Last season, the Troy women’s basketball team finished 16-14 overall and 10-8 in Sun Belt play en route to a No. 4 seed in the Sun Belt tournament.

Despite the successes of last season, the Trojans still have not earned the respect of the rest of the league, as they were picked to finish last in the Sun Belt’s Eastern Division and 12th out of 13 teams overall.

However, head coach Michael Murphy said the team does not pay attention to preseason polls.

“I think preseason rankings and all-conference is worthless,” Murphy said. “I’ve never seen anybody win a championship because they were ranked No. 1at the beginning of the year. What matters is what happens at the end of the year, and the accumulation of your work throughout that entire season.”

Troy was picked to finish near the bottom of the Sun Belt last season as well, but managed to surprise its critics.

For the Troy program, last year’s successes are something the team will look to build even further upon this year.

“To finish as strong as we did was another step forward for this program in this conference,” Murphy said. “Every year we’ve been in the league, we’ve won more games in the league. That shows a level of consistency that we’re all trying to achieve.”

While many teams may place an emphasis on precise execution, the Trojans are focusing on playing every second as hard as they possibly can.

“As long as we’re playing with purpose on offense and passion on defense, we’ll be fine,” Murphy said. “Because it’s such a long season and it’s such a grind, you’ve got to have great team chemistry and great leadership to develop that purpose and that passion.”

The Trojans open the 2009-10 season with a game at Auburn Nov. 13.