John Shulman is in midseason form.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach is getting a touch hoarse from barking at players to sprint, jump to the ball, box out and, of course, build a wall.

The team is still in preseason form, however.

Turnovers, being a little out of position and box-out blunders are expected on Nov. 9. But the team needs to catch up with its coach soon with a daunting schedule beginning Saturday at Tennessee.

“No doubt it’s early,” Shulman said. “Last year, we were picked fourth in the North and we played like we had a lot to prove. Right now, we’re playing like we’ve done something. We haven’t done anything.”

The Mocs were picked to finish first in the Southern Conference North Division.

“You know what that gets you?” Shulman asked rhetorically. “That and $2.50 gets you a gallon of gas.

“That doesn’t mean anything, and our guys think it means something.”

Shulman was irate after the Mocs’ 99-75 win over King College in an exhibition on Thursday. He joked that the nicest thing he said to the team during video review Friday was hello.

“Coach is a real competitive guy and he demands the very best out of you,” point guard Keyron Sheard said. “We’re in a process and we’re getting there.”

Shulman calmed after a three-hour practice Friday night and a 2 1/2-hour session Saturday morning.

He said he saw improvement and the players drew some motivation from seeing 14th-ranked Tennessee build a 40-2 lead on Tusculum in an exhibition.

“What they’ve done is gone from being down 11-2 in their first exhibition game to being up 40-2,” Shulman said. “We were hoping that we could learn after the Auburn deal, but we didn’t take it into King.

“Either we’ll learn over the next six days or we’ll be down 40-4.”

The Mocs play four teams from power conferences early, which necessitates the need for early-season improvement.

“We’re trying to be a championship team, so it’s not too early,” senior Nicchaeus Doaks said. “We can prepare to get ready for something special — something more than beating King — like beating Tennessee, Missouri and Memphis.”

Those are teams UTC will face over the course of six days in addition to Southern Cal or Seton Hall.

“If we had a normal schedule, you can deal with the building of a team,” Shulman said. “We don’t have a normal schedule. If you have a young team, you don’t play this schedule, but we have an old team and you’d think old teams are ready for that.”