HARROGATE, Tenn. – This is part three of a three-part series previewing the 2018-19 Lincoln Memorial men's basketball season. After taking a detailed look at the guards and forwards in parts one and two, part three brings it all together for an overall outlook on the season ahead for the No. 3 Railsplitters. 
 
Lincoln Memorial has been one of the most consistently successful programs in all of Division II basketball over the past decade. In fact, the Railsplitters are ranked second in the nation in terms of both overall winning percentage (.860) and total wins (252) since 2010. 
 
The Railsplitters have won six consecutive South Atlantic Conference regular-season titles and seven of the last eight overall, made eight straight trips to the NCAA tournament and three straight appearances in the Sweet 16, including runs to the national championship game in 2016 and the national semifinals in 2017. LMU is also seeking an unprecedented fifth consecutive 30-win season. 
 
Lincoln Memorial's decade of dominance has been sustained by a roster that is consistently overflowing with experience, corporate knowledge and veteran leadership. 
 
That won't be the case this season, though, as the Railsplitters lost the core of last season's No. 1 nationally ranked squad, including leading scorer Trevon Shaw, All-Americans Emanuel Terry and Dorian Pinson and starting swingman Josh Odem. All told, LMU lost six of its top eight scores overall. 
 
This season, the Railsplitters' roster features only seven previous letterwinners, and just two players that have played a significant role in the rotation. That new reality presents new challenges for Lincoln Memorial. 
 
"We've been able to stay old for the last few years and that certainly makes things easier when you have continuity and cohesion," LMU head coach Josh Schertz said. "That's different this year. We have to integrate a lot of new pieces.
 
"We don't want to be a team that relies on having a lot of new guys as an excuse or a crutch. It's on us to expedite the learning curve." 


 
The Railsplitters' mettle with be tested right out of the gate. The new-look squad opens the season with road games against Clayton State, USC Aiken and Christian Brothers. Clayton State went 24-7 last season and earned a berth to the Southeast Regional semifinals, while Christian Brothers compiled a 21-9 mark a season ago. USC Aiken, meanwhile, is just four seasons removed from a trip to the national quarterfinals. 
 
That start paired with a young and inexperienced group could make for a bit of a bumpier ride than the Railsplitters are accustomed to, but Schertz and his staff are focused on the bigger picture through continual, daily improvement.  
 
"We are a work in progress. It's not going to be seamless at all when you have this many new guys," he said. "But that being said our goal is to get as good as we can. We want to be better tomorrow than we are today. If we do that every single day throughout the year that we are together, we will be the best possible version of ourselves and wherever that takes us it takes us."
 
The Railsplitters haven't had to deal with too much adversity over the past four seasons, a stretch during which they have compiled a cumulative 126-14 record. No matter what the 2018-19 season ultimately brings, Schertz knows there will be some amount of adversity, and he wants to see how this team responds when it comes knocking. 
 
"There's a tendency with young players when things don't happen the way you hope to deflate," Schertz said. "You lose communication and guys give in. How are we going to be? Historically we have been a pretty tough team mentally and physically over the years, but this is a new group."
 
Preseason All-American Cornelius Taylor and last season's sixth man Kamaran Calhoun have both been through the fire, and will be counted on to lead the team through any adversity. Alex Dahling, TJ Harvin, Rhondi Hackett and Steven Perriere also return after playing supporting roles for last season's team. However, the rest of the team is either completely new or unproven. 
 
With so many new faces, it will be of paramount importance that the Railsplitters quickly develop chemistry. While Schertz has seen the team make strides in that area so far, thanks in particular to the preseason trip to Canada, he is looking to building connection on the defensive side of the ball as a way to speed up the development of team-wide chemistry.
 
"The best team builder for a basketball team is to get good defensively," he said. "It beats anything else if you can learn to sit down and do something that difficult. The level of communication, trust, depending on one another and being connected and together that fosters is better than anything else you can do away from basketball." 
 
Each season brings the opportunity to compose a new story, a new identity. The recipe for success always remains the same, but it will be on this year's group to come together and do the things it takes to win at a high level.  
 
"What makes good teams are always the same," Schertz said. "Are you tough? Do you defend at a high level? Are you unselfish? Do you generate open shots? Do you rebound? Are you connected? Do you have poise and toughness when things don't go your way? Those are things that I think are typical and characteristic of elite teams across sports.
 
"We are going to have to become that team," he added. "Every year is a new year. You get to create your own identity. Whatever it was in the past, just like culture, it doesn't matter what it was, it doesn't matter what you say, it matters what you do."
 
The Railsplitters have high external expectations this season. They were projected to win their seventh consecutive SAC title in the preseason poll and were also tabbed in the top five nationally in three different rankings. 
 
But Coach Schertz knows those projections are a product of Lincoln Memorial's recent history. This season, there's a lot of unknowns, but the talent is certainly still there. Now it's on the Railsplitters to do the things that have made them successful in recent years and write a story all their own.  
 
"We have a long way to go. We've got a lot of work to do to become a good team, but I do like the talent and the work ethic we have," Schertz said.
 
The 2018-19 season kicks off this weekend in Aiken, S.C. as the Railsplitters face Clayton State on Friday and USC Aiken on Saturday.