The UW-Parkside men’s basketball team had no other option.

After turning in their first losing season in four years — a disappointing 7-20 overall and 3-15 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference — the Rangers grabbed a sledgehammer and started swinging.

With All-American LaVontay Fenderson competing professionally overseas and a collection of players once thought of as building blocks of the program long gone, Parkside enters the season with just three returning scholarship players.

“We took a step back in how we wanted to run our program last year,” said UW-P coach Luke Reigel, whose team hosts Concordia in the season opener at noon today.

“When you look back, obviously a lot of things went wrong but a couple things stood out. First of all, we didn’t have the right type of pieces to fit our system. Secondly, we didn’t play hard enough. There were a lot of nights where we were outworked and that’s never been the case before. We wanted to correct that and I’m pretty sure we have.”

Senior guard Devon Irven (1.8 ppg), sophomore guard Sam Katula (4.9 ppg) and junior forward Craig Cunningham (4.3 ppg) combined for just 16 starts last year. When you add six freshmen and three junior college transfers to the mix, its a brand new team at the DeSimone Gymnasium.

“One thing that really stands out about our new players and they guys we kept is that they play the game the right way,” Reigel said. “They play hard, compete and love to play. The one thing we’ve always prided our program on is being skilled and playing hard. With the group returning and the guys we brought in, that’s definitely the case.”

The Rangers are excited for the much-anticipated debut of freshman Steve Jaskulske. The former Racine Case standout redshirted last year and became a dominant force in practice, only to suffer a knee injury last April. The 6-7 forward underwent surgery and could return in time for the conference opener on Dec. 3 against Rockhurst.

“We’re looking for big things from him,” Reigel said. “He has the ability to score around the basket, is a very good rebounder and has really made strides in learning how hard you have to play. The sky is the limit for him.”

Irven, one of its top defenders, will likely start at point guard and be backed up by freshmen Ryan Callozzo and Jamere Dismukes. Also in the backcourt will be Katula and Madison Area Technical College transfer Grant Johnson.

Johnson, a former Tremper and Christian Life standout, has been the team’s biggest surprise, said Reigel.

“Like all of the wing (players) we’ve had that have been very good for us, he has the ability to score in a bunch of different ways,” Riegel said. “He can put it on the floor and get to the hoop, he shoots the three pretty well and what we like with bigger guards is the ability to post up and score around the basket.”

Freshmen Jeremy Saffold and Kevin Senechalle, Zach Blesich and Dwayne Edwards and Cunningham will compete for starting spots in the post. Cunningham is sidelined with a hamstring injury and is expected to return next week.