OXFORD — After lobbying for summer contact with their players for years, college basketball coaches finally are getting the extra access, and the new rule couldn’t come at a better time for Miami University’s John Cooper.

The RedHawks’ first-year coach wrapped up his first of an allowed eight weeks of practice Friday at Millett Hall, giving the squad a welcomed head start on a multi-pronged acclimation process.

“I’m doing skill work and getting to know the players, and they’re getting familiar with us, getting used to hearing our voices and the way we coach and the new terminology,” Cooper said. “Certainly it’s going to be a quicker pace than they’re used to, so I want them to get familiar with that as well. But more than anything else, they need to get familiar with each other.”

In order to be eligible for summer activity, a student-athlete must be enrolled in summer classes, which makes the new rule especially valuable for incoming freshmen.

“I call the freshmen ‘puppies,’ and I don’t expect them to be walking around here lost, wondering what to do,” Cooper said. “That’s why we’ve got the upperclassmen. That’s why you take care of them and make sure they get to where they’re supposed to go. Show them around and make them feel comfortable.

“Chemistry starts off the court,” Cooper added. “In this day and age of the iPad and iPhone and the head buds in your ears, this generation doesn’t have just voice-to-voice communication as much. It’s a time for them to be around each other. It’s time for a freshman to ask an upperclassmen, ‘Hey I’m lost. How do I get to this?’ That’s part of teamwork. That’s part of building team chemistry.”

Miami junior guard and Middletown High School graduate Allen Roberts said he remembers his days as an incoming freshman, stepping on campus along with the rest of the student body and feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to learn new buildings, new neighbors, new schedules, new teammates and new coaches.

“This is a great opportunity for them,” Roberts said. “It’s a whole new game, a whole new pace than it was in high school. This is a great way for them to come in without a lot of pressure and get used to everything.”

One of the three new freshmen finding their way around Oxford is another former Middletown standout in Geovonie McKnight.

“I’m trying to take advantage of everything,” he said. “Not just basketball, but school-wise. I’m hitting the books and getting used to how it really is to be in college. It seems like a family here with the new players and the new coaching staff. We’re eating, sleeping, doing everything together this summer, and that’s going to be real big for us to bond heading into the season.”