'Nova opens regular season tonight vs. Albany

Villanova will open a season of high expectations tonight with a home date against Albany. Tip time is scheduled for 8:05 p.m. at the Pavilion, an hour later than most Pavilion starts.

Albany finished 15-15 last year, 10-6 in the America East with a first round conference tournament loss. The Great Danes ended last season with an RPI rank of 206.

Villanova is such a strong favorite that a line for the game is not available at any of the largest sportsbooks. Expect a Villanova win by at least 20.

Villanova.com has the official game notes (PDF). Villanova is 80-8 in season openers, and is looking for its 200th win at the Pavilion tonight.

Greycat has an in-depth preview over at Villanova by the Numbers.

Radio coverage of the game is available on ESPN's 950 AM Philadelphia.

The game will not be televised, but Internet video and audio will be available to paying subscribers of "Nova-Nation All-Access," Villanova's usually inadequate broadband game tracking service.

According to a press release today, the free-version of Villanova's gametracker will be changed so that the play's result will not be written out until after the "animation" has finished, which is supposed to provide "a sense of anticipation," but will almost certainly be annoying for people trying to follow the game.

[UPDATE 2] Watch the game for free at http://www.channelsurfing.net/watch-villanova.html.

[Update] For those of you who don't want to deal with the foolishness of "all-access," which requires the awful Microsoft Silverlight plug-in, follow the game along at Yahoo's box score, which features full (text) play-by-play.

Predict the game's final score and let us know what you think of the new gametracker in the comment thread below.