DENVER – What's new with the MSU Denver men's basketball team?
 
Just about everything.
 
"New style, new system, everything is new," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Michael Bahl said. "New players."
 
As the Roadrunners get set to start the 2020-21 season with a 4 p.m. game Saturday against Nos. 13 and 24 Colorado School of Mines at the Auraria Event Center, only three players return from last year's active roster.
 
And yet, despite practically starting practically from scratch after going 12-16 overall and finishing 12^th in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference at 8-14 last season, the Roadrunners are picked by coaches to finish sixth in the league this time around.
 
So, yes, the talent is there.
 
"We're young, but we've got some veteran guys, too," Bahl said. "Every day in practice has been good for them.
 
"When you're building a successful program, you sustain it with young guys. Half our roster is freshmen and sophomores. But you need senior leadership and some transfers to fill a need. They can help bridge that gap. They all bring something to the table and their stories, their experience, can really help our young guys."
 
Maris Colton, a 6-foot-8 senior forward, is the team's only returning starter and averaged 9.1 points and 5.2 rebounds last season. He averaged 12.3 points over the last 10 games.
 
"The big thing with him is letting the game come to him," Bahl said. "He's a big, athletic kid who can really guard and really rebound, and he's done a phenomenal job working on his game in the offseason. He's shooting the ball really well right now."
 
Colton's nearly-new supporting cast includes Division I transfers Tyrei Randall (Rider), Keyshaad Dixon (Idaho) and Tate Busse (Wichita State), junior college transfers Tonje Durham, Mavrick Gildyard and Xavier Ughutevbe, and a strong freshman class headlined by Class 5A all-staters Kobe Sanders and Obi Agbim.
 
"We're trying to spread the floor more," Bahl said. "We think we've recruited more shooters who can help us do that. We've got guys who can get the ball to the rim (on the drive), and we're always going to play inside-out, but our version of it is going to be a little different than it has been.
 
"We're long and athletic defensively. We're going to be more disruptive and use our size and athleticism to our advantage."
 
The 14-player roster also includes junior college transfer Reggie Gibson (who joined the team as a redshirt at the semester break last season), forward Laolu Oke (who played a regular role off the bench last season) and sharpshooting sophomore Chris Simpson.
 
It also includes six players from the metropolitan Denver area. That's new, too: it's the most for the program since the 2003-04 season.
 
"We want to recruit locally, and high school kids first and foremost," Bahl said. "This last high school class was really strong, and I have to give credit to (assistant coaches) John Bynum and Jeremy Johnston. They hit the recruiting trail and they got these guys here."
 
Christian Speller won a Class 5A state championship as a junior playing alongside Agbim at Rangeview High School in 2019 (the Rangers were unbeaten before last season was halted due to COVID-19). And the freshman class also includes forward Ben Joelson of Dallas.
 
"We feel like we have a really good group of guys," Bahl said. "The one constant we have with our guys is that they've all won before. They are used to winning and they've all played a role on those winning teams – some of them were the best player, some of them were role players, and the more you can find guys who can buy into their roles, that's when you have something special."
 
Also new, of course, is navigating the global pandemic. There have been ups and downs.
 
"You can't manufacture this kind of adversity," Bahl said. "As coaches, you always think your team grows the most when adversity hits and you respond. I couldn't be more proud of the way our guys have responded. We've had scrimmages canceled, even when we've been just outside the gym waiting to go in; we wore masks (in practice), then we didn't wear masks, and now we're wearing masks again. The uncertainty of everything is troublesome, but I also think the game of basketball brings them some solace, a type of continuity and structure to their everyday lives.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of what the guys have done off the floor. They've kept themselves healthy, and they've resisted those temptations off the floor that you can get caught up in."
 
MSU Denver has been ahead of the curve in testing and following protocols – and also benefits from installing a nearly all-online curriculum while having little to no housing on or near campus – and so the Roadrunners have been able to avoid major interruptions due to coronavirus.
 
"In terms of on-court time, I think we're very fortunate to be in the situation we're in," Bahl said. "Not knowing, the uncertainty of things, can really get to kids. There's been times that we've struggled in practice and they're wondering, 'What are we doing here?' But we've told them that we're allowed (per NCAA rules) three scrimmages (against outside teams), and we played all three. We had to cancel and reschedule scrimmages, but we played our three scrimmages. We're going to fight for the guys, and if we're healthy, we're going to try to play."
 
That has continued right up to the start of the season. Originally, the Roadrunners were supposed to play Adams State on Friday, but that game was rescheduled last week due to COVID-19 concerns. Then Black Hills State was added to the schedule earlier this week for the Friday slot, but that game was canceled just under 60 hours before tipoff for the same reason. It leaves MSU Denver with just one game for its opening weekend.

Until further notice, no fans will be allowed to attend MSU Denver home games. The games will be streamed on RoadrunnersTV.
 
"It's an unusual year, because we don't know how many games we're going to get in," Bahl said. "And we want to give these guys some experience. So we'll be playing more players than we typically would, but they understand that they have to earn playing time."