As Bob Dylan once sang and as LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson surely knows, “The times they are a-changing.”The LSU men’s basketball team opening its 2009 season tonight against Louisiana-Monroe in the PMAC will feature just two returning starters — junior point guard Bo Spencer and senior forward Tasmin Mitchell — from last season’s Southeastern Conference championship squad.The rest are a jumble of contributors only Johnson can predict.”It just depends on who we’re playing,” Johnson said. “I hate to go back to last year, but last year, that was sort of etched in stone … but that’s not this year’s basketball team.”Johnson has coached LSU for only 19 months, and already the team consists of just four players who played during the tenure of former coach John Brady.Senior guard Alex Farrer suffered a dislocated kneecap Sunday and will miss at least six weeks, and all that’s left is sophomore forward Garrett Green who joins Spencer and Mitchell as holdovers from the old regime.”We’re going to miss [Farrer’s] experience,” Johnson said. “Now there’s more opportunities for more guys to play more minutes … But I hate to see a guy who’s a senior — fifth year — with as much time and effort as he’s put into the program, to see something like that happen to him.”The Warhawks boast a wealth of experience after a forgettable 2008 season.ULM returns six upperclassmen with starting experience after limping to a 10-20 record in 2008-2009. Four players who averaged double digits return to the lineup, including senior forward Malcolm Thomas, who averaged 12.3 points and 4.8 boards.Senior guard Tony Hooper, who missed most of last season with a broken foot, also returns to the lineup after averaging 15.1 points per game in his junior season.”They return a lot of guys from last year’s team,” Johnson said. “This is a group that’s got a level of experience, but always the case for us is to try to get better every day.”Spencer’s newfound status as a veteran speaks volumes about the Tigers’ changes this offseason. He was the youngest starter on a senior-laden team just eight months ago but will be the only Tigers guard with starting experience when the Tigers take the court tonight.”We look at it as an opportunity — guys are getting chances, and they have to capitalize on that opportunity,” Spencer said. “A lot of guys are going to have to step up even more than they were expected to.”His support will be freshman guard Aaron Dotson and sophomore guard Chris Bass, opposed to former SEC Player of the Year Marcus Thornton.”I’m going to have to use Chris and Bo together at times, more so than I would have liked to at this point in the season,” Johnson said. “We’ll get a really good look at that come Friday, because Monroe comes with multiple types of pressure.”The change doesn’t stop there.Johnson is assembling future teams even as the season tips off, as LSU signed what many believe to be a top-10 recruiting class Thursday during the NCAA’s early signing period.Four high school standouts — forward Matt Derenbecker, point guard Andre Stringer, forward Jalen Courtney and guard Ralston Turner — committed to LSU for 2010, bolstering the Tigers’ future prospects.Derenbecker, Stringer and Turner are all considered top 100 prospects by ESPNU.”These are the young men that we targeted whom we felt would fit our program, and we look forward to having them here,” Johnson said in a news release. “All that being said, this recruiting class … should be judged at the end of their careers and not at the start of their careers, and I think these players all understand that.”Perhaps the biggest — or maybe the only — constant entering 2009 is Mitchell, who begins his fifth and final season at LSU tonight.He and Farrer are the only remaining players from a Final Four run that seems lifetimes ago. He’s played with Glen Davis, Tyrus Thomas and Thornton — all of whom have gone on to professional contracts.He sat out the 2007-2008 season. He then helped carry the same team to last season’s conference title, willing LSU to an overtime victory at Mississippi State and hitting the title-clinching shot at Kentucky.”He was a very good basketball player at the end of last year — he’s better now,” Johnson said.Mitchell gave the NBA brief consideration before returning to school, where he was a unanimous First-Team All-SEC selection by conference coaches. He is the Tigers’ only senior starter and is charged with setting the example for a young LSU roster.His final performance may have to be his best.”I don’t have a burden on me right now except to help the team win and carry out the tasks coach Johnson wants me to carry out,” Mitchell said.          – – – -Contact David Helman at [email protected]