ATHENS — There’s at least one sign that Georgia basketball fans are buying into the idea that this will be a good season.

The school is 68 season tickets away from breaking the record for the most season tickets ever sold for Georgia men’s basketball. The record is 4,093, during the 2002-03 season, Jim Harrick’s final year as head coach.

This is already the third consecutive season that season tickets have increased, associate athletics director John Bateman said.

Georgia, coming off a 20-14 season in which made the NIT, returns two potential stars in senior guard J.J. Frazier and junior power forward Yante Maten. Eight of the team’s top 10 scorers return from last year’s team.

“I’ve come into every season thinking it could be a special season, but especially so this year,” said junior forward Juwan Parker, a starter two years ago who took a medical redshirt last season. “Our chemistry is probably the best it’s been since I’ve been here.”

Kentucky is among the teams coming to Stegeman Coliseum this season, on Feb. 18. Other SEC home games are against South Carolina (Jan. 4), Missouri (Jan. 7), Vanderbilt (Jan. 17), Alabama (Jan. 25), Florida (Feb. 7), Mississippi State (Feb. 14), LSU (Feb. 25) and Auburn (March 1).

Texas visits on Jan. 28 and other notable non-conference game include George Washington (Nov. 21), Marquette (Dec. 4)

The home opener is against UNC Asheville on Nov. 14, though there is an exhibition game on Nov. 3 against Fort Valley State.