Zach Spiker's attempting to do what's never been done at Army before. (USATSI)

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- It's one of the unfortunate five, Army West Point men's basketball. The Black Knights' program is part of a jinxed group of original Division I teams (dating back to the 1940s) that has the infamous distinction of having never played an NCAA Tournament game. William & Mary, The Citadel, Northwestern and St. Francis (New York) are the other four.

"I am aware of this, yes," Army coach Zach Spiker sardonically said earlier this week.

Spiker and I got to addressing that hex, and also the positive upshot that's come with this season, after his team went out and impressively defeated touted Monmouth to the tune of 91-84 on Monday night. That victory signifies the best of the season for Army, and will almost certainly rank as the biggest metric boost to the team's résumé regardless of what happens over the next two months in league play.

But Spiker said it does him and his guys no good to even begin thinking about dreaming too big right now. They're not "taking it one day at a time" either.

"We work in three-day pockets,” Spiker said.

Today, tomorrow, and peering just over the edge to the day after that. That's the mindset for an Army squad that is now 10-3, just as it was 10-3 last season. The 2015-16 campaign can be different, however. Because last year was an injury-riddled mess. One player had a bent-back finger, another had a knee injury, another was dealing with a bum shoulder, and yet another was deemed academically ineligible. 

This year, if injuries are staved, Army has the goods to make a real run at the NCAAs and win the Patriot League for the first time in program history. The Black Knights were picked fourth in the preseason but look as good as anyone in that conference right now. Their 132 ranking in KenPom is 53 spots better than Boston University, which is the second-highest rated team from that group. Army's also a senior-laden team that goes seven-deep on four-year guys, all of the starters being upperclassmen. At the mid-major level, that's a huge asset. From a personnel standpoint, Army has the strength and depth to match up with anyone in the Patriot League. 

"I told my team, they have five seniors, that after they get done in a little while, they’ll be protecting us," Monmouth coach King Rice said on Monday. "I told my kids this will be the toughest group of guys that we see all year. Maybe not the best basketball players, but they will be tougher than any team we see this year."

Spiker's team opened conference play on Wednesday night with an 88-82 road win against PL preseason faves Lehigh, a group that's shuffled to a 2-10 start thanks to the 13th-hardest nonconference schedule. For Spiker and his coaches, it was a gargantuan win against a club that had the 2015 rookie and player of the year in the Patriot League. In getting to 10 wins in their first 13 games this season, Army just clinched seven straight years of 10 wins or more for Spiker, which is the best run ever for any coach at the school. If that accomplishment seems all too simple to be a program record, remember that the Army gig is without a doubt among the toughest in the country, right up there with Air Force. Spiker's done a wonderful job navigating the hurdles.

Here's an example, a turn of events Spiker dealt with this week, just the most recent obstacle that doesn't happen with/at most programs. With the Monmouth game scheduled for Dec. 28, the team wanted to get three practices in the three days prior to. After all, the Hawks are really good, very tough to prep for, and so Spiker asked his players to be back at West Point on Christmas night. An illness with one of his players prompted Spiker to have an operations guy drive a van down to New Jersey to pick up some players in order to avoid a virus infecting the team.

Then, once practice and post-practice dinner was complete around midnight on Friday, Army's players headed to their temporary stay at a nearby lodge, as their normal rooms were not open on West Point's campus due to the holiday. What awaited Army's players? Beds without mattresses. Some slept on hard floors and foam rolls, while others drove back to campus and passed out on chairs and/or spread out in the players' lounge. It took two days to get all the players in adequate sleeping arrangements.

Given the totality of the cadets' other duties, this far from the most difficult thing, but these bothersome obstacles show in part why coaching at Army is different and harder. The challenges have made the team stronger, and this is a strong team. You see them in person, you see a group that will not be pushed around. But what makes Army dangerous is that element of brawn combined with a run-and-shoot ideology. The Black Knights, who are putting up a strapping 86.3 points per game, have made 10 or more 3-pointers in all of but two of their games. Their 3s-per-game average is sixth in the nation, and their 76.5 possessions per game adjusted for national average is seventh in college hoops. Senior Kyle Wilson is a brute who can bomb, a guy making 4.0 3-pointers per game, second most in the nation.

Like Wilson, senior Tanner Plomb is a danger to crack 20 points on any given night. Plomb and Wilson will combine to score more than 3,000 career points by the time this season is done. They're just the third Army duo ever to graduate in the same year and simultaneously crack the career 1,000-point mark. Their aggregate 33.3 points average was best in the Patriot League last season, and they're easily besting it this year by putting up 39.9 points; Plomb's 21.8 average is best in the conference, while Wilson's 18.1 is second among all Patriot League players. They've made 96 3s so far this season, second most for any duo in the nation.

When you factor in senior center Kevin Ferguson to be the best rebounder in the Patriot League to this point, with 8.5 snags per, and then figure senior point guard Dylan Cox is going to set the Army career record for assists, it's all coming together to be a special season for Spiker's sergeants.

Beyond the offensive attack, for Spiker, it's not about hitting the 3, but stopping it. He agrees with the fledgling philosophy that you don't have much control over your opponent's 3-point percentage, but you do have control over how many 3s they take. And against Monmouth, Army kept the Hawks to 3-of-11 shooting. Against Lehigh, a different story, as the Mountain Hawks went 10 for 18 from deep. But as will be the case a few more times this season, Army simply out-shot Lehigh on the way to a satisfy road win.

Something really good is starting to build on the gorgeous campus perched on the Hudson River.

It's been a couple of generations since Army's outlook was this good heading into league play. KenPom currently projects the Black Knights to go 13-5 in the Patriot League. That would mean a 22-8 record. The last time Army finished a season with single-digit losses came in 1978. The last time Army won 20 games in a season was 1977.

Who was coaching the team in both of those seasons? A guy named Krzyzewski.

And if the forecast comes true, and Army wins at least 22 games this season, well you know the last time that happened in West Point? 1970. It was the only time Army has ever won that many games in one season. The coach: some upstart named Bob Knight.

That's the company Spiker is putting himself in now. He's assembled a team so well-rounded, it might wind up being the best ball club in the history of the program. If an NCAA Tournament bid happens for Army 2 1/2 months from now, it will become one of the best stories in college basketball this season and in that moment Spiker will be an Army basketball icon on equal footing in West Point with the two legendary coaches who came a couple of generations before him.