Herschel Rodgers returns to the 2009-10 Park University men's basketball lineup after averaging 11 points and six rebounds per game in 2008-09. The Pirates take on Livin' the Dream Saturday at 3 p.m., at Breckon Sports Center.

PARKVILLE, Mo. – For the first time in a decade, Park University will again know conference basketball, and the Pirates will have to tackle a schedule 14 non-conference and 14 league games with a roster of eight returners and 11 incoming players.

Park has been an NAIA Division I independent basketball program throughout the tenure of fifth-year head coach Jason Kline, but in 2009-10, the Pirates will re-enter the American Midwest Conference, the same league the school departed nine seasons ago.

In their first season back as an AMC member, the Pirates must replace seven seniors from a 2008-09 roster that went 16-14, ending the year in the 2009 A.I.I. semifinals with a four-point loss to Crichton.

Park’s eight returning players will be looked upon as leaders to begin the year, including a pair of starters from last season. Herschel Rodgers is one of only three seniors on the roster, and Rodgers is the only senior who cracked the starting lineup last year, playing in all 30 games for the Pirates with 28 starts.

Rodgers averaged 11 points and six rebounds per game last season, leading all returners in both categories. He also led the team in steals, picking opponents pockets 46 times while also collecting 10 blocked shots on the year.

Reco Anderson also returns to the starting lineup as a sophomore after averaging 8.1 points per game in his freshman season, including 32-of-77 from above the 3-point arc. Anderson’s production picked up as the year moved forward, averaging 20.9 minutes per game with 11 double-figure scoring games, including a career-high 22 points in a win at Peru State.

Rodgers also produced a career-high 21 points against Peru State, and during the year, he piled up 17 double-figure scoring games with three double-doubles.

“We’ll rely heavily on our eight returners to lead us, especially those two guys who started for us last year,” Kline said. “There’s going to be a learning curve for the new guys with all the stuff we do both offensively and defensively, but it has to come quick if we’re going to be successful. Our returners really have to lead the way and help get the newcomers ready for the schedule in front of us.”

The Pirates also return Philip Garnett, Tyler Price, Jeremy Voorhees, Vince Langkamp and Eduardo Quintero off of last season’s roster, and Terrell Dyer comes back to the Park men’s basketball program after sitting out the last two seasons.

Dyer last appeared for the Pirates during the first half of the 2006-07 campaign, helping the Pirates to 12 wins in 16 games prior to the holiday break. Dyer averaged more than 12 points in those 16 contests, and is listed as a senior on the 2009-10 roster.

Voorhees is Park’s third senior after playing in two games last season, and the junior class is led by Philip Garnett and Eduardo Quintero, who both saw valuable minutes last season. Langkamp and Price join Anderson in the class of returning sophomores.

Park’s newcomer-group includes six junior college transfers from four different states. Michael and Brandon Ferguson, twins from Bay Shore, N.Y., attended and played for Nassau Community College last season, both averaging more than five rebounds per game inside, while Derrick Howard and Travis Fairley have also traveled the same road to Parkville, coming out of Alexandria, La., and Kansas City Kansas Community College.

Fairly will play in the post and on the wing for the Pirates after averaging 15 points per game at KCK last season, while Howard will fight for playing time at the point guard position after averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 assists last year.

Goldeng Deng, a transfer from Southeast Community College (Neb.) and Stone Mountain, Ga., will provide depth in the backcourt after posting better than seven points per game a year ago, and Jordan White rounds out the junior college class, coming to Park from Otero Community College. A product of Denver, Colo., White averaged five points and five rebounds per game last season at OCC.

In addition to the junior college transfers, one freshman will also get his first taste of four-year college basketball this season, as Blayke Ladd comes to the Pirates from Edmond Memorial High School in Edmond, Okla., where he broke the school record for assists in 2009.

“It’s going to be tough for the new guys to adjust, but they’re a talented group,” Kline said. “We’re going to go at it in practice, and if they do all the right things, they’ll be ready when it’s time to play. With the schedule we play, we have to bring intensity every time out, and we’ll really rely on these guys to step up when we need them.”

Park’s roster will also feature three NCAA Division I transfers in Juston Hairston (Western Michigan), Mark Halsell (Kentucky) and Kyle Rausch (Missouri State), as well as a transfer from an NAIA Division II program, Rudy Harper, who played last season at Mount Marty College in Yankton, S.D.

Harper was Mount Marty’s leading scorer last season at 11.7 points per game while also leading the Great Plains Athletic Conference in steals with 77 and 2.48 per game. Halsell played in six games for Billy Gillespie’s Kentucky team in 2008-09, helping the Wildcats to an NIT appearance, while Hairston appeared once for Western Michigan in a 71-58 win over Detroit.

Rausch will not play for the Pirates until the second semester of the 2009-10 season, and at Missouri State, he was a two-sport athlete, playing both football and basketball for the Bears. In his last season on the basketball floor, Rausch appeared in 31 games, averaging 2.2 points per game.

The Pirates will begin the season with 13 non-conference games before play begins in the AMC, starting Nov. 2 at home against Central Methodist University. Park will also make appearances in tournaments at MidAmerica Nazarene, Evangel and Rockhurst, with non-conference games also scheduled against William Jewell, Kansas Wesleyan and Peru State before the holiday break.

Conference play begins January 7 at home against Missouri Baptist before a four-game conference road trip through Columbia, Williams Baptist and Harris-Stowe State. The AMC also includes NAIA national power McKendree, as well as William Woods and Hannibal-LaGrange. The league’s ninth member, Stephens, does not sponsor men’s basketball. During conference play, Park will play its final non-league game on Feb. 13, hosting Central Bible at Breckon Sports Center.

“Our non-conference schedule is as tough as it’s ever been, and with the addition of the conference games, we play one of the best schedules around,” Kline said. “There are no nights off in our league, and our non-conference schedule will have to get us ready for that. It’s going to be tough, and we have to be up to the challenge.”

Saturday, the Pirates will play their first and only exhibition game of the 2009-10 season, taking on Livin’ the Dream at approximately 3 p.m. The game will follow Park’s women’s game against LTD, which is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Both games can be watched live online from Breckon Sports Center at www.park.edu/sportslive, with live statistics available at www.parkathletics.com/livestats.