Almost an hour before Syracuse’s first practice of the year, freshmen Tyler Ennis, B.J. Johnson and Ron Patterson were already shooting around at the Carmelo K. Anthony Center.

Senior center Baye Moussa Keita was around for part of the summer, so he expected this.

But senior forward C.J. Fair has only seen Ennis — his likely starting point guard — play on TV.

With a week before the Orange travels to Canada for a four-game exhibition tour, SU was back in action at the Melo Center on Thursday for a rare mid-August practice.

“They’re really talented,” Keita said of the first-year players. “They’re hard workers. They’ve been here working out at 6 in the morning every day and they’ve been doing things on the weekend, too.”

Now the whole team is together and gearing up for its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Fair expects the practices to be pretty much the same as usual, but said Thursday’s is “going to be high intensity today.”

It’s the first opportunity for the freshmen to prove themselves not only to their new teammates, but their head coach.

Some players, like Keita, have already had a chance to see them. He was back in Senegal for the first part of summer — the first time he’d been home since his freshman year — but was back in Syracuse for the second part.

“I’ve been working out, playing five-on-five,” Keita said, “so being at practice is just regular for me.”

But Thursday was the first chance for the media to observe what has changed since Syracuse fell in the Final Four last season.

Forwards Jerami Grant and Rakeem Christmas both appeared to have added several pounds of muscle and the freshmen made their first impressions, shooting with assistant coach Gerry McNamara while head coach Jim Boeheim watched.

It’s still early, but Syracuse basketball season is officially underway.

“Summer’s cut short now,” Fair said, “but I’m happy to be here.”