HAMMOND, La. – Excitement surrounds the Southeastern Louisiana men's basketball program as the Lions officially begin practice for the 2014-15 season Monday afternoon at the University Center.

In April, the face of the Southeastern Louisiana basketball program changed as Jay Ladner was named the 12th head coach in program history, fresh off an NJCAA Division I national title at Jones County Junior College.

At the time Ladner said, "I'm ready to hit the ground running. At Southeastern, our goal is to make it the best we can possibly make it in a short period of time. We want to be competitive immediately."

Already behind in recruiting, the coaching staff went right to work and made up for lost time, bringing in several high-profile transfers. A few will have to sit out the upcoming season because of NCAA transfer rules, but Southern Miss transfer Cedric Jenkins, a native of LaPlace, Louisiana, will be eligible immediately.

Jenkins, who averaged 4.7 points per game during the 2012-13 season as a junior with the Golden Eagles, teams with returning players Joshua Filmore, Andrew Guillory, JaMichael Hawkins, Onochie Ochie and Devonte Upson to form the core of Ladner's first team.

"I really like our attitude and openness to change," Ladner said. "Our style of play will be different from the previous coaching staff's, and the players have worked really hard.

"We're going to have an up-tempo style of play and then be more man-to-man oriented on the defensive end. We want to apply pressure and disrupt the offensive schemes we play against. Offensively, we'll really try to push the ball. It's going to be a faster pace than what our fans have grown accustomed to seeing, but we won't just run down the floor and shoot it. Our philosophy is to score early in transition or score late. If we can't score early in transition, which we'll try to every possession, we'll take the shots we can make."

Jenkins starred at Riverside Academy in Reserve, Louisiana, during high school, helping the Rebels to a 38-6 record and the Louisiana Class 2A State Championship as a senior.

Hawkins, the Lions' leading scorer last season (12.3 ppg), is expected to miss considerable time with an injury. Ochie (8.4 ppg), Upson (8.3 ppg) and Filmore (6.9 ppg) are the only other returners with playing time in a Southeastern uniform. Guillory red-shirted last season following an injury.

Operating under a new system, the Lions face a tough opening stretch to the season.

Following a Nov. 6 exhibition game against Loyola (New Orleans) at the University Center, the Lions will play 12 of their next 14 regular-season games on the road.

"The most important thing for us is the conference tournament," Ladner said. "Our win-loss record is probably not going to be the best because we might have the toughest non-conference schedule in Division I, and we'll be on the road most of the time. We're not going to make excuses about it. We're going to embrace the challenges and use them to prepare us for conference play. We can then use conference play to prepare us for the tournament."

Southeastern opens the regular season with a pair of games at Oklahoma State (Nov. 14) and Oklahoma (Nov. 16).

Home contests against Tennessee Tech, the day before Thanksgiving, and Winthrop on Dec. 19 highlight the non-conference portion of the home schedule.

Southeastern opens Southland Conference play at Stephen F. Austin (Jan. 5), but then returns to the University Center for five of its next seven contests.

The Lions will host conference foes Houston Baptist (Jan. 10), Sam Houston State (Jan. 12), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Jan. 26), Northwestern State (Jan. 31), McNeese State (Feb. 2), Central Arkansas (Feb. 10), Abilene Christian (Feb. 21), New Orleans (Feb. 23) and Nicholls State (March 7).

Southeastern heads out for road contests at Incarnate Word (Jan. 17), Lamar (Jan. 19), Abilene Christian (Feb. 7), Nicholls (Feb. 14), McNeese (Feb. 16), Central Arkansas (Feb. 28), Northwestern State (March 2) and New Orleans (March 5).

The Southland Conference Basketball Tournament is scheduled for March 11-14, 2015, in Katy, Texas.