VALDOSTA — The most anticipated men’s basketball season in Valdosta State history is about to begin.

The Blazers open their much-anticipated 2009-10 campaign on Monday at 8 p.m. in The Complex against Carver.

The Blazers enter the season in uncharted territory.

The team returns four starters and several key reserves to a team that went 24-7 last year and advanced to the Gulf South Conference championship game and the NCAA tournament.

The addition of two highly-touted transfers, 6-foot-10 forward Billy McShepard and 6-foot-9 center Josh Williams, along with the returnees, has brought national attention to the men’s program. The Sporting News ranked the Blazers No. 4 in the country in its preseason poll, and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) has VSU as the No. 7 team in the country in its preseason poll. The Blazers are also picked by the GSC coaches to win the Eastern Division and the GSC tournament.

The attention, the hype and the expectations are all new to a team that’s usually overshadowed by the school’s football program. To help his team stay humble and focused, VSU head basketball coach Mike Helfer has issued a gag order to his team. No player or coach is allowed to talk about preseason rankings.

“Obviously, we haven’t been as highly-ranked here as I was at Southern (Polytechnic State),” Helfer said. “We’ve just never talked about it throughout my entire coaching career. You can acknowledge it, but there’s no need to chatter about it, watch the rankings, try to predict where someone is going to move. It just doesn’t do you any good. Let’s wait until the end of the year, and those are the rankings that mean something, because they’ll be reflective of what you did this particular year. Preseason rankings are based upon last year.”

Senior point guard Ricardo Lewis is fine with the gag order. He pointed out how North Alabama went to the Elite Eight in 2008 and returned nearly everybody last year, but missed the national tournament.

“I respected that,” Lewis said about the gag order. “There’s nothing really to talk about. It’s the preseason.”

Helfer did allow senior power forward Tyrone Curnell to discuss his preseason All-American status. The big man became a fan favorite last year for his powerful dunks. He averaged 14.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game on his way to becoming an All-American as a junior.

“It means a lot,” Curnell said. “I’m getting a lot of recognition right now. It’s pretty much an honor. I’m trying to humble myself and get ready.”

Curnell said he is happy to finally have a stable home at VSU after starting his collegiate career at Jacksonville and transferring to Seminole Community College.

“I’ve bounced around so much that I said I’m going to make this my home,” Curnell said. “I just go out and play hard every night, and try to win. I want to put Valdosta State back on the map basketball-wise.”

Curnell was also selected to the preseason All-GSC first team with Lewis.

While Curnell, Lewis, Tristan Crawford, Ryan Nelson, Christian Hunter and B.J. Dibble are the big names returning, and Williams and McShepard are the two big-name additions, Helfer is most impressed by a returning player who started out slow last year, but came on at the end.

“Really, we need to be talking about Marquis (Robinson),” Helfer said. “Marquis has really had an amazing summer, developmental-wise, and I think he’s going to be a guy who is going to be a force to be reckoned with underneath.”

Robinson only averaged 7.3 minutes per game last year, but at 6-foot-7, he has the frame to help Curnell in the post. Robinson looks noticeably slimmer after his impressive offseason.

“I think he’s transformed his weight,” Helfer said. “On the scale, it doesn’t look a lot less, but his body looks a lot better because he moved (weight) from his midsection to his upper body.”

The Blazers aren’t sitting fat and happy with their preseason rankings and accolades. The team knows it let a great opportunity slip away last year. The Blazers lost to Claflin in the first round of the national tournament by making one mistake after another in the closing minutes of the game.

“That loss last year really hurt us, because I think nobody played the way we expected to,” Lewis said. “Nobody expected us to get knocked out of the first round. We were disappointed in the way we played, and everybody wants to come back and let everybody know that wasn’t Valdosta State basketball.”

The road to what the Blazers hope is another NCAA tournament berth is littered with tough opponents. Helfer called this year’s schedule the toughest VSU has had since he took over in 2005. The Blazers take on Peach Belt powers Clayton State and Augusta State. They also travel to Tampa for a rematch of a wild game at The Complex last year, and host Delta State, the team picked to finished second to the Blazers in the GSC.

The games against tough teams should help the Blazers’ strength of schedule.

“I’m real excited,” Curnell said. “It’s always good to play top teams at the beginning of the season, to see how you compare. I’m not sure how they do the region rankings, but it’s always good to play good teams like that, because a win could justify your spot in the region.”