GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KDVR) — Four years ago, Colorado Mesa won 11 basketball games. This weekend they open play as the nation’s top-ranked unit.

Predictably, head coach Mike DeGeorge isn’t impressed.

“The rankings don’t really mean much, nobody has played games out of conference, so everyone is just making their best guess,” DeGeorge said.

At 21-1, there isn’t much guess work. DeGeorge is a program builder. He’s done it successfully at three other stops with smaller programs, before arriving in Grand Junction three years ago.

“It’s a delicate combination. You’ve got to have like-minded people to build trust. When everyone’s working for the same goal, you end up feeding off of each other.”

DeGeorge’s positivity drew Reece Johnson from Windsor, Colo., who’s become one of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s best sixth men.

“He and the staff have such a positive attitude and they’re all very detail oriented. It’s never about the individual with us, it’s always about the team,” said Johnson. “It’s a great family atmosphere.”

Players like Reece are becoming the life-blood of the program—he’s one of six players from the greater Denver area.

“The long-range plan is to feed this program with Colorado kids on a four-year basis,” siad DeGeorge.

The Mavericks and Colorado School of Mines are the top two seeds in the six-team regional at Mines this weekend where the plan is … wait a second, what’s the plan?

“I don’t have any plan,” laughed DeGeorge. “Other than to treat people well and try to get our team to play the best they can. I’m just going to enjoy feeding off their energy.”

Now that sounds like a plan.