Yes, I know it's just the middle of November.
Yes, I know the sample size is small.
And yes, I know a lot of things can happen during the next few months.
But that doesn't stop me from being encouraged about what I've seen from the Missouri men's basketball team so far.
It seems odd to be extolling the virtues of a team that's just 2-1 in this young season, but I've seen what I wanted to see from the Tigers this season.
And what is that, you ask? Well, a team that's taking the steps it needs to improve the overall talent level of players in the program.
I'm not going to go into any advanced metrics, or hardly any basic metrics, but it's safe to say that just by looking at the Tigers' play during the early going, this team has more weapons than last year's squad.
I realize plenty can happen with players between now and March - injuries, shooting slumps, the grind of the classroom (more on that later), the weight of expectations - to help beat down the amount of success they'll ultimately have. But so far, the eye test tells me the Tigers will be better prepared to deal with a schedule that will only get harder during the coming weeks.
Last season was one nobody wants to remember, a 9-23 campaign that saw the Tigers struggling to cross the 60-point plateau with regularity. And the complaints about head coach Kim Anderson during his first season were plentiful, and for the most part, undeserved.
I told anybody who would listen last season that Anderson had inherited a team without much talent, and the results bore that out. It's easy in this day and age to expect quick fixes, and many fans were clamoring for it. Easier said than done.
So I knew this past offseason was going to be a big one for Anderson and his staff to prove they could build a legitimate Division I program. Rome wasn't built in a day, but I'm sure the Romans made some pretty good progress in the first 24 hours, and that's what needed to happen.
Did the Tigers get everybody they wanted during the recruiting season? Nope, because nobody every does. Well, maybe Kentucky does, but that's a whole different animal.
Did the Tigers get some players who would help them improve the bottom line? Most definitely. And did they get improvement from the players who would be returning? It sure seems that way.
An exciting freshman class has already paid dividends. It starts with the team's leading scorer, Kevin Puryear, who is averaging 15 points per game so far. It extends to K.J. Walton, dropping in 8.3 per contest, and Terrence Phillips, scoring 7.7.
Then there's sharpshooter Cullen VanLeer, who is averaging 7.0 points per game so far and whose 5-of-11 performance on 3-pointers bodes well for helping improve on Missouri's ugly 32-percent effort from beyond the stripe last season.
Some of the players who stuck it out and didn't jump ship - and there were many - seem to have improved, like Namon Wright and Tramaine Isabell. And while it's too early to accurately gauge if Wes Clark has recovered fully from a dislocated elbow that ended last season too soon, his numbers are pretty comparable to what he put up back then. And they were pretty good back then.
But what's the best thing about the first three games this season? No ugly loss that will be like a millstone around the team's neck, like last year's inexplicable defeat at the hands of Missouri-Kansas City.
Really, the only loss that's been a little tricky to explain in these first few weeks is Missouri is having players leave the team for the classroom. That's not something you hear a lot about in major-college athletics, but the Tigers have lost Martavian Payne and Hayden Barnard, both of whom said they want to focus on their studies. Good for them, but bad for the Tigers.
Still, if that's the worst thing that happens to Missouri, it will be a decided improvement on last season.