In a preseason poll of MAAC coaches, Mount St. Mary’s was picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the league for men’s basketball and eighth out of 11 for women’s basketball.

This is after the Mount women won the Northeast Conference title in back-to-back years to earn automatic bids to the NCAA tournament and the men’s team won the NEC in 2020 and lost by a point in the conference semifinals last season.

“For us, nothing really changes in terms of our preparation,” men’s coach Dan Engelstad said. “We just know that we have to learn new teams and schemes and what they are trying to accomplish.

“You know, we’ve done a lot of our research early and done a lot of studying of teams in the MAAC. But, until you play them, we don’t really have a full gauge of what it’s like on the court. That comes with time and experience.”

The Mount St. Mary’s men open the season at 7 p.m. Monday with a non-conference game at West Virginia, while the Mount women begin their season at 5 p.m. Monday with a non-conference tilt at No. 13 Virginia Tech.

The men’s team will play its home opener on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. against McDaniel College, while the women’s team will begin its home schedule on Nov. 19 at 1 p.m. against Navy.

Here’s a snapshot of each team heading into the season:

Men’s team will rely heavily on experience

The Mountaineers return their leader in scoring and assists in senior guard Jalen Benjamin and their leading rebounder in graduate student Malik Jefferson from a team that finished 14-16 overall and 9-9 in the NEC last season.

The leadership that both players provide will be critical as the team acclimates itself to the new league.

Benjamin has played in a mid-major basketball league before at the University of Alabama-Birmingham prior to transferring to the Mount after the 2020 season.

“The MAAC is a big step from the NEC, honestly. I feel like it’s closer to what I came from in Conference USA,” Benjamin said. “I think it’s going to be a big step for us a school ... just in terms of physicality and being able to guard one-on-one.”

Jefferson, meanwhile, is taking advantage an extra year of eligibility that was granted due to the pandemic and will play his fifth season for the Mountaineers. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward is already the school’s all-time leading rebounder with more than 740.

“It’s very comfortable,” Jefferson said of playing at the Mount. “They already call me Old Man.”

Women’s team hopes to be faster, more athletic

Following a 74-70 loss to Longwood in an NCAA First Four game, Mount women’s coach Antoine White said the Mountaineers needed to get faster and more athletic to compete on a higher level.

He feels the team has addressed that with 5-foot-11 sophomore forward Jo Raflo, who transferred from Presbyterian, and 5-9 graduate student Natalie Villaflor, who transferred from Robert Morris. He described both as being long and rangy athletes.

The return of 5-10 redshirt senior guard Aryna Taylor from injury should also help in that regard.

The Mountaineers will have to replace the contributions of All-NEC performers Kendall Bresee, an Urbana High graduate, and Kayla Agentowicz.

But the team does return graduate student and team leader Michaela Harrison, the MVP of the NEC Tournament last season, and is excited about the potential of sophomore guard Jasmine Lindsay-Huskey, who played in high school at St. John’s Catholic Prep.

“When she was ready to roll [following a foot injury], she got right to it,” White said of Huskey. “She’s been living in the gym, and she is poised to have a really good, solid year for us. She is so athletic. She’s probably the best athlete on the team right now ... So, we are excited about Jasmine.”