In his 28 years as a head coach going from community college all the way to Michigan, Kevin Borseth can’t recall having a team younger than he does with this year’s Wolverines.

Six freshmen and three sophomores dot the Michigan women’s basketball roster - a bunch of inexperience for a team that lost four starters from a 10-20 team a season ago.

“Our task is a lot more difficult than somebody who is returning five starters,” Borseth said at Michigan’s women’s basketball media day. “…We don’t have experience, so our task will be much different than it will be down the road at Michigan State or at Ohio State, for that matter.

“Do we prepare our kids? I think you always prepare for the worst thing that can happen to them regardless if you’re sitting on top of the world or not sitting on top of the world. So we’ll prepare our kids for the worst possible thing whether it’s play by play, which is how we’re going to take it, or game by game.”

Not to say, though, that Borseth and his players don’t have some optimism entering 2009-10. The third-year Michigan coach believes his team will have speed and that by playing young players, the future will be better.

Michigan returns one starter, junior guard Veronica Hicks, who averaged 8 points and 3.9 rebounds a game last year, and senior center Krista Phillips has averaged 8.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in her career at Michigan.

The six freshmen Michigan brought in, led by guards Jenny Ryan and Dayeesha Hollins and guard/forward Nya Jordan, all have a high level of athleticism - something the Wolverines may have been missing in years past. Ryan was Michigan’s Miss Basketball in 2009.

“They have a lot of skill for being freshmen and a lot of athleticism,” sophomore guard Courtney Boylan said. “Whereas, like me and Carmen (Reynolds), we had to gain our athleticism, kind of.

“…So for the freshmen, naturally they are more athletic than we were last year. So that can help. They may lack the experience but in practice, they know a lot about the game already.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.