Vahe Gregorian offers this update on Mizzou basketball:In what might best be characterized as a working vacation, the Mizzou men’s basketball team over Labor Day weekend took a five-day trip to Ontario, Canada, where it played three exhibition games against outclassed opposition.

But to coach Mike Anderson, the trip was only partly about the results - three wins by an average of 35.3 points. It also was about having the team take the time to see Niagara Falls — “breathtaking,” he called it - as part of a bonding experience.

Mostly, it was about jump-starting the chemistry of a program that will feature seven new players as it attempts to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003 in Anderson’s third season.

“You learn a little bit more about your basketball team, about the incoming players, where the older players are, how they play together,” said Anderson, who used at least eight different lineups in each game and only twice had a player go more than 20 minutes in a game. “What it does is get you maybe a leg up on Oct. 17 (when practice begins) and kind of give the new guys an idea of what’s expected.”

Anderson said he was pleased with what he saw of the “basketball IQ” of the newcomers, including junior transfer Zaire Taylor, a guard who had 18 steals in three games and freshman guard Marcus Denmon, who led MU with 23 points in the second game.

In all, MU got 45.7 percent of its scoring from newcomers.

“We’ve got more options than we had in the past,” he said.

Between the core of returnees such as DeMarre Carroll, Leo Lyons, Matt Lawrence (Lafayette), Justin Safford and J.T. Tiller and the fresh slates to work with, Anderson said he believes this team represents his best chance to put his imprint on the program.

“When I came in, I always said I’m working with what I have, and to me all those guys were my guys,” he said. “But these guys fit in what we’re doing in more ways than one. Not just basketball. To me, character makes a big, big difference.”

Anderson added that he believes he made strong inroads on the culture last season with disciplinary measures in the wake of off-court incidents.

“We’ve dealt with it and we’ve moved on,” he said, adding that overall, “It hasn’t gone the way I would have liked for it to go. But I think as you build anything you’ve got to go through some period of … thunderstorms. If you get through those thunderstorms, you’re going to be OK.”