Despite graduating only one contributor from last season’s outfit, the Terrapin women’s basketball team looks like a completely different squad.

It’s not just because of the arrival of arguably the best recruiting class that coach Brenda Frese has signed in her nine-year career as Terp coach.

Instead, credit is due to another addition in new strength and conditioning coach Kyle Tarp, who brought a renewed focus on nutrition and conditioning to a program coming off one of its least successful seasons in recent memory. As a team, the Terps have lost a combined 72 pounds since their exit from the WNIT in March.

“This offseason, we made a commitment that we wanted to come back as not only one of the fittest teams in the ACC,” Frese said during the team’s Media Day yesterday. “We wanted to be one of the fittest teams in the country.”

While it may be difficult to weigh the Terps’ fitness level against other teams across the country at this point in the season, Tarp’s results can already be seen in the lean physical build and muscle tone of many of the team’s returners.

“Kyle came in and revamped everything,” point guard Dara Taylor said. “Before he came in, I thought I was in pretty good shape. He took [my fitness] to a whole ‘nother level.”

Tarp credits the team’s effort for the strides the Terps have taken to improve their health.

“I was fortunate that a lot of the girls bought in very quickly,” said Tarp, who previously worked at Texas. “I think them coming in and understanding that we’re going to take strength and conditioning to a whole ‘nother level, that was the biggest part.”

As expected, the transition hasn’t always been easy for the Terps.

“I’m a candy person. I love candy,” center Lynetta Kizer said. “Candy, Chipotle, stuff like that. We had to cut all that out.”

Kizer’s progress, in particular, is staggering. The junior comes into this season 65 pounds lighter than she was as a senior in high school in 2008 and is noticeably better-defined than she was last season.

“Lynetta Kizer is the lightest and the fastest she’s been,” Frese said. “She should be able to play a lot more minutes this season because of the shape she’s in.”

The Terps’ physical transformation should translate into a different style of play on the court. The team is long, deep and fit, a combination that could prove to be explosive on offense and stifling on defense.

“You’re going to see a team that’s going to run,” Frese said. “You’re going to see a fast-paced, up-tempo team.”

Difficulty finishing games may have cost the team a bid to the NCAA Tournament last season for only the second time during Frese’s time in College Park.

This year, players said, that won’t be a problem.

“Those few possessions we took off last year, we’re not going to take them off this year,” Taylor said.

“Now, we’re built to last,” guard Anjale Barrett said. “We can go four quarters.”

While it remains to be seen whether the Terps’ conditioning will translate to success on the court, it’s clear that they have taken strides toward re-establishing themselves as a national powerhouse — at least in the weight room.

“They understand that last year was unacceptable,” Tarp said. “We’re going to do things differently because we want a different outcome.”

TERP NOTE: Frese noted in her opening statement to the media that her 2-year-old son Tyler was recently diagnosed with leukemia and is undergoing treatment at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

“As you can imagine, the initial reaction is pretty traumatic,” Frese said.

Her family’s pediatrician diagnosed the disease immediately, which Frese said “pretty much saved his life that day.”

Tyler, who has a twin brother, Markus, is doing “extremely well,” according to Frese.

“It’s a very curable battle that he will win,” said Frese, who still plans to be with the team all season.

cwalsh@umdbk.com