MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — 32 weeks after leaving Iowa City with a loss and ending Mark Kellogg's first season as WVU head coach, the Mountaineers hope to capitalize on a preseason of anticipation Tuesday when they host Towson to open the regular season.

After a 25-8 season that included an advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Kellogg welcomes back four starters and expects them to match the depth of experience on their roster. During the offseason, Kellogg added six new players to the roster and the Mountaineers enjoyed a trip to Europe in August.

“It’s a long preseason in basketball. I think maybe we got a little comfortable. And so we had to feel a little uncomfortable again and remember it. I think we were able to reset a little bit. “Once we reset, I think we’ve been really, really good since then,” Kellogg said.

“I just feel like it took a while to get to this point. Now I'm kind of at the stage of, hey, wait, slow down, give me a few more days to get everything sorted out. I think it's a little bit of everything. It seems like it took a while, but we worked really hard. We had the trip abroad, the whole preseason, all the training. This group is ready and we're coming back a lot. I’m looking forward to seeing the new kids when the lights come on.”

In Kellogg's first season, WVU started 13-0 and suffered one loss until the first week of January. Kellogg doesn't necessarily expect his team to be midseason for the Nov. 5 opener.

“We will no longer look the same as we did at the end of the year. It's sometimes hard for the fans. It's the last memory of what we did at the end of the year and you forget that it's all new again. It's just that identity that we're going to come in and play hard, we're going to compete, we're going to share the basketball, we're going to move it, we're going to be excited. I think as a coach you're always prepared for the fact that the first quarter might not look as ascetically enjoyable as you'd like just because you're so excited.

“I don't know if you, as a normal person, would think that the whole thing would look completely different if you just came and watched us play. There are some optimizations in the offense, we play a little differently and we have liked these up to date.”

With six new players and two returning redshirt players, Kellogg will have a much larger bench to handle the 29-game regular season. Auburn transfer guard Sydney Shaw is perhaps the most high-profile addition to the roster. She made 43 starts and played in 63 games at Auburn.

“Being here forces you to be a smart basketball player and not just rely on athleticism or instincts. I think my understanding of the game has grown a lot since my time here,” Shaw said.

“We are right there. I think it has a lot to do with coaching. Look at these great teams and they have great coaches. Great players want to play for great coaches.”

“She wasn’t the most efficient player at Auburn,” Kellogg said. “But we knew she had the skills. It was just a matter of showing her what shots to take and giving her the confidence to take them when she was open. I think she just feels that she has the freedom to get the right shot. And she knows, for the most part, what those right shots are.”

“She makes an effort every day to come in,” WVU fifth-year forward Kylee Blacksten said. “She shoots extra and is always willing to listen and learn from the program. I think she’s going to do great things here.”

Shaw is from Miami, Florida.

“It's a big difference. I've never been this far north. People are different. The food is different. I look outside and it's completely different. When I first moved here, I think a groundhog stood at my door and asked me, “What's going on?” It's cool. You give me a ball and a court and I’m happy.”

Shaw will join returning starters JJ Quinerly and Jordan Harrison in the backcourt. With more depth upfront, the 6-foot-2 Blacksten should be able to move further away from the basket to her natural position.

“Growing up, I was more of a guard than anything else,” Blacksten said. “When I got here I learned how to play more of the five games and the post game. Since I can stretch the floor a little more, I’m very excited to see what can come out of it.”

“It depends on how we want to play and who we’re playing against,” Kellogg said. “Probably some so Kylee can play the five. She won't be the big, badass guy of five. That's not what we're going to ask her to do. But she can stretch the floor and create space, which gives those guards more room on the rim.”