Beautiful basketball is often compared to jazz with several artists working together in an unstructured, free-flowing form; improvising off each other in a way that builds towards something greater than the sum of its parts.

With every bounce of the ball, roles and tempos can shift in any number of unknown ways. There is beauty in the chaos.

Last year, the Southwestern University Pirates men's basketball team struck the right notes offensively, leading the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) in scoring on their way to a co-share of the conference regular season title—the program's first since 2005.

"They're terrific, really talented young men who can score in a variety of ways," Head Coach Connor Kuykendall said. "We have guys who can shoot, guys who can attack off the dribble, and of course Brandon Alexander, who can score in the post and outside."

Last year, Kuykendall was tasked with trying to disrupt the Pirates' beautiful compositions as the head coach of Schreiner University. This season, his first running the Southwestern University men's basketball program, he'll be trying to mix it all into something familiar but further.

"With every coaching change, the coach is going to bring a style they're used to," Kuykendall said. "But one of the things this group has done is score the ball with confidence and freedom. So, I've been working with assistant coach Zac Graham to make sure we're keeping that."

One of the secrets to improvisation is it starts with strong foundations. Shared fundamentals, knowledge, and basic patterns that provide a framework players can eventually break. To learn the rules to push and break the boundaries of them.

An offense capable of attacking from multiple angles in a variety of ways is at the heart of the Pirates' strength but even decentralized power needs a driving force to give it momentum.

For Southwestern, that's reigning SCAC Player of the Year Brandon Alexander.

Last season, Alexander averaged 18.1 points per game on 44.2 percent shooting, including 35.5 percent on a high volume of 3-pointers. Versatility keys his game and at 6-foot-5 with the ability to shoot from deep off a variety of actions, put the ball on the floor against closeouts and larger opponents, and post smaller opponents, Alexander is a walking mismatch at the Division III level.

"He's a high IQ player who knows how to play the game," Kuykendall said. "He can score from the perimeter, attack off the dribble, and is strong at the basket and picks up things quickly on both sides of the ball."

The beauty in how Alexander's game is integrated into the Pirates' system is how it serves as a driving force of the offense without overtaking it.

Making teammates better is often thought of in terms of generating easy looks and quantified by assists. This is an oversimplification. Star players can uplift teammates by setting screens, making hard cuts knowing they won't receive the ball but it will open up opportunities in its wake, and generally empowering teammates.

Alexander can work as a focal point with the ball in his hands or leverage the attention he draws off the ball to open lanes for teammates.

"When you have a player as talented as Brandon it makes it easier because he's not selfish and they know they have the freedom to take shots and play with freedom," Kuykendall said. "It helps with the culture and guys trusting one another, for sure. We need other guys to play well and Brandon knows and understands that."

Alongside Alexander are five other seniors who've worked together over the years to develop that trust and chemistry.

Luke Hicks and Kyle Howard are steady in the backcourt. At point guard, Howard is a vocal leader capable of leading the Pirates' pick and roll sets, leading the team in assists last season at 3.6 per game, while also disrupting passing lanes with a team-high 1.5 steals per game. Hicks gives the Pirates strong play on both sides of the ball, giving Southwestern some shot creation and defense.

Andrew Puhl emerged last year in his junior season as the ultimate glue guy, working on the periphery to grab the extra rebound, make the extra pass, attack closeouts, and generally keeping everything moving from point A to point B on both sides of the court.

"Andrew is a guy who does the dirty work," Kuykendall said. "Before you know it, he's going to have 12 points, seven rebounds, and four or five assists. You don't really notice it while he's doing it, he just quietly works had and gets stuff done."

Off the bench, senior guards Justin McCormack and Joel Martinez off different kinds of sparks. McCormack works as a hired gun of sorts, getting on the court to space the floor with barrages of 3-pointers in shorts amount of time with a chaotic blend of flip shots and floaters.

Martinez works as a sixth starter, accentuating the Pirates' system by often existing outside of it; giving Southwestern the sort of unscripted plays opponents can't account for.

"Joel is full of energy, plays hard on every possession, and makes things happen you can't prepare for," Kuykendall said. "He's going to go off-script a little bit which, as a coach, can be nerve wracking, but guys like him you have to let play because more often than not, they're going to make good things happen."

"We have six seniors who've played big roles but we're going to need some young players to step up and contribute," Kuykendall said. "Right now, we have a nice mixture of youth and experience, which will help us this year and moving forward."

Through the first exhibition and road portion of the Pirates' early schedule, sophomore Kyle Poerschke appears to have made a leap, averaging 17.5 points per game on 65.2 percent shooting, including 44.4 percent from three.

"He's a guy who can really score and when he plays with confidence, he's going to be a key piece to what we're doing," Kuykendall said. "As the year went on last year, he wasn't playing high minutes, but if you're looking for someone who's going to breakout, he's going to make that jump."

Junior Trenton Garrett also figures to see his role increase in importance, if not outright minutes, given the graduation of the Pirates' depth at center.

"He's a player we hope can continue to take the next step," Kuykendall said. "The center position will be by committee with him and a few first years who can give us different things, depending on what we need. It's where we're the youngest and need to be quickest to adjust and learn."

First year Zac Black has gotten a lot of the early looks at center, representing a class that also features early contributors in guards Calvin Williams and Preston Hannah.

The young players will benefit from a culture established by the senior leadership, helping Kuykendall establish his vision for the program.

"We want to be a well-rounded program. We want teams coming to play us to know it's going to be a battle on both sides of the court," Kuykendall said. "A lot of that comes with establishing culture and a team-first mentality. We want—and have—guys in this program who want to be part of a successful team more than worrying about individual accolades."

Last year, the Pirates got a taste of both. Now favored in the SCAC preseason poll, they're hoping to find the right composition for a conference tournament championship.