VERMILLION, S.D. -- It's been a long and difficult road for Roman Gentry, a highly gifted former Sioux City East basketball all-stater who now plays for the University of South Dakota Coyotes.

Gentry, named the Iowa Class 4A player of the year at the end of a stellar prep career in which he scored 1,294 points, fourth-best in metro history, began his collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He played in 26 games as a freshman during the 2006-07 season, but then, after starting four of 10 as a sophomore, decided to leave the school.

The 6-foot-4 guard, then, had to sit out the rest of that season (2007-08) and half of last season before regaining his eligibility for 18 games at USD last season. Gentry averaged 12.2 points in those games, with a career-high of 30 against Mayville State.

Thursday, during the USD media day, Gentry said he's looking forward to playing a full season with the Coyotes, although it'll be his last collegiate campaign.

"I haven't really played a full season since my freshman year, so I can't wait to get going," said Gentry. "I'm excited to get out there and play and see what I can do, and I know since I've already played at a big-time college, my leadership will help the other guys as well.

"It helped that I got to play a half-season last year, but it was bad because I love to play, so finally getting back out there to play is going to be a lot of fun. We have a lot of potential on this team, so if we all come together it's going to be a great year for us."

"It will be big having Roman for a full season," said South Dakota Coach Dave Boots, beginning his 22nd season at the Coyote helm. "This is a really good kid whose career has been interrupted. He wanted to come back to USD after one year in Milwaukee and wound up not being released, so he had to stay there and then made the decision to come here, so he had to sit out that year for us and another half-year last year.

"He's a very talented shooter and the best athlete on our team. Having a full year and a summer of working out with us and knowing what we're doing, I think he's going to be one of our best players."

South Dakota, beginning its second transitional season as an NCAA Division I program, is stepping up to play the "big boys," so to speak, this season.

The Coyotes, 20-9 last season for their seventh consecutive 20-win season, are heading into uncharted waters. Not only will they be competing in the Great West Conference for the first time, but their schedule includes several talented Division I programs, including Texas Tech, Oregon State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the first three foes of the season in the Duel in the Desert Classic in Lubbock, Texas, next Friday through Sunday.

USD also plays at Marquette, Drake, Wyoming and Kansas State.

"I'm not sure we'll learn a ton about our team in those first three games simply because of the level of teams we're playing," said Boots. "They're really going to expose everything we can't do, so we'll see if we can take some things out of that tournament that are on the positive side.

"We know it's going to be a very tough task as we move along in this transition, but I think it will help us in the long run. Playing some of those teams and going into those arenas will be good for our guys. It motivated them to work harder during the off-season because the biggest difference we saw in the few Division I teams we played last season was the strength."

The Coyotes return three starters in seniors Tyler Cain and Steve Smith, along with sophomore Louie Krogman. Cain, a 6-8 forward from Rochester, Minn., is the team's top returning scorer (15.4) and rebounder (11.0) and is already the school's all-time shot block leader (264).

Smith, a 6-11 post from Sioux Falls O'Gorman, has battled injuries throughout his career, but has averaged just over 9.1 points in two seasons. Krogman, a 6-1 point guard from White River, S.D., is the state's all-time prep scoring leader with 3,521 points and averaged 12.8 as a freshman last season.

Boots said Gentry and Jake Thomas, a 6-3 freshman from Racine, Wis., will comprise the starting lineup in the season opener. Thomas led St. Catherine's High School to a state championship last season and, according to Boots, could become one of the best shooters in school history.

Junior transfers Kendall Cutler (6-foot) and Mitchell Bouie (6-4), who played together at Western Oklahoma State, should be key reserves. Cutler, in fact, will share time with Krogman at point guard and the two will also be on the court together at times. Freshman posts Dustin Tetzlaff (6-7) and Conrad Krutwig (6-6) will also see playing time.

"We have a good mix of some older guys, some in the middle and a nice group of young guys," said Boots. "Hopefully they will all mesh together and will all be able to contribute in some way this season. We'll figure out our strengths and weaknesses as we start playing, but we're going to have to be quick learners, that's for sure."