WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Iron sharpens iron.

That's the thought of Whitman College head men's basketball coach Eric Bridgeland as he takes a squad that closed last season ranked seventh in the nation and hones it against a challenging schedule in 2016-17.

"With our proximity, a full NCAA Division III schedule like this one doesn't come together very often," explains Bridgeland, the 2015-16 Northwest Conference coach of the year. "This is the most aggressive schedule we have taken on as a program, one that is highlighted by eight games against perennial tournament teams.

"We will have our hands full on a nightly basis. Having said that, though, we are ecstatic about the opportunity to measure ourselves against some of the best programs in the country, as we do year in and year out."

The season opener -- at home where the team captured an NCAA first-round tournament victory last year -- kicks off the schedule against a team that defeated the eventual national champion in its conference tournament. St. Olaf (Minn.) College fell out of the NCAA tournament in the second round and finished 24th in the final D3hoops.com national poll. The Oles will be seeking a fourth consecutive trip into the national tournament beginning with their game in Walla Walla.

A neutral-site weekend follows in Spokane, Washington, where Whitman will first square off against Texas Lutheran University, which has been a participant in the past two NCAA tournaments.

Following a pair of Northwest Conference contests Whitman greets another pair of NCAA tournament participants to the Sherwood Athletics Center in early December. Covenant (Ga.) College dropped out of the tournament in the opening round but the College of Wooster (Ohio) played its way into the Elite 8 before bowing out and ending the season ranked No. 14. The Fighting Scots are the winningest D-III program of the 2000s (387-69).

Mid-December finds Bridgeland and his squad in Orlando, Florida, for a holiday tournament in which it will square up against No. 17 Marietta (Ohio) College, a Final Four team from 2015 and an NCAA tournament participant the last four years.

Whitman will usher in the New Year at home only hours after battling Buena Vista (Iowa) College at Sherwood on December 31. The visiting Beavers have captured the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference eight times since the 1999-2000 season.

Add in the regular home and away battles within conference play and Whitman -- which returns better than 75 percent of its scoring and rebounding from last year's Sweet 16 team -- certainly will have its hands full every night.

"Not everyone's upcoming schedule is out yet," stated Bridgeland, "but we are guessing our non-conference slate is amongst the toughest, if not the toughest, in the nation."