The 2021-22 college basketball season is finally here! Villanova will kick things off with a home date against Mount St. Mary's. The Mountaineers finished the 2020-21 season 12-11 and won the Northeast Conference tournament title to earn an NCAA tournament bid.

Mount St. Mary's finished the season ranked No. 237 in KenPom, landing at No. 301 in offensive efficiency and No. 150 in defensive efficiency. The defense was bolstered by strong field goal defense (24th in opp. 2PT% and 29th in opp. 3PT%). The Mountaineers enter this season ranked 279th (310th offensively, 232 defensively). Haslametrics ranks the Mountaineers 252nd overall (267th offensively, 221st defensively).

The Mountaineers return a large portion of their 2021-22 production, led by 6-9 senior Nana Opoku, who averaged 10.2 points and seven rebounds to go with 2.1 blocks. 6-8 senior Mezie Offurum (9.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 steals) and 6-9 senior Malik Jefferson (eight points, 7.8 rebounds) add experience and size to the frontcourt.

In the backcourt, 6-5 senior Deandre Thomas (8.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, 40.9 3PT%) and 6-4 sophomore Josh Reaves (seven points, 2.5 rebounds) lead the way.

Other key returners include 6-5 sophomore Dakota Leffew (4.5 points and 1.9 rebounds) and 6-7 sophomore Frantisek Barton (2.5 points, 1.8 rebounds).

Potential impact newcomers include UAB transfer Jalen Benjamin and freshmen Jaylin Gibson, Dola Adebayo and Jedy Cordilia.

Haslametrics gives 'Nova the advantage in vertically every category, and Villanova's talent is simply something Mount St. Mary's doesn't see a whole lot. Last season, the Mountaineers played only two teams ranked in the KenPom top 50, both 18-point losses (to No. 35 Maryland and No. 48 VCU). However, that doesn't mean they won't present any challenges for the Wildcats.

The Mountaineers boast plenty of experience between the four seniors and the fact that Reeves started 19 of his 23 games as a freshman.

“The first thing that we had to teach our young guys about is that they’ve got four seniors that have been in this program that are really good, that have won championships, have been to the NCAA tournament," Jay Wright said. "These guys are battle tested, they’ve been in a great system, they’ve won championships. They got a real experienced team. Then their guys off the bench were starters last year, Josh Reaves started last year, great shooter, scorer. Big guy (Frantisek) Barton played last year in the NCAA tournament. So great depth, experience and very, very well coached.”

In addition, while the front line doesn't possess overwhelming size, three key contributors standing 6-8 or taller could present some issues on the glass.

That size translated to a solid, if unspectacular, rebounding team a season ago. Mount St. Mary's averaged 37.3 rebounds per game, good for 91st in the country. Wright has highlighted rebounding as an area of concern heading into the season, so we'll certainly be keeping an eye on the glass on Tuesday.

The problem for Mount St. Mary's is that it doesn't do many of things that traditionally help teams overcome a talent disparity and pull upsets. The Mountaineers don't get to the foul line very often and last season they shot it poorly from the line when they did get there. They don't force a ton of turnovers and play at a deliberate pace. Villanova excelled at taking care of the ball last year and it should be difficult for Mount St. Mary's to speed the Wildcats up. The Mountaineers were also a below average shooting team a season ago and the three-point shot wasn't a big weapon for them.

The size and experience of Mount St. Mary's could produce a little resistance for Villanova, but you'd have to think it would take anomalously hot shooting by the Mountaineers or the Wildcats being uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball for Mount St. Mary's to really push the 'Cats.

Remember that the game has an unusual start time of 4:30 p.m. It will air on FS1.