As the men’s basketball teams in the Pacific West Conference survey the landscape before today’s games, here’s something none of them saw coming:

Hawaii Pacific University in first place.

Well, not the conference’s coaches, at least. Less than four months ago the coaches’ preseason poll picked the Sharks to finish seventh. Four teams got first-place votes and none of them were HPU, which was envisioned smack in the middle of the 14-team conference.

But here HPU is today, not only atop the league standings at 12-1, but 20-1 overall and sixth-ranked in the national NCAA Division II poll this week.

This is rarefied air for HPU, which hadn’t won 20 games in a season in 18 years and has never been ranked this high in two decades of NCAA membership.

And, if the Sharks get past Concordia (13-8) tonight in Irvine, Calif., to close out their last regular-season mainland road trip, they will likely ascend further, having knocked off No. 4 Cal Baptist in Riverside, Calif., on Thursday, thus avenging their only setback.

With seven regular-season games left before the conference tournament, there is the potential for the best season since the 30-4 NAIA national championship campaign of 1992-93 that followed the merger of HPU and Hawaii Loa.

Not that they can afford much back-patting and self congratulation in the midst of a three-games-in-five-days trek covering 5,150 miles.

“We can’t be very reflective right now,” coach Darren Vorderbruegge said. “It has put us in a position to really make this a special year, but to think about what we have accomplished right now would be very premature — there’s a lot of basketball to be played.”

Preseason prognostications aside, the Sharks thought they would be good, but 20-1? “We were excited about the season, but I don’t know that we knew to expect (this),” said Vince Baldemor, HPU executive director of athletics. “Twenty and one is phenomenal.”

The Sharks went 19-9 last year but lost two starters from the team that finished fifth in the PacWest. None of their returnees was deemed preseason all-conference.

There were six returning seniors, which can be a double-edged proposition. “For some coaches I’ve seen, myself included, that can be scary, whether you can keep six seniors happy (with playing time),” Vorderbruegge said. “You can’t start (all) six. But these guy have just embraced that tremendously, filling roles and working to not be selfish.”

Three of them are among the conference leaders in assists — Jordan Martin (4.0), Chauncey Orr (3.5) and Connor Looney (3.1).

It also shows in the team concept of defense, where the Sharks rank No. 1 among 302 Division II schools in field goal defense (38 percent) and second in rebound margin (plus 11.6).

“Family is a big thing with us. We say it when we come together in our huddle, we say ‘family’ and put our hands together,” Vorderbruegge said. “But we don’t just give it lip service. You have to think about what you are saying and mean it. So we really try to be a family.”

It was a bonding no doubt furthered over the summer by HPU’s appearance in the prestigious Asia-Pacific University Basketball Challenge in Seoul. The Sharks won the six-team tournament in competition with college all-star teams from South Korea, Taiwan, Russia and Japan, growing on and off the court with the experience.

“So we’ve done everything together, eat together, have study hall and we watch video,” Vorderbruegge said. “But, make no mistake, we’re ready to get away from each other when we get back (home) and get off the airplane.”

At least until it is time to come together, again.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.