There may be no superlative more humbling than “most improved.” It suggests newfound success, but credits a long road of struggle along the way.

This year, for the New Hampshire men’s basketball team, the true test will be to prove that last season’s 19-13 finish — a 13-win improvement from the season before — wasn’t a fluke.

“I thought we would be a good team last year,” head coach Bill Herrion said. “I did not expect us to win 19 games. But I think going into this season … We have a lot of returning players from last year who won 19 games. But now instead of us chasing people, I think now people are going to chase us a little bit.”

Among the players that will be chased for New Hampshire this season are returning junior guards Daniel Dion and Jaleen Smith, junior forward Jacoby Armstrong and the reigning America East (AE) Rookie of the Year, sophomore forward Tanner Leissner. As a freshman, Leissner played a crucial role in UNH’s breakthrough season, averaging 12.8 points per game and notching four double-doubles in 27 starts.

While this season’s newcomers, including freshman forward David Watkins and fellow rookie guards Andrew Dotson and Pat McNamara, have certainly shown promise so far according to Herrion, don’t look for a rookie to steal the show at the Lundholm Gymnasium this year.

“In a good way, our program is finally to the point where we have enough veteran players coming back … I don’t think we really have to rely on the freshmen right now,” Herrion said. “We have enough older returning veteran players who have played a lot of minutes.”

Set to spearhead New Hampshire’s defense this season is the duo of Leissner and Smith, which combined for 63 steals and 289 defensive boards in 2014-15, good enough to make UNH the fifth-best defensive rebounding school in Division I. Junior guard Joe Bramanti, a transfer from Wright State, came off the bench in 2014-15 to record 19 steals and was named to the AE All-Defensive team for his performance on that end of the floor.

With steady pieces in play on both sides of the ball, New Hampshire is ready to begin another successful campaign. Herrion, however, knows that repeating success is difficult and that expectations are high for the once-lowly Wildcats.

“That’s the biggest challenge we have, can we handle higher expectations and can we handle teams coming at us every night?” Herrion said. “Our goal is to win the league and try to get into the NCAA tournament. But so much has to happen between now and March.”

New Hampshire will be tested early in its tough non-conference schedule. Among the competition that UNH is set to take on outside of the AE are teams like UConn, SMU and Boston College — a squad that the Wildcats played against within 10 points last season. Back in the AE, where the Wildcats finished 11-5 in 2014-15, the road to the top of the conference won’t be easy. But by reloading in 2015-16 with a confident and experienced squad, the ball is in their court.