If someone would have told Rex Walters prior to the season USF, minus the services of three starters and many key reserves from last year, would be 5-4 at the nine-game mark of the season, chances would have been pretty good the Dons' eighth-year head coach would have nodded his approval.
 
The same question posed to him a third of the way through the season might elicit a different response, which might be an indication of how far this young Dons' team has come as much as how far it still has to go to reach a level of play Walters and his staff are comfortable with.
 
"With the exception of a couple of first halves and the second half at Montana, I think we've played pretty well," said Walters. "There is still a lot of learning going on and we've told our players it's not a matter of getting it, but it's a matter of when. I understand why we're at where we are and at the same time we are about to go into the most challenging part of our schedule.
 
"We still have a lot of improvement left in our tanks."
 
Translated, the Dons remain a work in progress, which shouldn't come as a shock for a team which counts 11 newcomers on its 16-man roster. There have been bright spots, many teachable moments and a glimpse into a future that's "moving in the right direction" according to Walters.
 
The play of USF's starting guard combination of Devin Watson and Tim Derksen has carried the Dons early in the season. The duo has combined to score 33.2 points a game and have led the team in scoring in all nine games this season and Watson's scoring average of 18.6 points a game ranks second in the conference behind only Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer. Derksen, who is scoring at a 14.7 per game clip, recently became the 35th player in USF history to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career. He currently ranks 29th on USF's all-time scoring list and with at least 20 games remaining in the season, will likely leapfrog some notable names, including James Hardy and Joe Ellis, to name a few.
 
The Dons high-scoring backcourt has accounted for nearly half of the team's total point production at the nine game mark of the season mostly because they've had to. As good as Watson and Derksen have been, the next step in their development according to Walters will be measured in how much better they make others around them.
 
"As a coach, we want to allow them to be as efficient as possible and they have been very efficient," said Walters. "I don't think there is a better point guard in our conference than Devin Watson. He is playing with a tremendous amount of confidence and he has the ability to back it up. He is as good of a player as I've ever coached at his position.
 
"That said, they will have to continue to make their teammates better by getting them the ball in places on the floor where they can be effective. That will make their jobs easier in that they won't be the only two points of focus on a scouting report. When we've been successful, we've had 3-7 players involved as opposed to just two. It's a big key for us moving forward."
 
The Dons' rotation has been 11-deep at various times over the first nine games of the year, with Montray Clemons, Uche Ofoegbu, Matt McCarthy, Ronnie Boyce, Mladen Djordjevic and Sean Grennan attempting to carve a niche for themselves as USF prepares for the WCC portion of its schedule which starts Monday night at Saint Mary's. Walters admits finding quality minutes for 11 players can be a challenge and is looking forward to a tighter rotation for the last two months for the remainder of the season.
 
"This 11-day break has validated some things," said Walters. "Some separation has occurred based on certain players understanding and executing what we want to do. That's not to say our other guys aren't good enough because they will be in time. Ideally, we want to get to an 8-9 man rotation and at the same time raise the level of play among some of our younger players."
 
The Dons enter the teeth of their schedule on Monday when they open the 64th season of West Coast Conference play at Saint Mary's. The Gaels, which will take a 7-1 record into Wednesday night's game against Southern Utah, have won 19 of the last 20 meetings against USF and seemed poised to make a run at the conference title, despite losing all five starters off of last year's team. The game will provide a stern test and be another eye-opener for a young Dons' team looking for consistency.
 
"All the teams in the conference are well-coached and everyone knows each other so well," said Walters. "It's a dog fight every night. Obviously some see Gonzaga more than other teams but Saint Mary's has surprised some people – not me – with their fast start and LMU has started to come on strong. Some of the records aren't reflective of how good some of these teams are."