Bill Fennelly has seen a lot of different teams pass through Iowa State over the last two decades.

He’s attended numerous NCAA tournaments and had several former athletes play professionally. The Iowa native was a three-time finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award, and even won three gold medals coaching for the USA U18 and U19 teams.

There’s something about this year’s team, however, that’s different than any other he’s coached.

“We may, of all the teams that I’ve coached, have the most inexperience in the post,” Fennelly said. “Most returning post players have played very little, if at all. That’s certainly something that we’re going to have to show up.”

Two freshmen have put themselves in position to fill in the post position left vacant by Hallie Christofferson, who graduated last spring. Bryanna Fernstrom and Claire Ricketts were the two main posts when the team traveled to Italy last summer and Fennelly says he expects them both to play a lot.

Fernstrom, a 6-foot 5-inch post from Center City, Minnesota, averaged nearly 26 points and more than 13 rebounds per game. The McDonalds All-American nominee got to travel with the team to Italy this summer, something she says helped her adjust to the new team.

“It’s much more intense than high school, but that was expected,” Fernstrom said. “Playing with the girls I think gave us the upper hand against other schools because we had chemistry starting out. It was nice playing with the girls.”

The other freshman that will see time in the post is Claire Ricketts. Ricketts, who led her team to four-straight Texas high school final fours, is the all-time leading rebounder in John Paul II High School history.

Both Fernstrom and Ricketts, along with the other post players, each bring something different to the team, something that junior Nicole Blaskowsky has seen first hand.

“Individually, every one of them brings a different type of post player to the table,” Blaskowsky said. “They all bring something different, and for us guards we just need to work together and find out what situations we should put them in and what situations we shouldn’t put them in. They’ve been busting their hump, and its definitely going to pay off.”

With the lack of experience in the post position, the coaching staff has thought about working in a five-guard set. While that’s something that they are still considering, they said it will just depend on the situation at hand.

“It’s something that we may have to venture to,” said assistant coach Latoja Schaben. “It is the Big 12 and most Big 12 teams have two post players, so we have to get ours developed. We will have to do a little of that, I think it’s just going to be based on who were playing and we’ll go from there.”

Another big difference will be the number of players in the rotation, which Fennelly sees increasing a lot from years past. The depth is something that the Cyclones have not had in a few seasons, but the players only see it helping.

“If they deserve to play, they’re going to play,” Blaskowsky said. “Coach definitely knows what needs to be done, and he’s going to do what has to be done. I think this year there will be more subs and rotations, but that’s good for everybody.”