CHARLESTON, S.C. – The calendar has flipped from October to November and that can only mean one thing: basketball season is finally here. That is an exciting notion in Charleston as the 2017-18 Citadel men's basketball team begins what promises to be another exciting season with one of the youngest teams in the country.

Last season, the Bulldogs played at a fast pace and scored in bunches, leading the nation in points per game and ranking in the top-10 in the nation in six other statistical categories. This year, head coach Duggar Baucom wants his young squad to move even faster and score even more.

"We're going to try to play a little bit faster than we did last season. Last year, we isolated players a little bit more, forcing them to create their own shots, but this year we're hoping that the offense will create shots for the players," Baucom said. "The players are getting used to it. It's a little bit of a style change for the guys who were here last year, but hopefully it will help us play faster and score some more points."

That promises to be exciting for Bulldog fans and troublesome for the Bulldogs' opponents. To be able to move at a faster clip, Baucom and staff will rely heavily on their eight returners who have been through the system already, including the top five scorers from a season ago, but not a single senior.

"It's huge to have so many guys come back, especially because they were all here during the summer," Baucom said. "We had the returners in summer school classes and then we brought in the six freshmen. That was very helpful for the returners to be able to work with the new guys so quickly. We changed things up a little bit after our trip to the Dominican Republic, tweaked the offense just a little bit more and the guys seem to have really bought into that. Everyone on the team was recruited because of their length, their quickness and their shooting ability. I think all of that will help us."

The "seniors" on this year's squad are three juniors, all of whom have contributed greatly in their first two years on campus. Included in their ranks are forward Zane Najdawi and guards Matt Frierson and Quayson Williams.

Last season, Najdawi was named to the HoopsHD.com All-SoCon Team and was the first Bulldog to garner SoCon Player of the Week honors since the 2013-14 season. He finished the season as the Bulldogs' second-leading scorer with 496 points (15.0 per game) and led the team with 220 rebounds (6.7 per contest). Frierson was one of just five Bulldogs to see action in all 33 games last season and he proved to be lethal from beyond the three-point arc. He was second on the team with 65 made three-pointers, shooting 35.9 percent from beyond the arc. Williams ended the 2016-17 campaign as the fourth-highest scorer on the squad, scoring 261 points (7.9 per game). He saw action in all 33 games, making 17 starts, and provided the Bulldogs with 55 three-pointers.

"All three are generally very quiet," Baucom said. "Zane has certainly been a leader by example. He goes out and a lot of nights he is a double-double machine. He doesn't say a whole lot, he's not the most vocal guy, but when a guy can post those kinds of numbers, he automatically garners respect from his teammates. Matt is a great shooter, very close to a game-changer because when teams see him coming into a game, they immediately start screaming, 'Shooter! Shooter!' He's expanded his game a little bit this year, he can put the ball on the floor and can get to the rim a little bit better and he added some size in the weight room. All of that is attributed to the work he put in during the offseason, but he'll be a very important part of how we play this year. Quayson brings outside shooting and hopefully some toughness when he's on the court and the experience of having been through the battles. Hopefully these guys will teach the younger players what a road crowd and trip can be like."

It won't be just the trio of juniors that will be able to help the six freshmen advance this year. Baucom's team will benefit from five sophomores who play more like juniors and seniors and who have played valuable minutes already. The quintet of Frankie Johnson, Preston Parks, Kaelon Harris, Leandro Allende and Tyler Burgess have already scored a combined 1,251 points off 414 made field goals, 163 of which were three-pointers.

Parks, the 2016-17 SoCon Freshman of the Year and a 2017-18 Preseason All-SoCon selection, set seven school freshman records, including points scored (543), and ended the season ranked 26^th in all of Division I for steals per game despite missing three games with an illness. Both he and Harris were named to the SoCon All-Freshman team and, despite having his season cut short with an injury, Harris was the third-leading scorer for the Bulldogs and was a third-team All-SoCon selection. Johnson was the only freshman to start more than 20 games a season ago, locking down the starting point guard spot for the Bulldogs for much of the season, and Allende started 19 games while Burgess provided another outside threat every time he set foot on the court.

"Frankie started every game last year and played lots of minutes for us at the point. He was a huge part of our growth as a team," Baucom said. "Preston was the SoCon Freshman of the Year, and he came off the bench for a lot of that, but that was because he wanted to and was comfortable doing that. He missed three games and still set the all-time scoring mark by a freshman. Kaelon's season was unfortunately cut short by nine games when he broke his foot, but he's worked really hard in the offseason and bounced back very well. I think when you have an injury like that it makes you appreciate what you're missing and it makes you want to work that much harder to get back. Leandro started some games for us last year and also came off the bench, but any role you give Leo, he's going to give his best to it. That's the greatest thing about him, he's a good player but also a great teammate. Then you have Tyler, who went from playing very little at the beginning of the year to starting some conference games playing valuable minutes and contributing. They all have that experience of having played significant minutes as freshmen."

With so much experience returning, the six freshmen Baucom and staff brought in should have no problem with their learning curve. As the sophomores did a year ago, this freshman class will certainly compete for plenty of playing time early.

"The hope is that everybody sticks together and we just keep adding a piece here or there," said Baucom. "The returners have already been in the trenches because they've gotten to play quite a bit as young guys. Even though they're sophomores and juniors in stature, their experience is a little bit greater than that and you hope that their leadership and experience will rub off on those younger guys. You want all of that to rub off on your freshmen because freshmen will make freshman mistakes and the best thing about a freshman is a year from now they'll be a sophomore."

The 2017-18 freshmen include the likes of Tariq Simmons, Kaiden Rice, Alex Reed, Hayden Brown, Derek Webster, Jr. and Rob Johnson. All six have played for winning high school programs and several have played in big games.

"It starts with Tariq who was brought in as a point guard," Baucom began. "He last lost in the state championship last year, so he certainly knows what high-level competition is and is hungry to compete. He pushes Frankie every day in practice, he has the quickness and the size to do that. We've been really pleased with him so far, but he still has areas to work on that he could maybe get away with at the high school level but can't at the college level. Then you have Kaiden who's a 6-7 shooter and we want him to become more than a shooter. If you're 6-7, with as long as he is, he has to be disruptive on defense and then also be a good rebounder.

"Alex played on a very successful high school team and he's kind of a jack-of-all-trades," Baucom continued. "He's 6-5 and in that in-between size, but he's very versatile. He can play on the wing and he can play on the post. He doesn't care where we put him, he's always going to bring his motor and do what you ask him to do. Then you have Hayden who is 6-6 and we play him at the four, but he's another hybrid. We hope he'll be a mismatch nightmare for some guys because he can go either inside or outside, he's strong down low and has enough skill to shoot the three and plays hard all the time. He'll certainly help us off the glass.

"Derek has a lot of balance and a lot of length," Baucom said. "He's not the tallest guy, he's an undersized post, but he has a lot of control of his length and is very strong. Runs like a deer and can handle the ball, so hopefully that will make him a mismatch inside. And then Rob is a more typical looking post player, but he can also shoot from the outside and I think his greatest attribute is his quickness and how well he runs. Offensively, he's still a little bit of a work in progress, but he keeps getting better every day. I think all six of our freshmen, with their various talents, can bring unique skillsets that will help us this year."

It will take all 14 players coming together quickly this season as the Bulldogs embark on a schedule that includes the likes of Virginia Tech, Florida State, Ohio State and the entire slate of SoCon games.

"Virginia Tech, Florida State and Ohio State, those types of games are never fun for the coaches as far as preparing for and coaching against programs like those, but it's fun for our guys to be able to play in those arenas that they see on TV against storied programs," Baucom said. "It's always a good test for our guys to go up against teams like those, but it's tough because going in we know that we're going to be outsized, out-manned. As a team, we are hoping to build off last year's good performance at Virginia Tech. We haven't been to Florida State, and it's been a while since I've been to Ohio State."

The Citadel will begin the SoCon slate on Saturday, Dec. 1, with a home tilt against Western Carolina. From there, it'll be a long, hard road to the SoCon Tournament in Asheville, N.C.

"The SoCon is such a tough league day-in and day-out," Baucom said. "I think anybody in any conference says that, but once you get into conference play everybody knows so much about each other. There's not a lot of surprises. You play them after you've already played 10-13 games, so there's not a lot of surprises or tricks you can pull out of your sleeve. It's tough. I think we're a little more prepared for SoCon play from a talent standpoint, certainly more than we have been the last two years."

The season officially gets underway on Friday, Nov. 10, against Oglethorpe. The Bulldogs will then hit the road for three games in Virginia and North Carolina.

Season tickets are currently on sale for the 2017-18 home games. The entire season, featuring 15 games inside McAlister Field House, can be purchased for $150. By purchasing the complete season pass, fans can save $75. Single game tickets the day of the contest are $15.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the ticket office located inside McAlister Field House, by calling (843) 953-DOGS (3647) or online at this link: CLICK HERE. Hours for the ticket office are Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

For more information on The Citadel basketball team, follow @CitadelHoops and @CitadelSports or visit CitadelSports.com.