No longer able to fly under the radar, the Cowboys are set to open Southland Conference play.

The hunter has become the hunted.

It is like the forgotten has become unforgettable.

The Cowboys enter Saturday’s conference opener at Commerce, Texas, riding the momentum of a six-game win streak, their best start in 51 years at 11-2, and gaining attention on the national stage.

“A lot of teams in our league are tired of hearing about us,” said McNeese State head coach Will Wade. “Now people are going to want to knock us off.

“I don’t think we have a lot of friends in the league.”

That’s what happens when you win.

It started in November 2021 when McNeese was handed the rights to host the SLC Tournament when the school decided to stay in the league instead of leaving for the Western Athletic Conference.

If that was not enough, the Cowboys hired Wade and then cut a deal to host the tournament for even more years.

But winning is what has gotten all the attention since the season began.

After knocking off Michigan a week ago to end the old year, anybody who wasn’t paying attention is now. McNeese, which was picked in a preseason poll of league coaches and sports information directors to finish second to Southeastern Louisiana, finds itself as high as a 13 seed in mock NCAA Tournament brackets.

That has the Cowboys, who haven’t enjoyed a winning record since the 2011-12 season, thinking big.

“We are going to blow through the conference and win every game,” said guard Shahada Wells. “We have a chip on our shoulder. They picked us second.

“A lot of people didn’t believe in us at first. They believe in us now.”

“You want to have people talking about you,” Wade said. “It’s a good thing. We have earned it.

“I promise you Commerce doesn’t care. We have to prove ourselves all over again.”

Texas A&M–Commerce (6-7) has a big win itself, having beaten St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia. Nicholls State (5-8) beat LSU so McNeese is not the only one with a significant victory on it résumé.

Still, it is the Cowboys, one of three SLC teams with a winning record, who are the ones setting the pace.

“Everybody wants to beat McNeese,” Wells said.

It is a complete turnaround from McNeese’s history, which lost 45 games over the last two seasons.

“There are a lot of teams we lost to last year that are back on our schedule so we’re looking forward to getting revenge a lot this season,” said forward Christian Shumate. “There are some teams that beat us twice last season. “I’m not going to say who they are, but we know who beat us.”