AMHERST - Flu has hampered the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team's preparation for the season without the Minutemen even having a player infected.

The closed scrimmage between UMass and Boston University scheduled for Saturday was called off because of influenza affecting the Terriers.

The teams tried to reschedule the scrimmage for Monday evening but BU was not yet well enough to field a team.

"They're having some issues with injuries and the flu," UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. "We're trying to get another game some time on Thursday."

Against whom is the biggest question. Finding a college to compete against on short notice is difficult and NCAA rules no longer allow schools to pay exhibition opponents as they did in previous years.

"We're working on a lot of different things. We're trying to figure out what's legal by the NCAA rules," Kellogg said. "There's a chance we could put together a team, but they'd have to be willing to come and play on their own. There's enough good players around to put together a decent game for us. It would have to be a closed scrimmage like BU was."

Kellogg had counted on using the scrimmage to better evaluate his team.

"The tough thing is I really needed to play on Saturday or Monday to see where we are as a team," Kellogg said. "Because I don't know, especially against a team like BU, which is picked first in its conference. It is what it is. We're just going to make the best of the situation. On the plus side, I'm not the team with only five guys that are healthy."

The Minutemen will face Division II Dowling at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Mullins Center in their only public exhibition game.

UMass opens the regular season at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 at Central Florida in Orlando.

FULL MEMBERS - Trey Lang and Bud Gaffney are officially members of the Minutemen as their paperwork has been filed and the duo joins the team as walk-ons.

Lang, a 6-foot-7 forward who was a scholarship player for the Minutemen in the 2007-08 season, opted not to play last year. He remained a student at UMass while surrendering his scholarship.

Gaffney, a 6-foot junior guard, began his college career at Wheaton where he averaged 5.4 points and 3.7 assists. He transferred to UMass this summer and will sit out this season under NCAA transfer rules and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

TRAVELING RADIO SHOW - Kellogg's weekly radio show is moving around this season to various restaurants and bars throughout western Massachusetts.

The show will start at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Arizona Pizza Co. in Hadley. It then will move into its regular Thursday time slot at 7 p.m. Dec. 3 at Theodore's in Springfield.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.