-2 junior guard from Camden, N.J., who transferred from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Both Markwood and Turner will miss the Canada trip as they are ineligible to play in any games until the current fall semester ends (Dec. 20).