HARROGATE, Tenn. -- This is the fourth and final installment of the 2015-16 Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball season preview, as we take an all-encompassing look at the continually expanding expectations for a program that has been among the nation's elite for the last five seasons.
 
The Railsplitters return seven of their top nine scorers from last season's squad that compiled a 30-3 overall record, became the first program in South Atlantic Conference history to win three consecutive regular season titles and broke the league's single-season record for wins and winning percentage. And sky-high, preseason expectations once again place a heavy burden on Lincoln Memorial to continue a five-year tradition of excellence that is seemingly unmatched at the NCAA Division II level, as the Railsplitters were predicted to capture their fourth straight SAC regular season title by the league's coaches.
 
"I don't put a whole lot into preseason stuff," LMU head coach Josh Schertz said. "This group hasn't accomplished anything yet. This 2015-16 team will write its own story and whatever we've done in the past or did or didn't do last year is gone forever, and now it's a new team, a new chapter and a new book. It's on us to write our own story. I don't get too caught up in what other people say or think whether it's good or bad. We try to focus on what we can control: our preparation, our process and our growth as a team. I'm much more concerned with that then where we're ranked."
 
In addition to drawing the top spot in the preseason SAC coaches poll, the Railsplitters are clearly regarded as a national heavyweight in the 2015-16 preseason national prognostications, ranking fourth in the Sporting News preseason poll, fifth in the NABC/Division II Coaches rankings and seventh in the Division II Bulletin. Lincoln Memorial enters the 2015-16 season having spent 73 consecutive weeks in the NABC poll, which is the fourth-longest streak in the more than 50-year history of the Division II men's basketball rankings.
 
"I think a lot of times rankings get overhyped," Schertz said. "When the ball goes up everybody is just playing, and the team that executes and plays the best wins. People handle the 'pressure' of outside expectations differently, but we are just worried about being the best team that we can be and playing to our potential as consistently as possible. Certainly it's always flattering to be recognized, whether it's by the coaches to be picked to win the league or it's in the national poll, but at the end of the day everything that we want to accomplish has to be earned between the lines. If we skip steps, take shortcuts and try not to do the right things then we're going to end up not having a very good year. We've seen that happen many times in the past to teams that had great expectations going into it."
 
The Railsplitters own the second-highest winning percentage in the nation over the last five seasons, winning 86.6 percent of their games with a cumulative 136-21 record. West Liberty is the only NCAA Division II program that has been better over that span by winning at a 91.8 percent rate.
 
The Railsplitters' roster goes 10-players deep this season with six players returning that averaged at least 16 minutes per game last season and a number of others ready for expanded roles.
 
 Lincoln Memorial has a veteran group with two seniors and three juniors leading the backcourt with Luquon Choice (Laurens, S.C.), Gerel Simmons (Accokeek, Md.), Jalen Steele (Knoxville, Tenn.), Curtis Webb (Spartanburg, S.C.) and Tim Pierce (Albany, Ga.) expected to consume the bulk of those minutes. The Railsplitters are much younger in the frontcourt with senior Curtis McMillion (Fayetteville, N.C.), junior Paul Woodson (Cincinnati, Ohio), sophomores Emanuel Terry (Birmingham, Ala.) and Dorian Pinson (Greenville, S.C.) and redshirt freshman Nicksen Blanc (Port Charlotte, Fla.) and their diverse range of skill sets holding down the post.
 
"I think we have a good group from a character standpoint and I think we have a good group from a talent standpoint," Schertz said. "That gives you a chance even though you never know how it's going to turn out. You can have really good talent and really good kids and that's still obviously not enough. You have to have good fortune and all those other type of things to win a league championship, never mind a region or national championship. We know that everything we hope to accomplish is a long way off, but it's a group that I feel like is working hard and trying to do the right things."
 
Schertz likes his team and the plethora of options that he will have at his disposal. But he knows his team will have to catch some breaks and avoid the injuries that beset past teams, even with the knowledge that last year's team remained mostly unburdened by such setbacks.
 
"I think it's been a fun group and one that gives us a chance. And now we have to hope that breaks fall our way and that we're one of those teams that are in the mix to do something special a few months from now."
 
The 2015-16 men's basketball season commences on November 13 when the Railsplitters travel to Bristol, Tenn. to face the King Tornado in the SAC vs. Conference Carolinas Challenge.