DENVER – New coach. New team. New season. And new season within the season.
 
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play starts this weekend for the MSU Denver men's basketball team, as Dan Ficke guides his first group of Roadrunners into games Friday at 7 p.m. at Westminster and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Colorado Mesa.
 
This particular journey has been a tough trip recently, both logistically and competitively. But MSU Denver is ready for the challenges that await, both this weekend and over the next 22 games.
 
"I'm glad we're starting on the road – why not?" Ficke said, laughing. "Let's throw ourselves into the fire. The league is good. The top half of the league has done their job – most of them are undefeated. And we kind of held serve from where we started at.
 
"So now can we continue to grow and hopefully be a different team the second time we face everybody? I'm excited to get the RMAC started and go through the grind and see what we can do. I'm excited about the potential of this team and where we could be in February and March."
 
MSU Denver, with only one starter returning from last season in Tyrei Randall, is off to a 3-3 start. Westminster is a surprising 0-5, while Colorado Mesa is receiving votes in both national polls and is 5-1 heading into a Friday game with nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines.
 
Westminster has been a tough assignment for the Roadrunners, having won seven of the 10 meetings between the teams since joining the RMAC in 2015. The Griffins won both matchups last year, including a 25-point win the night after MSU Denver upset Colorado Mesa in overtime on Randall's miraculous 75-foot buzzer beater. The long, nearly overnight trip from Grand Junction, Colo., to Salt Lake City wasn't exactly helpful for preparation.
 
"These back-to-backs aren't a joke," Randall said. "Guys playing 20-plus minutes, you've got to take care of your body and be mentally ready at all times."
 
The Griffins, who have gained additional seasoning in exhibitions against Utah and BYU, have five former Division I players on their roster and seven more who played junior college ball.
 
Leading the list is post Trey Farrer, a 6-foot-9, 235-pound transfer from Division I Utah Valley, who paces the program with 20.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
 
"He's really good," Ficke said. "They're going to want to play in transition as much they can. But when they're in the halfcourt, they're looking for force feed it to him. He doesn't play as much on the perimeter as Caleb (McGill), but he's a surprisingly good athlete."
 
Like Farrer, McGill is a Division I transfer. The 6-8 former UC Davis player is averaging 16.7 points while shooting 58.6 percent from the field (34 of 58), an excellent 63.6 percent from 3-point range (7 of 11) and 83.3 percent from the free throw line (25 of 30).
 
McGill's numbers also reflect how efficient MSU Denver has been offensively. The Roadrunners rank sixth in Division II in free throws made per game (19.8), eighth in free throws attempted per game (26.8) and they are a very respectable 52^nd nationally in field goal percentage (48.3).
 
Now the goal is to have even more possessions that end up with shots of some kind – field goals or free throws. In its five games against Division II opponents, MSU Denver has had 50 fewer field goal attempts (10 per game) while averaging 3.8 fewer offensive rebounds and 2.8 more turnovers – numbers that negate the advantage of 6.8 free throw attempts per game the Roadrunners are getting in those same contests.
 
"Westminster was one of the best offensive rebounding teams in our league last year, and giving up offensive rebounds – and turnovers – has been our Achilles' heel," Ficke said. "Our first-shot defense hasn't been bad – it's giving up 15 or 16 extra chances on offensive rebounds that has hurt us."
 
Mesa's 5-1 start includes a 3-1 mark against upper-division teams from the Lone Star Conference. MSU Denver won both regular-season meetings last year, but second-seeded Mesa won the first-round matchup in the RMAC Tournament and eventually made the South Central Regional final, also known as the Sweet 16.
 
Talented forward Trevor Baskin leads the way with averages of 18.0 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 69.5 percent from the field, and sage veteran Blaise Threatt adds 15.7 points and 7.2 boards.
 
"They're a veteran team with almost everybody back from last year," Ficke said. "They've been like us in that they've been getting to the free throw line at a high rate and they've been able to defend without fouling. They do a great job of taking charges, so we've got to play off two feet and play under control. And they're another team that is extremely good on the offensive boards.
 
"So these two teams are going to test our greatest weaknesses. Hopefully we've learned from film and practice and can make the corrections we need to make."
 
The road is long, and whatever happens, this is only the first weekend of the league season.
 
"The only way to go 2-0 on the road is to win the first one, so our whole focus is on Westminster," Ficke said. "And travel is travel -- everyone has to do it at some point. Hopefully the youth of our team will help – they don't know what they don't know. We'll roll up and play, then get as much rest as we can, refuel and get ready for the second game."