VALDOSTA — How much does the Valdosta State men’s basketball team enjoy being on the hardwood? After the team’s first day of practice Wednesday, half of the team voluntarily stayed on the court to get some more work in.

The Valdosta State coaching staff was also glad to finally be back on the court, after months of recruiting, conditioning and other offseason work.

“It’s like the second day of Christmas,” Valdosta State head coach Mike Helfer joked. “You’ve got the real Christmas, and then this day. It’s fun to get out there and work with our guys, and find out who’s going to develop, and where we stand, and what we have to develop.”

The Blazers are coming off an 18-11 season and a second-place finish in the Gulf South Conference’s East Division.

But like the women’s team, there will be a lot of new faces taking the floor for the VSU men this year. Several players have finished their eligibility, including Ricky Coleman and Devario Hudson, who combined to average 32 points a game last year, and others have moved on.

Helfer brought in 11 new players this season. So far, he likes the group a lot.

“We have 11 new guys, and we’re excited about every one of them,” Helfer said. “We like them as people, we like them as students and we like them as players. It seems like we’ve brought in puzzle pieces. Each player has a specific role that we were going to bring them in for. Hopefully we can get all of those pieces to fit together.”

Helfer will be counting heavily on the returning players to be leaders. Senior forward Ray Cummings (7.7 points per game) is the Blazers’ leading returning scorer. Junior guard Tristan Crawford and sophomore guard Anthony Passmore saw a lot of playing time last year, while 6-foot-7 junior Ryan Nelson sat out the season after transferring from Arkansas-Monticello.

“We have good leadership from our returning guys, and we have a lot of new guys, but they’ve blended well,” Helfer said. “I think our personalities blend well, and hopefully that will lead to good chemistry.

“I feel like our learning curve with this group seems to be smaller than it has been with some other teams that I’ve had. I don’t know if that’s a credit to their quick ability to learn, or a credit to the coaching in the programs they came from. But it seems like a shorter curve than normal.”

The Blazers had two players transfer in from Division I military schools. Christian Hunter, a sophomore guard, came from Virginia Military Institute, while redshirt freshman forward Walter Hunter transferred in from The Citadel. Five players — guard Ricardo Lewis, forward Tyrone Curnell, forward Marvin Dibble, guard Charles Belton and forward Marquis Robinson — are junior college transfers.

Valdosta State also has five freshmen on the team, including Hunter. Guard De’Andre Johnson came from small-school power Randolph-Clay, guard Ty Youngs comes from Kennesaw Mountain and the Munroe twins, Erich and Chris, join the Blazers from Thomas County Central.

One day into practice, the Blazers have plenty of work to do before the season begins in a month. Valdosta State opens its season on Nov. 15, when it hosts Carver. But Helfer hopes his team will give fans plenty of reasons to cheer this year.

“We’re looking forward to ’08-09, and what lies in front of us,” Helfer said. “I appreciate the fans in Valdosta. I enjoy seeing the passion and the commitment, and the people that come out and support us. The relationships we’ve built with those fans have just been awesome. This is a great place to be involved with sports.”