By NICK McQUEEN

nmcqueen@dailynews.net

What new coach Tony Hobson would like to see his team do and what his Fort Hays State University women's basketball team have the ability to do might be two different things.

Entering a transition year under a new coach, the Tigers will be forced to make due, according to Hobson, who brings a new idea to the Tigers.

Known for his push-the-tempo, fly-around style, Hobson admits his Tigers might struggle under the new system, but will be as competitive as they can be.

The new season gets underway in tournament action Saturday and Sunday at Emporia State University. The Tigers will take on Tabor College at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Avila (Mo.) College at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

"It's went about as well as could be expected," Hobson said of the preseason. "Every is new. Half of them are new to each other and they're all new to me."

Fans had their first look at the Tigers in a 93-37 exhibition loss last week at the University of Kansas, a game where Fort Hays could never really muster much in the way of scoring, but it did provide Hobson with an opportunity to break down his team's strengths and weaknesses.

"We've made some good strides since our exhibition game, which we needed to do," Hobson said. "You're always going to have one disaster than you have a chance to break things down and figure out what went wrong."

The Tigers return three starters from a team that finished 12-15 a year ago under former coach Annette Wiles, who resigned to take a position with the University of Minnesota-Duluth following a 6-12 run through the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.

Junior guard Naomi Bancroft, junior guard Kayla Klug and junior forward Erica Biel all return, along with just two other players with experience a year ago.

Bancroft is the Tigers' leading returning scorer, averaging 12.2 points a year ago, shattering school records in 3-point field goals made (86) and attempted (245) a year ago.

Bancroft has the green light and will be counted on for scoring in the high-tempo system.

"She has pretty good judgement," Hobson said of Bancroft. "She knows what a good shot for her is."

Bancroft and newcomer Audra Binford could provide the Tigers' scoring threat on the deep ball. Binford, a 6-foot transfer from Seward County, can shoot from long range as well.

"The main thing is just getting them used to the intensity level I expect out of them on every play," Hobson said. "The way we want to play and the way we'll be forced to play this year might not be exactly the same."

Hobson joins the Tigers from Hastings (Neb.) College, where he won back-to-back NAIA national championships in his first two seasons (2001-02 & 2002-03) and led the Lady Broncos to another title in 2005-06. Hobson also coached at Barton County Community College and Cloud County Community College, where he began his coaching career.

Hobson's style is fast-paced, and relies on rebounding and running the floor.

"You want to force the tempo defensively,"  Hobson said. "We want to play full-court defense and in order to do that, you need to be able to go pretty deep."

Rebounding, though, could be an issue, Hobson said. Six-foot-2 sophomore Alyse Bessert is the Tigers' tallest player, but saw limited playing time a season ago. Biel will be counted on for her inside presence.

"We're going to ask the kids to play a lot out of position,"  Hobson said.

Saturday's opponent, Tabor, provides a good matchup for the Tigers to get things going, Hobson said.

"I don't know a whole lot about them, other than they are fairly small,"  Hobson said. "We should match up with them size-wise."

Fort Hays' early schedule includes four NAIA opponents with Bethany College in town on Tuesday for the Tigers' home opener at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Play in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association begins Dec. 5 against conference-newcomer University of Nebraska-Omaha.