Following their NCAA Sweet 16 loss last season, State University of New York at New Paltz women's basketball coach Jamie Seward sat in the lobby of his hotel with senior Kit Small and her family. Small's mother turned and asked Seward how he thought his team would do the following year, and before Seward could answer, Small let her mom know how the Hawks 2017-18 season would look like: an undefeated conference record and a trip to the Final Four.

It was just two hours after the Hawks 2016-17 ended and Small already set standards high for the following year.

"She put the expectations out there, but I think that is the mindset of our program just overall," said Seward who enters his 12^th season at the helm of the women's basketball program. "We weren't at all satisfied or content with the season that we had last year. I think the experience that we gained was so valuable, but at the same time it left a bitter taste in their mouths. They did want more and they believed they were capable of doing more. I think it fueled them over the summer."

Although SUNY New Paltz graduated a highly touted senior class which included Small – the program's all-time scoring leader – Courtney Irby and Morgan Roessler, expectations of a third-consecutibe conference championship and a deep NCAA tournament run has not changed.

"Expectations are just as high," said Hawks junior guard Taylor Howell. "Our program isn't about individuals; it is about a team. So our team is always growing, it is always building, so no matter who we lose we are always going to build that back up."

Despite not having any seniors on the roster, SUNY New Paltz returns an experienced group with eight players coming back from its Sweet 16 appearance.

"If you look at the year we do have a young team, but they do have quite a bit of experience," Seward said. "The two juniors played in two NCAA tournaments and the sophomores have played in three NCAA tournament games and played on the road in a conference championship game… I think that gives us some good, solid experience even though we have a young roster."

The Hawks return two juniors in Lindsay Bettke and Howell, and six sophomores (Tiffany Claud, Madison Van Pelt, Sandi Harris, Marion Dietz, Philesha Teape and Paige Niemeyer), while bringing in four promising freshmen and junior transfer Rachel Simon. The latter played high school ball not too far at Wallkill Senior High School where she was a two-time Kingston Freeman Player of the Year, along with a Times Herald Record Player of the Year.

"I'm really impressed. [The newcomers] have picked up on stuff really fast," Howell said. "They've been working really hard. Everyone is all in, 100 percent. I feel like we all have a lot of effort and that is what really matters in the beginning stages of building our team right now."

The eight returners gained even more experience this past summer as the SUNY New Paltz basketball team traveled to Trindad and Tobago to play four games overseas. The Hawks not only put in extra minutes of game time, but also utilized an additional week of practice granted in preparation for the trip.

"We had a more productive preseason because of those legal practices that we had over the summer. I think that sped things along, but we don't go into it like we can start on faze two or block 4," Seward said. "We start from scratch and maybe we move along a little quicker, but we didn't take anything for granted and I think we can start somewhere in the middle because of that."

With the graduated seniors playing limited minutes on the trip, it gave the Hawks a chance to get a glimpse of what is to come in 2017-18. Lindsay Bettke, who was a key role player the past two years, stepped up as the team's leading scorer for those four games, and will be crucial in the team's success this winter.

"Last year I wasn't that go-to player like Kit Small was, but I think this year the coaching staff and the team is really going to rely on me to kind of be the quarterback of the team and just get everyone in the right positions," Bettke said. "I think the most important thing I've learned from those seniors last year is just leadership. How to lead a team in different areas. Not just being a vocal leader, but also being a role model on the court, showing them what to do and how to do it."

Along with the leadership the three graduated seniors provided, what the Hawks perhaps will miss most on the court is their ability to get to the foul line, especially from Small who led the team with 160 trips to the foul line.

"As a team that shoots a lot of three's you need to balance that off, and Kit was one of the main reasons we were able to do that," Seward said. "I don't think we have any one player that we can make that up with, so it does have to be a team effort… We're doing a lot of individual work to teach them how to use their body and take advantage of the defense when they are off-balance to create opportunities for us to get to the free throw line."

The Hawks got their first glimpse of their 2017-18 team Nov. 11 in an exhibition game against Skidmore College. They established a comfortable 20-point halftime lead and were up by as much as 11 with about three minutes left, but the Thoroughbreds came back to force overtime.

However, SUNY New Paltz's experienced group buckled down and earned the 80-67 overtime victory with Dietz (17), Niemeyer (15), Simon (15), Bettke (13) and Harris (10) leading the way offensively.

The Hawks kick off their regular season on Nov. 18 against Westfield State University, while their first SUNYAC match up isn't until Dec. 1 when they take on The College at Brockport at home.

"I think we're very confident that we can do it, because the first week of practice we established that nothing is handed to us and nothing is guaranteed," said Bettke, "Just because we won our conference championship two years in a row doesn't mean anything. Practice we go hard every single day and we know on game day we have to bring all our effort to get wins."