WKU Basketball: What does a successful season look like for the Tops?

Rick Stansbury is preparing for his maiden voyage as the head coach at Western Kentucky, and while there’s plenty of optimism surrounding…

Rick Stansbury is preparing for his maiden voyage as the head coach at Western Kentucky, and while there’s plenty of optimism surrounding the future of the program — thanks in large part to the national impact Stansbury has already been able to have — the future isn’t here quite yet.

The present, however, begins Saturday at Diddle Arena against Alabama State as Stansbury will lead the Tops from the bench for the first time in a game that matters.

WKU came away with a pair of exhibition wins, even if one of those victories needed two overtimes to overcome Kentucky Wesleyan.

The Tops have a near completely overhauled roster for the 2016/17 campaign but WKU fans can look forward to another season of Ben Lawson and Justin Johnson. There’s plenty of optimism around the newcomers however, and for good reason.

So, we reach the biggest question mark of the preseason: What will make for a successful campaign for the Tops this year?

Newcomers need to contribute immediately

Yes, I understand this goes without saying, but still, it’s important to the success of WKU this year and the quicker the new guys contribute, the quicker the Tops will become a great basketball team.

In the win against KWC, Junior Lomomba led the way with 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting and Pancake Thomas (#SmoothAsSyrup) wasn’t too far behind, notching 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting and hitting three of five attempted three-point shots.

Counteract that performance with the 11 and 17 point nights, respectively, against Campbellsville, and you already have two spark plug guys who are feeling more and more comfortable on the court.

Use the non-conference schedule as an extended exhibition

I hate that I’m saying this, because there are some good matchups for the Tops and a few opportunities for WKU to show to the rest of the country what they can do.

The Tops have an absolute gauntlet in road matchups: at Belmont, Indiana State, Saint Mary’s (who is the #17 team in the country right now), Detroit and Missouri along with a neutral-site game against Washington makes for a very juice OOC slate.

And, as nice as it’d be to get a couple of wins against that group, I’d rather the Tops peak later as opposed to earlier. This will bleed into our next point, but if it takes the Tops up through early January to figure things out, than be it. Because…

If everything comes together by January, the Tops are in good shape

Much like the football season, Conference USA play is what really really matters. WKU opens CUSA play against FAU, FIU, Charlotte and ODU. It isn’t out of the question the Tops begin the conference year 3–1 and if things are really cooking, the Tops are 4–0 before leaving for a three-game road trip against UAB, MTSU and Marshall.

The Tops won 18 games last year, but only eight came in conference play and it resulted in an 8-seed (despite the fact the Tops extracted revenge and beat UAB in the tournament). If the Tops can grab a Top 5 seed, or maybe even a Top 3 seed, it’ll all be thanks to this team being gelled by the time conference play rolls around, and any headaches that came during the OOC schedule will be quickly forgotten.

WKU doesn’t need 20 wins for a successful season

Last year was the first time since Ray Harper’s interim year (you know, the “Four Games in Four Days” and “beating the snot out of Mississippi Valley State in front of President Obama year) that the Tops didn’t win 20 games, and they came two games within the plateau.

As stated previously, the Tops by all accounts had an alright season — 18 wins is nothing to scoff at. But, only eight of those wins came against conference teams and it resulted in the Tops being the 8-seed in the tournament. If the Tops win, say, 15 games this year but can pickup three more CUSA victories, I say that’s a fair trade off and puts WKU in a solid position to make a run come tourney time.

It’s a good time to be a WKU fan. And, while things will only get better for the Tops, this will be a fun starting year for the Stansbury era.

What are your feelings about the upcoming WKU basketball season? What makes a successful Tops campaign for you? Let us know in a comment below or on twitter @TheTowelRackWKU.