UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Rachid Meziane finished up another practice Wednesday, neither overjoyed nor overly concerned. This is going to be a process, to make the kind of basketball he knows work in the WNBA, and it is just beginning.

“Ah, it’s never perfect,” he said. “We can see, we can recognize our team needs time, needs hard work, because most of our players have never played in the W, never played together. We’ll have to have patience for chemistry as a team, but all the players are very enthusiastic to learn from each other. We have a lot to teach them.”

As chemistry goes, this is an interesting concoction. The Connecticut Sun’s management reached across the pond to replace Stephanie White, who left after leading the franchise deep into the playoffs both seasons. Meziane, born in France, who made his name coaching French and Belgian teams, the latter in the Paris Olympics, will try to blend that Euro-style of basketball, more emphasis on passing and discipline, in a league known for its physical nature.

“I am someone who likes having players with a high basketball IQ,” Meziane said, “and there are times when the game is too physical. I want to complement that physicality with a smarter game. Sometimes I have to adjust myself, because we have big talent in The W, we have physicality, I just want to complement my game style to this. I do think that’s why I am here. When Jen (Rizzotto) and Morgan (Tuck) hired me, it was to integrate my style to The W.”

Playing tough and physical has most particularly been a signature of the recent, successful Sun teams. This figures to be a different look. The Sun lost or traded all five starters from last season, when they lost in the semifinals. The notion that this will be a rebuild, perhaps a lost or painful summer for a loyal fanbase, is fashionable. And never completely quelled are the murmurs about a move to Boston, which has not yet put in a bid for an expansion team … which may or may not mean something here.

But the Sun have been written off before and resurfaced, regardless of offseason transactions. The WNBA may not be as predictable as other sports and leagues; some players play overseas and come back better, or can come back worn down. Rookies come in right from the college season with no break. Some players, this off-season, played in the new 3-on-3 Unrivaled league and could come back with new skills — or need time to reacclimate to the conventional game.

Throw in a new coach with a completely different basketball template, and who is to say whether the rest of the league will be caught off guard and have to figure out what he’s doing, rather than the other way around?

“The biggest surprise to me is, the players accept the workload,” Meziane said. “We can practice very hard, we can have a long practices, that’s something we don’t have in Europe. We do shorter practices.”

With this entirely new and mostly younger roster, Meziane will have to figure out what will work and what will not. Players will have to take a step in his direction, he says, and stepping forward to emphasize his point, he will have to meet them halfway.

“He’s implemented some great things, actually,” said Marina Mabrey, one of the Sun’s returning players. “A lot of times in The W, it only goes to a couple of players. Right now, we’re playing with everybody, and helping people understand what they’re good at in the course of a ball-moving offense. There’s no three-second clock in the lane in Europe, but he knows that, he’s played and watched in different parts of the world, so he knows there’s a three-second clock in the lane and we can get the ball inside a little bit easier, so it doesn’t have to be kicked out as much and there doesn’t have to be as much cutting. He knows that. He’s showed us that he knows what he’s doing.”

Meziane, 45, has settled in near his new job, his wife and children to come over from France and join him for the summer. The edges are coming off his accent as he teaches his concepts. The Sun brought in two players, Haley Peters and Kariata Diaby, who have played for Meziane before and Amy Okonkwo, who has played pro ball in France. Veterans like Tina Charles, the former UConn star, and Diamond DeShields, have seen just about anything.

“It’s just adapting to a new system,” said Olivia Nelson-Ododa, also from UConn and in her third season with the Sun. “That comes with lots of communication, lots of understanding each other, helping each other out through different sets. For us, it’s just a big learning process right now. With this group we have, it’s definitely possible for it to happen, it’s a process of trusting the coach and (teammates) and vice versa.”

The new-look Sun lost their first exhibition game in Seattle by 20, and now play the defending champion Liberty in Brooklyn on Friday for their final tune-up. Both teams, like all other Sun opponents at the outset, have been playing together longer. Meziane, too, is balancing the need to get players healthy and rested with the need to get them reps together on the court, in and out of games.

What emerges from the lab experiment could, frankly, be refreshing, or it could be Frankenstein. Ready or not, the games that count begin May 18, against Washington at Mohegan Sun Arena.

“We’re going to be shooting logo 3s,” Mabry said. “We’re going to up with 3s, fast play, young, run, it’s going to be close games. I don’t foresee us blowing teams out, but we’re going to fight, we’re going to play hard, we’re going to bring that mentality that they had here last year about the culture and playing hard. We’re going to keep that.”

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