It may take some time, perhaps several games to answer this year's most obvious UVU men's basketball question: Just who will fill the Great Salt Lake-sized void left by the departure of Ryan Toolson and Josh Olsen?

For now, the answer is everyone.

Utah Valley University is changing, evolving, and as the Wolverines begin their first season in the Great West Conference, they face their biggest challenge since going Division I -- replacing their most prolific scorer.

Toolson averaged 23.8 points per game and if replacing him won't be hard enough, UVU also lost Olsen and his 11.2 points per game.

UVU is coming off a 17-11 season and, now that its provisional transition to Division I is complete, the Wolverines are finally eligible for postseason play.

Since UVU made the transition from a junior college to the Division I level, the Wolverines have not had a losing season.

"There's not a lot of guys still standing after a seven-year provisional to Division I. I feel like it's been a sensational achievement," said UVU coach Dick Hunsaker. "In my personal career, I've achieved nothing greater than what we've achieved at Utah Valley. I'm very happy for the school. I feel a tremendous amount of indebtedness to the players who have been through this who have not had a postseason opportunity to play."

With so much offense missing from last year's team, the pressure will be on UVU to see if it can continue the streak of winning seasons.

Here's a closer look at this year's team.

Guards

Kevin Woods, a 6-foot-1, sophomore, will get the chance to replace Olsen. Woods would likely have had some playing time last year, but tore his ACL in September and missed the entire season.

"He had a very devastating injury. He's still finding his way with it. As a freshman Kevin was, at best, a role player, he played about 10 minutes a game," Hunsaker said. "Losing an entire season of practice -- there was no practice for him -- so it's almost starting over for Kevin, to be honest."

In addition to Woods, Hunsaker has plenty of options at the guard spot. Eric Dearden, a 6-2, junior college transfer from Western Wyoming, averaged 14.0 points per game last year.

Shawn Deadwiler, a 6-3, transfer from Loyola Marymount, also figures to be a key player, along with another JC transfer, Aaron England, a junior from the College of Eastern Utah.

Another player who could emerge as an impact player is Corey Claitt, a 6-1 guard from Garden City Community College. Claitt redshirted last year and is currently serving a three-game suspension for violation of team rules.

Forwards

The Wolverines are well stocked with swing players. Swarbrick averaged 7.5 points per game last year and is the top scoring returning player. He shot .521 from the field.

Another forward, who figures to be heavily involved in the offense is Jourdain Scoubes, a 6-7, senior, who could be the team's top 3-point shooting threat. He averaged 6.4 points per game last year and shot 40 percent from the 3-point line.

Senior Tyray Petty is listed as a guard, but can play any position but the five spot. He gives the team a little of everything. He can score, defend and rebound. His line in the preseason game was a typical Petty performance -- 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Nick Jenson, a 6-7, freshman from Bakersfield, Calif., could also work his way into the mix. Another intriguing player is Lafayette Yarbray, a (6-7) junior college transfer from Denmark Technical College in South Carolina.

Center

Josh Baker figures to have a bigger role this season as UVU will put more emphasis on getting the ball inside. Baker averaged 5.8 points and 3.1 rebounds last year.

"My main focus in the offseason. I wasn't physically ready to have a consistent, positive output last year in the low post. All the games I had that were sub-par were the games I was bumped around the post and I wasn't really doing much, that's what I thought about all spring and summer. I worked hard on my body," Baker said. "This year coming back I feel a lot stronger. My teammates say I look stronger and my coach says I look stronger. Coach has said my physical conditioning is what's going to dictate my success."

UVU's biggest big man is Rory Fannon, a 6-9 sophomore, who gives the Wolverines a big body with a long wingspan in the middle and will be needed in certain matchups. Fannon averaged just seven minutes per game last year, but is improving and should give the team a boost when playing bigger post players.

Schedule

Utah State is the only in-state school left on the schedule. Southern Utah and Weber State had played home-and-home games with UVU in the past, but have opted to skip the Wolverines this year.

"If we can get some more losses and not be competitive, there's an opportunity to get Weber State, and Southern Utah might be interested in renewing their games with us," Hunsaker said. "But if we're able to remain competitive and have success, who decides to play us is their choices, it's not mine. I really say that tongue and cheek because everybody has their own decisions and their programs they're monitoring. I think, frankly, it's a compliment; in fact, it couldn't be a better compliment to our program than those who have decided that this isn't the right time to play the Wolverines."

UVU's biggest name games are at Minnesota and at Cal. UVU also plays at Utah State, but is loaded up with Toolson-transition friendly opponents -- teams like Chadron State, Southern Oregon, Williams Jessup University and Northern New Mexico.

Outlook

UVU's exhibition game, a 77-58 loss to Trinity Western, doesn't look as bad as it appeared considering UVU played without three of its projected key players in Swarbrick, Deadwiler and Claitt.

UVU was picked to finish second in the Great West Conference by the conference coaches. The conference champion has been granted an automatic bid into the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), giving the league's first postseason tournament even more meaning. Great West men's basketball conference tournament champion and will automatically place that winner amongst the field of 16 teams participating in the CIT. This year's conference tournament will be hosted by UVU.

"I think we can win them all. We should be pretty good. We have a well-balanced team. We have nice big men, nice guards. Time will tell," Petty said. "I'm expecting 20 wins this year. You've got to see us play. We should be pretty good."

Related

• No. 24 Minnesota too strong for UVU men's hoops