For the first time since their return to Division I, the Seattle University Redhawks can set a goal of winning a conference title.

As a first-year member of the Western Athletic Conference, the Redhawks will be eligible in March for the conference's postseason tournament and automatic NCAA tournament berth.

So this year, as the Redhawks navigate the early portion of their schedule, the goal is to get ready for the WAC as much as anything else.

Still, games like Wednesday night's contest at Stanford can serve as a useful guide of where the team is and what it needs to do to get better. Tipoff is 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks and broadcast on 770 AM KTHH.

The game is one of three Seattle U. will play from teams that are in so-called "major" conferences. Seattle U. has already played one — an 83-43 loss at Virginia on Nov. 17. The other comes Dec. 13 when the Redhawks host Washington at KeyArena.

The Redhawks fell down early at Virginia and could never recover, suffering what is their only loss so far. Seattle U. is 2-1, having beaten Montana State and Pacific Lutheran at home, the latter a 58-49 victory last Wednesday.

Dollar said the experience of the Virginia trip and then having come back to beat PLU should have his team better prepared for the visit to Stanford.

"We are still in the process of feeling out who we are and what we need to do to be successful in conference," he said. "But for sure, it's always a litmus test to see where you are at going on the road. And this is probably more of a litmus test of how we will fare this time after getting the first one out of the way and then going and playing arguably a better team, and to see how we handle that."

Dollar says he's been pleased with the team's defense and rebounding but that "we're still kind of finding our way offensively, not only shooting but just turnovers. A lot of that is probably the combination of new sets and new offense and guys getting comfortable in that transition of stepping up and being counted on to score more, especially early in the season."

Indeed, one of the big questions for Seattle U. this year was how it would replace the production of Aaron Broussard, who led the team in scoring last year at 18.2 points per game.

Junior Clarence Trent is the leading scorer through three games at 12.3 followed by redshirt freshman forward Deshaun Sunderhaus at 10.7. The Redhawks, though, are shooting just 37.2 percent from the field and 32.8 percent on three-pointers.

After the trip to Stanford, Seattle U. returns home for a game against Boise State at 2 p.m. Sunday at KeyArena.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @bcondotta.