While many teams set goals at the start of the season, such as winning a conference championship or going to the NCAA Tournament, Sacramento State men’s basketball head coach Brian Katz has a different philosophy.

Instead of setting specific goals to be met by season’s end, he preaches the same three things each week.

“We want to get better every day in practice, win the next game and have more fun than any other team in the country,” Katz said. “But I always tell them, the third goal isn’t going to happen unless the first two happen.”

The Hornets win total has improved steadily the last three seasons.

Last season, Sac State finished 14-15 (8-12), which marked the most wins since 2005 and the second most since becoming a Division I program in 1992.

Still, the Hornets failed to make the Big Sky Conference Tournament for the seventh time and the team lost four games by two points or less last season.

This season, the Hornets feature a backcourt that Katz said could be the best shooting team he has put together.

The trio of guards – juniors Dylan Garrity and Mikh McKinney with sophomore Cody Demps – scored 40 percent of the total points last season and shot a combined 38 percent from 3-point range.

“The strength in our team is going to be in our guards,” Garrity said.

Over the last two seasons, Garrity has averaged 9.8 points and six assists per game, but this year he wants to shoot more.

“It’s something that doesn’t come naturally to me, but I have to adapt,” Garrity said. “Katz is on me every single day. If I pass up one shot during practice, I’m running.”

The Hornets will feature an entirely new front court under the basket since seniors Joe Eberhard, John Dickson and Konner Veteto graduated.

While juniors Joey Quigley and Jordan Salley received playing time last season and each started some games, Katz said transfer forward Alex Tiffin will also begin the season in the starting lineup.

Tiffin sat out last season after transferring from UC Davis. He started 14 games for the Aggies and averaged 3.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game in 2011-2012.

“He is going to be a real physical player and a good post defender and a good rebounder,” Katz said.

Along with the returning players, freshmen Nick Hornsby and Eric Stuteville will also help the Hornets up front.

Hornsby played on Tustin High School’s varsity team for three seasons and was the 20th ranked high school recruit in California according to ESPN Recruiting Nation Basketball. Since arriving at Sac State, Hornsby said he can already see the difference in practice between the high school and the Div. I college level.

“There are guys bigger than me and stronger than me,” Hornsby said. “It is a lot more physical.”

Stuteville graduated last year from Casa Roble High School in Orangevale. After playing basketball for only three seasons, he averaged 21.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game during his senior season.

Katz said everyone’s role on the team can change day-to-day but thinks the freshmen can make an impact once the season starts.

“They are freshmen and sometimes they are going to play like freshmen, but they are very talented,” Katz said. “It’s going to be a question of how fast they are going to be comfortable.”

Before the Hornets dive into conference play at the beginning of the new year, their schedule will include trips to UC Davis, UCLA and UTEP.  Although they were picked by the Big Sky coaches and members of the media to finish seventh and eighth in the conference for the respective polls, Katz said there is only one opinion that matters.

“I always tell my players that the only opinion that matters is ours,” Katz said.

Sac State opens up its season Friday against UC Santa Cruz. Tipoff is at 7:35 p.m.