If the Atlantic Sun handed out an award for the league's most improved team, Stetson would have to make some room in the trophy case.

The Hatters, picked to finish ninth in the preseason polls, landed the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament. They improved from 6-12 in Atlantic Sun play last year to 11-5 in 2007-08. That's the second-best conference record in 22 years of league membership for Stetson, whose 16-15 regular-season mark was just the seventh plus-.500 finish in the past 22 seasons.

"I'm obviously proud of the team this year," head coach Derek Waugh told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. "With the way the players performed and the fact we're bringing in good students and good people, I'd like to think that we're doing a good job."

Stetson recovered quickly from a rough non-conference schedule that included losses to Florida, Florida State, Miami (Fla.) and Rhode Island. The Hatters compiled a five-game winning streak in January and won four of their last five regular-season contests. Two of their losses were in overtime and six others were by fewer than 10 points.

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