Staff file photo by Graham Cullen Mount St. Mary’s junior forward Tayvon Jackson looks to pass during the first day of practice last month at Knott Arena.

A year after playing two games in the NCAA tournament, the Mountaineers were taking major conference schools like Virginia Tech and Georgetown to the wire in eventual road losses last season.

But with another season set to open Saturday at No. 17 Oklahoma, getting close no longer counts in the minds of the Mountaineers.

"We're tired of some of the close calls, the pat on the back, the 'Oh, you guys did a great job,'" coach Milan Brown said. "Stop patting us on the back. Pat me because we won."

With expectations high and a veteran team on the floor, Brown is hoping the Mount will take "the next step" against a big-conference team like the Sooners.

"We put ourselves in position to win the games and we came up a little bit short (last season)," Brown said.

"Now, it's can we do the same exact thing and make two to three positive plays that were negative for us last year? Then, hopefully we can get on the bus and, before anyone realizes what's going on, we'll have the win."

The non-conference schedule is loaded again with what Brown calls 11 "absolutely straight, in Vegas, heavyweight fights."

The Oklahoma game is followed by a road game Wednesday night at American, which qualified for the NCAA tournament by winning the Patriot League last year.

Then, there are road games against Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Old Dominion and Boston University.

The last non-conference team the Mount scheduled was Siena, a perennial NCAA tournament team out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

"Coach Brown schedules these teams to give us a chance to play with the best," said 6-foot-5 senior forward Kelly Beidler, a big contributor on the Mount's NCAA tournament team two years ago. He is one of eight players from that team still on the roster.

"As a mid-major school, you can only do so much in terms of the schedule, but he sets us up with the best chance of becoming a good team."

All of those games will be played before the Mount gets into the heart of its Northeast Conference schedule. The Mountaineers were selected by league coaches as the preseason favorite to win the NEC.

"If we are successful in some of our non-conference games, hopefully that will shine a much better light on us in March," Brown said. "We challenged ourselves and were successful."

Last season, the Mountaineers had a six-point lead with under two minutes to play in a 62-57 loss at Virginia Tech. They were within three with under a minute to play in a 61-56 loss at Penn State. And they were within six with under five minutes to play in a 69-58 loss at then-No. 15 Georgetown.

"We had opportunities where we had them on their heels. We know that we're capable of beating a team like that," Beidler said.

"We know that we have to bring our A game because, if we don't, we are going to get run out of the gym. We know we can beat these teams and, if we lose, it's not going to be a blowout. It might be a two- or a four-point game."

Mount St. Mary's women: The Mountaineers open the season against Canisius at 3 p.m. Saturday at Knott Arena.

The Golden Griffins finished 24-9 last year and reached the WNIT tournament. They return five of their top seven scorers from the team, including the MAAC's Sixth Player of the Year, Ellie Radke.

The Mountaineers finished 14-16 last year. They are led by senior Hassanah Oliver, who averaged 10.4 points per game last season and led the team with 102 assists.