Regardless of the team or the sport, hope springs eternal prior to the initial contest. Often this hope is false, born out of passionate fans desperate for success.

But with five returning starters and 10 of 11 letterwinners back from a 19-15 season, the Wisconsin’s women’s basketball team carries legitimate expectations into its opener against North Dakota on Sunday.

“We saw glimpses of greatness last year, and we have the same team back plus two more people,” guard Rae Lin D’Alie, one of two seniors on this year’s squad, said referencing the team’s surprise run to the semifinals of last year’s Big Ten tournament as evidence of their potential. “For us it’s going to be, are we tough enough? That’s what it’s going to come down to. Are we going to be tough enough to be at the end of the season when everybody’s in a grind — are we going to be able to pull together?”

Questions like the ones D’Alie poses will begin to be answered this Sunday when the Badgers host the Fighting Sioux, a team picked to finish first in the newly formed Great West Conference.

The Sioux, coming off an 18-11 season, should provide a better measuring stick than in-state rival UW-Oshkosh, which UW dominated 106-39 in an exhibition last week.

“They’re senior-oriented,” UW head coach Lisa Stone said of North Dakota. “Their post players can shoot the ball; guards can really light it up from outside. … [They are] a team that can score in a lot of different areas and ways, and we just have to maintain our discipline defensively to make it very difficult for them to get easy looks.”

And indeed, any success for this year’s team will be founded on the defensive end. Last year, after implementing new “pack” principles, the team surrendered just 56.6 points per game, more than 10 points better than the previous season.

This time around, Stone will see if a new system can produce a similar transformation on the other end of the floor, introducing a “four out, one in” motion offense, in place of the familiar swing scheme. The new approach will emphasize perimeter screen and reads, as well as dribble-drive penetration to better suit the team’s guard-heavy personnel.

But the transition to a more wide-open attack will certainly be made easier if the Badgers can get production from the interior as it did in its exhibition, when 6-foot-1-inch junior forward Tara Steinbauer demonstrated a full repertoire of post moves en route to a game-high 25 points.

“When you have a low-post presence and an ability to score and finish like Tara can inside, it takes a lot of pressure off the guards,” Stone said, who’s entering her seventh season at the helm. “And what ended up happening is because we had the touches on the post, our guards had driving opportunities. Because they brought help to Tara, that opened up the perimeter and that’s what this offense allows you to do.”

Unfortunately, the team may be shorthanded this week, as both Alana Trotter, a tri-captain and junior guard, and Ashley Thomas, a 6-foot-2-inch sophomore forward, battle injuries. Both, according to Stone, are day-to-day.

Thomas’ potential absence would leave the team with only three forwards, forcing 6-foot freshman Taylor Wurtz, 5-foot-10-inch senior Teah Gant and 5-foot-9-inch junior Emily Neal to help in the post.

“Offensively, it’s an okay matchup,” Stone said of the impact of the injuries. “It’s defensively (where) we’ll have to certainly utilize our pack principles to the utmost. … You know, we’re thin in there, but it’s next player in.”

Even with a win, though, memories of last year’s non-conference experience will remain fresh in the squad’s mind. The Badgers jumped out to an impressive 10-1 record in 2008, before posting a disappointing 6-12 mark in conference play.

If, however, the team maintains its stalwart defensive play and sees improvement with the new offense, Stone said anything’s possible.

“We can go as far as we’re able to continue to improve,” she said. “I think if we continue to do what we do, and do what we do well, we’re going to be a tough team to compete with.”

The only question is, as D’Alie put it, will they be tough enough?