John Moseley and his Lincoln Blue Tigers know how to exceed expectations. This season, however, the Lincoln coach and his players will find out what it's like to have the targets on their backs, rather than chasing those targets.
"Lincoln's not going to sneak up on anybody this year," Moseley said.
The Blue Tigers, coming off a 16-14 season and their first winning campaign since 2001-02, open the 2016-17 season this weekend at the Southwest Baptist Classic in Bolivar. Lincoln beat the Mary Marauders on Friday in its season opener and will wrap up the two-day event today against the Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagles. Tip-off is at 1:30 p.m.
Earlier this preseason, Lincoln was picked to finish fourth out of 14 teams in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Preseason Coaches Poll. The Blue Tigers, picked to finish last in the conference a year ago, finished in a tie for fifth place with an 11-11 MIAA record.
"It's exciting for our players," Moseley said. "These young men came in here with the goal of getting our program going in the right direction. They're happy with last year's success, but not satisfied with it."
The continuity of the Lincoln roster also carries from one season to the next. The Blue Tigers return all five starters, including all-conference senior guards Anthony Virdure and Jaylon Smith.
Virdure led the Blue Tigers in scoring with 21.5 points per game last season and shot 42.5 percent from the field. Smith was second in scoring with 18.2 points per game and broke a school single-season record, knocking down 91 3-pointers.
The two shooting guards accounted for more than 50 percent of Lincoln's scoring last season.
"Jaylon and Anthony are terrific players," Moseley said. "They both bring their own games to the table."
Ten players return to Lincoln's roster, which features 11 upperclassmen.
"It was the first year that we didn't have a ton of teaching in the preseason," Moseley said. "These guys understand what's expected of them. The challenge for us was to add a couple new faces to the mix that we think are really good players."
The rest of Lincoln's starting lineup consists of seniors as well. Richie Lewis returns at point guard after setting a school record with 73 steals and leading the team with 4.2 assists per game last season.
Other guards who will see some playing time include junior transfer Maurice Mason, who Moseley said played well in Lincoln's exhibition game and closed scrimmage during the preseason. Sophomores Chase Morfeld and Darrius Spencer also add depth at the guard position.
"I ask my guys to play as hard as they can on defensive end and have fun offensively," Moseley said. "We talk about shot selection with the guys, and we want to take shots that we expect guys to take.
"I think we have a fun brand of basketball. We get up and down the floor, guys take fun shots. They know I'm OK with that, as long as they're good shots."
Defense played a key role in Lincoln's success last season. The Blue Tigers forced 14.6 turnovers per game and committed 102 fewer turnovers than their opponents.
"It's about getting stops," Moseley said. "We have to be pests defensively, try to make teams take tough shots and limit them to one opportunity."
Tacourrus Mattox, a 6-foot-8 forward, leads the Lincoln frontcourt and was one of four players to average more than four rebounds per game. At the other post position, Moseley said O'Shai Clark - who averaged 9.3 points per game off the bench last season - will see more starts as a power forward this season.
Senior Rod Ollison will be one of the first post players to come off the bench. Junior transfer Kevin Bolen and senior Aaron Spudich will pick up minutes in the post as well.
"We have really good perimeter players," Moseley said. "Their job as bigs is to defend and rebound. We don't have a tremendous amount of size in the paint, so we have to challenge on the glass. We've put an emphasis on that as a staff."
Another challenge Moseley put on his players was to pick up wins on the road. The Blue Tigers won 12 of their 14 home games in 2015-16, but won just four times away from Jason Gym.
That challenge will start with a pair of neutral-court matchups this weekend at the SB Classic. Moseley said his team will face some taller lineups this weekend, but his focus will be on how well the Blue Tigers take care of the basketball and their ability to eliminate careless turnovers.
"This team will take the court every night believing they can win the game," Moseley said. "That hasn't always been the case here. It's important for us as a team to keep them locked in to what our next challenge is.
"Our goal is to be a better team in March than we are in November."