Mount St. Mary's will be on the court when the NCAA tournament tips off on Tuesday night at 6:40 and the Mountaineers can't wait for their shot in the spotlight.
"Everybody will get to see our college, see what it's about," senior guard Rashad Whack said. "It's going to be fun. They're going to be able to witness the mayhem."
The Northeast Conference champion Mountaineers (16-16) face Albany (18-14) at 6:40 p.m. in Dayton, Ohio, as part of the "First Four" games in the first round.
It's the only NCAA tourney game going on at the time, so hoops fans everywhere will, indeed, get a look at the style of play second-year coach Jamion Christian refers to as "Mount Mayhem," providing they can find TruTV (Comcast channel 32, DirecTV channel 246).
"It's a great honor," senior guard Sam Prescott said. "At this time of year, not a lot of people are playing, and only the best teams are out there. We're showing that we're a good team and we're going to keep showing that we're a good team."
It's the Mount's fourth trip to the tournament, the program's first since 2008 when they earned their first win by beating Coppin State in Dayton.
Play America East champion Albany in what used to be known as a "play-in" game means the Mountaineers have much greater odds of securing a victory than if they would've draw a No. 1 seed right away.
"It's always fun to try to go get a win and play somebody of our caliber," senior guard Julian Norfleet said, "and be on the national stage like that because we're the only game playing."
Mount St. Mary's is 0-2 all-time against Albany, most recently losing to the Great Danes by one point on Dec. 31, 2011.
The two teams have similar profiles. Both were seeded fourth in their conference tournaments. Both defeated the first, second and fifth seeds, winning title games on the road.
The Mount will have been off for a week when the game tips, but Prescott said that won't halt their momentum. They needed a bit of a break to rest and get everyone 100 percent healthy, he said.
Whack, the NEC tournament MVP, leads the Mount with 17.7 points per game. Norfleet adds 17.5 points and 5.5 assists. Prescott averages 11.0 points. Each has amassed more than 1,000 points in his college career, making the Mountaineers one of eight teams in the nation with such a prolific trio.
They're why Christian feels confident that the spotlight won't be too much for his team.
"I think our guys will be ready. Our three seniors, they've been great in big-time moments," he said. "We don't need to do anything special. ... What we do is good enough to win the game and we're going to be locked and ready."
The three are delighted that, one way or another, they will finish their college careers in the NCAA tourney.
"Everybody dreams of playing in the NCAA tournament," Norfleet said. "It's a big deal."
Albany's Peter Hooley, MVP of the America East tourney, leads the Danes with 15.7 points per game. They're a balanced scoring unit with four players averaging at least 10 points per game. As a team, they score 66. But they also average 13 turnovers per game, so the Mount is likely to use full-court pressure in an effort to generate points off turnovers.
The winner of Tuesday night's game becomes the No. 16 seed in the South Region and takes on top-seeded Florida on Thursday.
"The rules about the tournament always stay pretty consistent: If you win, you get to play again," Christian said. "There's only 68 teams in the country right now that have the opportunity to win the national championship."
This is Christian's first trip to the NCAA tournament as a head coach, but he was in the event as an assistant to coach Shaka Smart at VCU two years ago. He said he learned some valuable lessons from Smart, the only coach ever to take a team from the First Four to the Final Four.
"You've got to really be able to manage emotion, have a simple but effective game plan, and just be ready to do what [you] do best," he said.
The game plan, then, is to try to do what they've done all year: Press and get up a lot of shots, many of them 3-pointers.The Mountaineers average 76.2 points per game and of the 13 games they've won this calendar year, they scored at least 80 points in nine of them.
"If we can just play our tempo and play our game, there may be an opportunity for us to outscore them," Christian said, "and at least give our college basketball fans for one night a really fun game to watch."
