Western Kentucky redshirt junior guard/forward Jared Savage shoots during WKU’s 96-71 exhibition win over Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

The time is now for coach Rick Stansbury’s Western Kentucky program.

The Hilltoppers have talent all over the court. They have a combination of experienced veterans and flashy newcomers. They have a challenging nonconference schedule and then expectations to win Conference USA.

Players and coaches know there’s no reason this WKU squad can’t finish its season at the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s the biggest stage in college basketball,” said guard/forward Jared Savage, who played in the NCAAs at Austin Peay. “Everyone wants to be there.

“We’ve got to take it one game at a time. We can’t get ahead of ourselves.”

The Toppers won 27 games last year, came within inches of winning the C-USA Tournament and made a run to the National Invitation Tournament semifinals.

Stansbury’s squad was voted last month as the preseason favorite among 14 Conference USA programs. The Hilltoppers were picked No. 1 just ahead of Marshall, the team that beat them in last year’s league title game.

“When you’re picked near the top, that’s where you want to be picked,” Stansbury said. “… It doesn’t mean anything. We’re glad it’s there. It shows that other people respect our program, even with only one starter back, to pick us there.

“But you’ve got to go play now.”

The only 2017-18 starter back, at least for the beginning of the season, is guard Taveion Hollingsworth.

Hollingsworth broke Courtney Lee’s WKU freshman scoring record last year with 506 points. At 13.3 points per game, the sophomore is the team’s leading returning scorer.

Guard Lamonte Bearden, another starter on last year’s squad, is back this year but is academically ineligible for the Toppers’ first nine games. If the redshirt senior meets academic requirements this semester, he can return for the Dec. 16 game vs. Troy.

Savage, Josh Anderson, Charles Bassey and Desean Murray are all newcomers to WKU’s starting five.

Bassey will become the highest-rated prospect of the modern recruiting era to appear in a game for the Hilltoppers when he takes the floor Tuesday at No. 25 Washington.

The five-star center reclassified in June from the Class of 2019 into the Class of 2018 and enrolled at WKU. 247 Sports Composite ranked Bassey as the No. 6 player in the 2018 class, while Rivals ranked him at No. 9.

“I’m adjusting good,” the freshman Bassey said. “I have a good coach, good teammates that help me every time get in the flow and do what I can do. …

“When you get in college, you have to get your mindset right. No more high school – it’s straight business. I think I’m getting better.”

Bassey turned 18 on Oct. 28 and is believed to be among the top five youngest players in the country, the Tops’ sports information department said. Stansbury is staying patient with his talented but young big man.

“Charles is going to keep getting better,” Stansbury said. “Charles has a good mentality – doesn’t get up much, doesn’t get down much. He has a good feel.

“It’s just playing experience. … It has nothing to do with the stars beside his name. He is a freshman and there is a growing curve with that. He’s making progress.”

The redshirt junior Savage averaged 8.1 ppg over two seasons at APSU. He sat out last season and will take over on the wing this year for the Hilltoppers.

Anderson played 23 games last season for WKU, coming off the bench in all but three and averaging 7.4 ppg. The sophomore played on the wing last season but now moves to point guard, where Stansbury thinks he can showcase his athleticism.

Murray steps in at power forward, a spot where Justin Johnson starred for the Hilltoppers the last four seasons. The graduate senior joins WKU’s roster from Auburn, where he averaged 10.1 points and a team-best 6.7 rebounds last season, helping the Tigers to a 26-win campaign.

Murray and Hollingsworth were both picked as Preseason All-C-USA performers.

“I’ll do in a game whatever I have to do to help my team win,” said Murray, who played two years at Presbyterian before transferring to Auburn.

“If I have to rebound, I’m going to rebound. If I’m going to have to score more or lock my man up on defense, I’m going to do whatever my team needs.”

Murray won’t be with the Hilltoppers when their regular season starts Tuesday, however. He was suspended indefinitely after a Friday citation for marijuana possession, and Stansbury kept him home from the trip to Washington.

Beyond the starting five are a mix of returning players (Moustapha Diagne, Marek Nelson and Jake Ohmer) and newcomers (Dalano Banton, Jeremiah Gambrell, Matt Horton and Tolu Smith).

“There are a lot of new pieces, a lot of new parts, and we’re trying to figure out some things with them too,” Stansbury said.

WKU challenges itself right off the bat with a trip to Seattle to face the 25th-ranked Huskies.

The Myrtle Beach Invitational later this month could bring matchups with No. 13 West Virginia, American Athletic Conference favorite Central Florida and/or Atlantic Coast Conference squad Wake Forest.

December matchups include road contests at Arkansas and Belmont and home battles with Saint Mary’s and Wisconsin.

“As you well know nonconference-wise, we’ve got a bear of a schedule, now,” Stansbury said. “… I want to play against the best. As players, it makes them better.”

Stansbury’s hope is that the schedule prepares his team for its 18-game Conference USA schedule and the league tournament in March that follows.

If WKU leaves that event in Frisco, Texas with a title, it’ll head to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.

Murray played in the NCAA Tournament last year at Auburn. He thinks this squad is capable of getting there and making some noise.

“It’s exciting to play in the tournament,” Murray said. “The high energy, the atmosphere of going to the games and knowing you’re not just sitting back at home watching the tournament.

“Last year was the first year I went to the tournament, so I keep reminding everybody whenever we’re working out and something gets hard, that we’ve got to get to this tournament. We can’t be sitting back watching.”