Khalil Hartwell has been cleared to play, Kevin Goffney’s nagging injuries are gone and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team is prepared for practice.

“This week is the calm before the storm,” coach John Shulman said. “We’ve had really good workouts, our guys have done well in the weight room, I think we’re in good shape, and we’re ready.”

The Mocs will use their weekly allotment of individual workout time Thursday as a pre-practice before holding their first official practice of the 2008-09 season on Friday.

“Khalil is ready to roll, and we didn’t really know a few months ago if he’d be ready, and I’m really excited for him and for our team,” Shulman said. “We’re all healthy.”

UTC will scrimmage at Auburn on Nov. 1 in a session closed to public and media. Shulman has a few goals for his team before facing the Tigers and matching wits with his good friend, former Mocs coach Jeff Lebo.

A date for the Blue-Gold game has yet to be announced after an initial conflict with the Southern Conference Tipoff, the preseason media day in Charlotte. UTC will face King College in an exhibition game Nov. 6 before beginning the regular season Nov. 15 at Tennessee.

“We have got to get in, during our first two weeks of practice, a base foundation of what we want defensively,” Shulman said. “We’re going to go with a crash course on Chattanooga basketball because we’ve got fall break next week.

“Offensively, I want to see our speed of play the same as last year, and it’s going to be about fundamentals, fundamentals and more fundamentals.”