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NJCAA Division I men's basketball in the state of Iowa presents a strong rsum with its four teams.

Iowa Western stands at No. 2 in the preseason national rankings. Defending Region XI tournament champion Southeastern comes in at No. 14. Indian Hills spent all of last winter in the national top 5 and had a 29-game winning streak.

Then you have Marshalltown Community College. The Tigers bring back their top two scorers from last year's 18-13 squad and are on the cusp of doing great things this winter.

Marshalltown opens the season today in West Burlington at the Fun City Classic against Southwestern Illinois.

"The conference is probably as good as it's been for a long, long time, even before I got here," said MCC head coach Brynjar Brynjarsson. "The reason why I say that is we've closed the gap, but everybody's gotten better at the same time."

Against the two teams ranked in the preseason, the Tigers defeated Iowa Western last year at the Student Activity Center and lost a pair of buzzer-beaters against Southeastern.

"The league is fairly even, it's a challenging league. Indian Hills is not ranked but they will be," Brynjarsson said. "The Tigers are going to try to make their run a little bit this year. We've got guys that have experience that are good players, play hard and know how to play.

"We've been working hard and the guys have bought in like no other. We're really looking forward to the season."

Four sophomores are on the roster that played big roles for the Tigers last year, all in the backcourt - DeMarcus Phillips, Will Clyburn, Henrique Medeiros and Javier Valdez.

Phillips and Clyburn both were all-Region XI performers last year and both have drawn plenty of interest from four-year power conference schools.

"DeMarcus and Will have pretty much taken on the leadership role and have really grown quite a bit just as not being only two guys on the court," Brynjarsson said. "They are taking leadership in the sense of taking the team over and making sure we do things the right way. We're going to just keep getting better by their leadership."

Phillips was first team all-Region XI as he was third in the region in scoring at 15.5 points per game and that was after sitting out the first semester.

"Everybody knows you're first team all-region as a freshman so they are going to come after him," Brynjarsson said. "He's got a challenge up ahead of him every night. DeMarcus was picked as a third team All-American in the preseason in the 'Sporting News' so he's going to have a name people are going to come after. He's going to have to accept that challenge every night."

Clyburn stood in the top 5 in the conference in scoring (15.1 ppg, fifth), rebounding (8.5 rpg, first) and steals (2.0 spg, first).

"If you show me somebody that has worked harder than Will Clyburn this summer, I wouldn't believe you," Brynjarsson said.

Medeiros was fourth in the conference last winter in assists (3.3 apg), while Valdez provided a scoring boost late in the season by scoring in double figures in five of the last eight contests.

Sophomore forward/center Charleston Smith becomes eligible after redshirting last year. The Tigers also add to the backcourt sophomore Matt Samuels, who played in 29 games last year for Oakland (Mich.), a CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament qualifier. Enrique Cova, a starter last year as a freshman for MCC, will not play this year after suffering a knee injury.

Nine freshmen are on the roster. Six-foot-7 Nashville native Mike Willis and 6-9 Luiz Paulo from Brazil will be counted on to help the Tigers in the paint.

Willis transferred to the program last January.

"He's had a good preseason," Brynjarsson said. "He's probably the best athlete we've ever had here in the standpoint of just he can really run and he can really jump."

Tyler Brown, Vincent Rogers and Rashad Porter (the team's best on-the-ball defender, Brynjarsson said) will help in the backcourt.

Right off the bat the Tigers will find out where they stand early in the season as today's opponent Southwestern Illinois is ranked sixth in the preseason poll and qualified for the national tournament a year ago.

"You don't get the chance to open up your season against the No. 6 team in the country every day. Our guys are excited about it and it will be a good check for us in knowing what No. 6 in the country is," Brynjarsson said.

The home portion of the schedule starts Nov. 17 for MCC as Wartburg JV comes to town. Conference play begins Jan. 16 at Indian Hills.

"Like any other season, what I feel it comes down to is rebounding, turnovers and playing together," Brynjarsson said.

"We have to play within ourselves," he added, "and get to the point where we figure out it's not how many points you score, it's about how many points we score."