Career wins: 127. Sun Belt Conference East Division championships: five. NCAA Tournament appearances: zero. Those are the combined totals of the last three seasons for Topper coach Darrin Horn and Lady Topper coach Mary Taylor Cowles. The last time the Toppers made the NCAA tournament was former coach Dennis Felton’s last season in 2003.

On the floor, on the bench and in the locker room, diversity is the theme for this year’s men’s basketball program.

With players from Europe, southeast Asia and Africa, Diddle Arena has become a melting pot.

“I think it’s great,” coach Darrin Horn said.

Some would call it a night to forget for the Toppers. It was a 25-point beating in the Sun Belt Conference championship – a game that would have put them in the Big Dance for the first time since their first round loss to Illinois in 2003. For this year’s players, however, the loss has become the drive they plan to ride all the way to the conference championship and beyond.

Look closely at this year’s men’s basketball roster. In the presence of new faces, new talents and new possibilities, there is the glaring absence of two names that have come to personify Topper basketball over the past two years. “G-G-G-Grace Wilborn!” “Three-point goal, Anthony Winchester!” With the graduation of the two men who seemingly turned the announcer’s table into a broken record over the last few seasons, players and coaches agree that this year’s team will form its own identity.

Before either had a chance to don a Western uniform this season, Topper junior forward Courtney Lee and Lady Topper Crystal Kelly, also a junior forward, have received national recognition. Both have already been named preseason first-team all-Sun Belt Conference selections, and Lee has been recognized as the preseason conference Player of the Year.

Losing players and gaining new recruits is a process that repeats itself every season in any college sport. Some college coaches will tell anyone that replacing talent is a challenge that rears its ugly head every offseason. For Lady Topper basketball, it was a beast the team was able to tame this year.

This season, it’s junior forward Crystal Kelly’s team. Kelly, who averaged 20 points and eight rebounds last season, and the Lady Toppers will try to fill the void created by the loss of guard Tiffany Porter-Talbert, who was named the 2006 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.

Having players on a team from the area around the school is a great way to enhance a team’s fan base in a community. Having two of them, both seniors, is even better. That is the case with area Lady Topper products, senior guard Cammie Campbell and senior center Sarah Shouse.