When men’s basketball coach Joe Scott first took the reins of the program in the 2007-08 season, their record was 11-19.

Here’s another number: 335. That’s the team’s RPI (Rating Percentage Index) ranking in the season before Scott took over.

It would not be incorrect to say that those numbers have dramatically changed.

Flip-flop the 2007-08 record, add some wins and subtract some losses, and you have the records of the Pioneer teams of the last two years: 22-9 during the 2011-2012 season and 22-10 last year.

Last year’s season ended with a second round loss to the University of Maryland at the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) at Madison Square Garden during postseason play.

And Scott’s success at DU has by no means gone unnoticed. The Pios rank in at No. 9 in the preseason Mid-Major Top 25 of CollegeInsider.com. USA Today pegged DU as a team with “bracket-busting potential” in a Sept. 25 article, as did ESPN. Those dreams of going to the NCAA Tournament, or the “big dance” may very well become a reality.

So what does Scott have to say about all the hubbub?

“What we try to do is to try and stay grounded, in the moment,” Scott said. “Our goal is to be ready for the first week.”

“You have to make sure you stay focused, and just get better every day, and when you have experienced guys, they understand that.”

The Pios return sixth man Cam Griffin along with three starters in guard Jalen Love, three point specialist Brett Olson and senior forward Chris Udofia, who seems to have garnered every honor the basketball world has to offer. Last year, Udofia was named to the All-WAC First Team and the All-WAC Defensive Team. Two years ago he was the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the year. He’s a do-it-all type player, and you don’t need to watch his play to know that. Udofia averaged 13.3 points, 2.3 blocks and 4.5 rebounds per game, along with a .343 shooting percentage beyond the arc.

“I think Chris is the ultimate leader,” Scott said. “He’s got nothing else in his gut except [doing] what he’s being coached to do, and having himself do it at the highest level that he can. What’s most important is that he leads guys that way because it puts me in position to say ‘Look guys, that’s what you got to do. I’m not making this stuff up because he does it.’”

Heading into the season, College Sports Madness also deemed Udofia the Summit League Preseason Player of the Year, and CBSSports.com named him their No. 6 ranked under-the-radar performer heading into the season.

Just like Scott though, Udofia is not letting the accolades go to his head.

“It’s flattering,” Udofia said. “It’s nice to see that you are recognized for doing well. I’m definitely humbled by it, but we haven’t played a game yet.”

At 6’6”, Udofia would be considered a small forward on most teams, yet for Denver, he occupies the traditional post position. But that’s always been part of the plan.

“Are we going to get 6’11” guys that are capable of playing at a high level? I don’t know, so it’s a way of playing whereby we don’t really have a traditional post guy, and we don’t even really have traditional point guards,” Scott said. “We just play basketball. We try to find guys that have high motors, that can play multiple positions, that give me the ability as a coach to say ‘hey let’s change this, and do that’ and try to flip-flop the mismatches around on the other teams.”

Though the team returns four players from last year that contributed significant minutes, that is not to say the team will not be missing something. Rising sophomore Royce O’Neal transferred to Baylor after last season and Chase Hallam graduated.

“We lost a certain element of toughness, a certain element of physical strength,” Scott said.
“And that toughness showed up defensively and rebounding-wise for us. If we find the guys to replace that, this year’s team could be better, because the other parts that are coming in might be able to provide a little something extra, but if we don’t replace that rebounding and toughness that other extra stuff that we might have is not going to show up.”

There isn’t much room for a learning curve either. The team will head to Berkeley to take on a California Bears team that picked up 21 wins last year in the Pac-12 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Following a visit to Berkeley, the team will come home to play another Pac-12 opponent in Stanford and then travel to Harvard to take on a team that has “sweet 16 potential” according to ESPN Insider.

“We came here seven years ago and our goal was to build a good program. We didn’t have that kinda schedule year one, year two or year three. As you build and have success, ultimately that’s what you’re shooting for,” Scott said.

“We play a lot of good teams, as easily as we can think we’re a good team, we could go 0-4 real quick if we don’t get prepared for it right off the bat,” Udofia said. “We’re really grinding it this week and especially next week to make sure that we have all of our weapons in place so that we’re not caught off guard.”