The ISU women’s basketball team returns a total of seven players to the squad that finished the 2004-05 season with a 23-7 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, but of those seven players, only three played over 100 minutes during the Cyclones’ 30 games.

The knowledge of senior Brittany Wilkins and juniors Lyndsey Medders and Megan Ronhovde will be crucial to an inexperienced Cyclone squad.

Even with the lack of playing time, Medders said she is confident others can fill the shoes of the five departed seniors.

“I think it’s something we have to realize is reality and we can’t do anything to change,” she said. “We’re very confident that the five incomers are going to be a huge factor and anybody else who didn’t contribute this year has an amazing opportunity to step in and play right away.”

Wilkins and Medders both said the Cyclones aren’t going to consider next season an off year. Wilkins said after the success of this season, Iowa State will use next year as a stepping stone to return to the postseason.

“I wouldn’t call it a rebuilding year,” Wilkins said. “We have a pretty good core coming back, and we had a good group of freshmen. We’re always trying to build on the goal of getting back to the tournament again.”

Medders and Ronhovde have the most experience, after averaging more then 30 minutes a game last season. The juniors averaged 9.7 and 9.2 points, respectively. Wilkins played just under nine minutes per game, averaging 4.2 points while leading the Cyclones in field goal percentage, nailing 61.3 percent of her shots.

Two-thirds of the teams offensive output was lost to the graduation, including Anne O’Neil, Katie Robinette and Mary Fox, who all averaged double-digit points per game.

Robinette may be back with the Cyclones, though, pending an appeal with the Big 12 for another year of eligibility.

“No question we lost a lot of things,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly. “Experience, leadership, points, and rebounds. But that’s the nature of college basketball.”

The Cyclones will also be without Tegan Stuart, who was expected to play much more next season. The sophomore left the team late last week to pursue other opportunities. She averaged two points per game and had 16 assists.

“Why we were so successful this year was the balance of the five starters and people who also contributed off the bench,” Medders said. “I doubt it will be any one person coming in and trying to average 25 points a game again. It’s going to have to be the success of a group of people — that’s what basketball is all about.”

Medders said the possible return of Robinette, who averaged 14.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, is great news.

“I’m extremely, extremely excited she made the decision to want to play again,” Medders said. “That’s a lot of points and a lot of rebounds we can’t just count on and assume. So I’d love it, but it’s not going to be final until it’s final.”

With Robinette’s return in doubt until a decision by the Big 12 is reached, Medders said, the team will continue to prepare for next season through the summer months, which includes playing games, running and lifting three to four times a week.

“Everything we do we’re going to try to do it together,” Medders said. “We obviously don’t have any All-Americans on this team, so everything we do is going to have to be done by a group.”