Full 2017-18 schedule.

The word is out. The Mustangs are good, again. And that, frankly, made piecing together the 2017-18 men’s basketball schedule more difficult.

Not everyone, it appears, wants to play a team that won 27 games last year and advanced to the second round of the NAIA national tournament.

For one, a flashy NCAA Division 1 exhibition game was likely a casualty of The Master’s University’s epic turnaround a season ago.

The Mustangs played Michigan State in 2014. They played Fresno State in 2015. They played UCLA last year.

This time, there were no takers.

“I tried for more than one,” said Mustangs second-year coach Kelvin Starr.

The schedule, released by the school Monday, isn’t bare of intrigue, though.

The Mustangs play two former Golden State Athletic Conference rivals early, in Division 2 schools Azusa Pacific and Concordia of Irvine.

The Concordia game is at Bross Court on Oct. 31.

Master’s also, obviously, plays its usual tough slate of GSAC games, the last three of which will be on the road, providing a particularly arduous close to the regular season.

“There are two ways to look at it, right?” Starr said of the road contests against Westmont, Hope International and Vanguard. “It’s a tough stretch, but it’s also perfect timing before we go to the national tournament. That’s what you have to do at nationals: go win games on the road.”

The Mustangs traveled to Kansas City, Missouri, last year and beat Benedictine (Kansas) in the first round of the NAIA tourney. A two-point loss to eventual-champion Texas Wesleyan ended a season in which Master’s won 23 more games than it had in 2015-16. It also marked the program’s first national tournament berth since 2000.

A return trip rides on the shoulders of a veteran group. Five of the team’s top six scorers from a year ago are back, highlighted by GSAC Defensive Player of the Year Lawrence Russell, who averaged 15 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists as a junior.

Sophomore Tim Soares, a 6-foot-10 post, only skimmed the surface of his vast potential as a freshman, when he averaged 8.3 points and 6.4 boards a game.

As for newcomers, the Mustangs welcome Fresno State transfer Darryl McDowell-White, Liberty University transfer Brock Gardner and talented freshman Hodges Bailey.

“All three of them have the ability to help us in a big-time way their first year,” Starr said.

Michael Taylor, arguably the team’s best athlete, is looking to contribute coming off a redshirt season. The Mustangs also return point guard Hansel Atencia (12.0 points per game last year), wing Delewis Johnson (11.8 points) and 6-7 forward Travis Yenor (10.9).