'Nova opens season with Northwood exhibition

Villanova basketball is back this year as the Wildcats are set to open their season with an exhibition game tonight against Rollie Massimino's Northwood University team.

Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Wachovia Spectrum in South Philadelphia, directly adjacent to the Wachovia Center.

Villanova has scheduled two games at the Wachovia Spectrum and three games at the Wachovia Center this season -- as opposed to all five at the Center -- because the Center is an NCAA site this year. A program must play under an allowable limit of games at a tournament site during the regular season to be eligible to be sent there for the NCAA tournament.

Northwood University is a private college with campuses in Michigan, Texas, and West Palm Beach, Florida. The Florida campus Seahwawks are coached by Massimino, who led Villanova to its 1985 national title.

Northwood's Seahawks are ranked near the top of the NAIA's Sun Conference this season. Villanova last faced Northwood on Nov. 11, 2006, visiting the Florida campus and emerging with a 96-60 exhibition victory. Northwood's game against Villanova two years ago was also the school's first-ever men's basketball contest.

Though Northwood has come a long way since then, sitting atop its conference in preseason polling, the Wildcats should have no trouble rolling over the Seahawks. Expect a lot of minutes for Villanova's deep bench in this one.

Tickets for the game are not sold out and are available on the Web and at the door. The game will not be televised, but will be available on Villanova.com's game-tracker.

You may predict the game's final score in the comment thread below.