ORONO — The University of Maine basketball teams enjoyed a great deal of international success over the summer. Now it’s time for the Black Bears to start focusing on more local endeavors.

The start of the regular season is still more than three weeks away, but at their annual Media Day on Wednesday in Memorial Gym, both the men’s and women’s teams looked closer to mid-season form.

That’s because both teams spent about a week in August north of the border, taking on Canadian college teams during a brief basketball tour. The men won four of five games, the women three of four.

“It was a very good experience for us, just to get the feel for how to play together and what the plays are,” junior forward Samantha Wheeler said.

 Sophomore forward Murphy Burnatowski was one of two native Canadians, along with fellow sophomore Ontarian Mike Allison, to return to his native country for the trip.

 “I don’t want to call it a vacation, because we were there for business. But to a point it was an opportunity to hang out with each other in a less formal environment than during the season, which is a little more intense,” Burnatowski said.

Getting the players to spend time together on and off the court was important, according to the coaches.

“It’s a great bonding experience and chemistry experience,” seventh-year men’s coach Ted Woodward said. “At the same time, you get a chance to get a little bit of a head start on basketball, too.”

 “It allowed us to practice early, to compete early,” said Maine women’s basketball head coach Cindy Blodgett, who shortly after the trip was given a two-year contract extension through 2012-13. “It allowed us to integrate all of our newcomers immediately, which makes their transition into practice and preseason and all of this so much easier.”

The men’s team is coming off a 19-11 season, which led to third place in America East in 2010. The women finished eighth in the conference at 8-21, the most wins in Blodgett’s first three years.

Both teams have large numbers back. Each returns eight lettermen, including four starters for the men and three for the women.

Maine’s America East peers hold the men’s returnees in higher regard than the women’s team. The women were picked to finish eighth in the conference’s preseason poll, the men third.

The men also generated some national buzz, having been selected by ESPN to have its Feb. 12 game broadcast on ESPNU and also to participate in the network’s annual “Bracket Busters” event against a yet-to-be-announced opponent.

“It’s definitely new for this team,” said junior guard Gerald McLemore, a preseason all-conference selection. “The way we’re approaching it is not to put too much pressure on ourselves and to go into the season like we did last season, motivated and together.”

Maine’s leading scorer last year, McLemore (14.6 ppg) leads a veteran nucleus that includes co-captains Troy Barnies of Auburn and Sean McNally of Gardiner. Barnies and McNally are two  of four seniors, along with reserves Malachi Peay and Terrance Mitchell.

“For this year, the only thing that changes for me and Sean and Terrance and Malachi is that we’re seniors, and this is it,” said Barnies, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds last year. “We know that either we get it done now or we don’t get it done at all.”

Blodgett continues her rebuilding project with leading scorer Wheeler (10.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg) in tow, along with fellow starters point guard Katelyn Vanderhoff and forward Corinne Wellington, both sophomores.

Maine could be bolstered further by the return of a number of injured players, including their only senior, Tanna Ross, who played in only nine games last year due to a broken foot that was operated on last spring.

Blodgett had to cancel the Bears’ annual Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage scheduled for Sunday, because of a lack of healthy bodies. But the former Maine star guard doesn’t want injuries to be a major topic in preseason.

“Everyone’s constantly asking me about the injuries, and my whole thing is this — we have 14 people on the roster. We have healthy players that are really working their tails off, and that’s what we need to focus on,” she said. “Injuries are a part of the game. Every team experiences them. (The players) will get back as they get healthy. It’s that simple. Us hoping and wishing and all that won’t make it any quicker.”

The women will play their first exhibition on Halloween against Husson, then open the regular season Nov. 13 at home against Harvard. Their conference schedule starts Jan. 2 at unanimous conference favorite Boston University.

The men will play their Blue-White scrimmage Sunday, with one exhibition against Cape Breton scheduled for Oct. 30 before tipping off their regular season on Nov. 12 at Utah Valley St. The America East slate begins at home against BU on Jan. 2.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Woodward said. “There are a lot of really good seniors in this league. There are probably six or seven teams that can win the league this year. We’re just trying to get better every single day in practice, eliminate some of our weaknesses, play to some of our strengths, get these new guys acclimated with us. Then once we get our first game, our goal will be to win that game, and we’ll just keep those goals going all the way through.”

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