It has been four months since the season came to an abrupt end at the hands of eventual national champion Connecticut; but so far, this off-season has been a solid one for coach Bill Fennelly and his staff.

“Overall the off-season has been good,” Fennelly said. “It’s hard to tell specifically, because we see our kids, but we can’t work them out or anything like that. From a basketball standpoint, it’s hard to tell, but almost all of them are here. So far there have been no major injuries or anything like that.”

Things went from being at an all-time high, former guard Alison Lacey getting drafted by the Seattle Storm, to an all-time low, the possible end of the Big 12 Conference.

However, now that the conference realignment issue has been settled, the Cyclones can focus all their attention on the upcoming season without too much distraction.

“We’re glad [talks of realignment] are behind us,” Fennelly said. “After everything finished, I e-mailed our players and told them our league got better, and we have to understand that. We have to go into that with excitement. Now, we turn the page, now we’re going to play these people, and we have to be excited to compete against them.”

After silencing critics last season by making a surprising return trip to the Sweet 16, Fennelly will have his hands full as the Cyclones once again enter the season as a very young team.

Despite losing Lacey and fellow guards Whitney Williams, Denae Stuckey, Shellie Mosman, Anna Florzak and forward Genesis Lightbourne, the Cyclones still have a significant amount of experience returning.

Guard Kelsey Bolte will be the lone senior on the team, while junior guard Chassidy Cole will compete for the starting point guard position this season.

Bolte will enter the season being asked to take on an even bigger leadership role than before, as she will be the team’s captain for 2010-2011.

“[Bolte] is the person who has to be the leader and at least keep people organized,” Fennelly said. “Her personality is a little more laid-back, and another thing that happens is when you’re not the point guard, it’s hard to be the leader of a team. So, it’s going to have come to her through the summer, and we’ll see how it goes next year.”

Sophomore forwards Chelsea Poppens, Jessica Schroll and Amanda Zimmerman all return after experiencing a strong freshman campaign, while sophomore center Anna Prins returns after earning an All-Freshman Team Honor last season.

For those four freshmen, this off-season has been their first off-season. Because of this, Fennelly wanted to make sure each of them knew the importance of taking this off-season to improve in every aspect, both on and off the court.

“Almost all [our freshmen], with the exception of Poppens, missed some time during the year,” Fennelly said. “So the biggest thing for them is take advantage of summer school, take advantage of getting strength and conditioning and use this time to really work on their skill sets; in particular things we talked about during our post-season meetings.”

With almost all of their starting lineup and a number of players with experience playing in the Big 12 returning, the Cyclones look poised to make a trip to the Sweet 16 for the third straight season.