A quick look at Mount St. Mary's and New Orleans

Villanova will have to win six more games to become the first repeat national champion in 10 years. Even though the bracket has been revealed, we still don't know the Wildcats' first opponent. But we do know they will be playing on Thursday in Buffalo.

The Wildcats (31-3) are the top seed in the East Region and will play the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between New Orleans and Mount St. Mary's (6:40 p.m., truTV).

Even getting to a play-in game is a remarkable achievement for UNO, a school that was decimated when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Facilities damage and a drastic decline in enrollment had school administrators contemplating a drop to the Division III level before current coach Mark Slessinger arrived in 2012.

New Orleans (20-11) spent a season as an independent before joining the Southland Conference in 2013-14. The team qualified for its first NCAA tournament since 1996 by beating Texas A&M-CC in the conference championship Saturday in overtime.

"This is a really special story and it's not over yet," Southland Conference commissioner Tom Burnett told the Associated Press at the end of the regular season. "I probably would have told you this is a 10-year project, but they're on a much faster track."

Villanova has never played the Privateers.

Mount St. Mary's (19-15) won its first Northeast Conference regular-season title in 21 years and captured the league tournament by beating St. Francis on Tuesday.

The Mountaineers played an ambitious schedule with losses to West Virginia, Iowa State, Minnesota, Michigan and Arkansas.

Sophomore guard Elijah Long led the Mount in scoring at 15.4 points per game. He was first-team all-NEC and dropped 24 in the championship game to earn conference tournament MVP.

Mount St. Mary's, in Emmitsburg, Md., was coached by Philadelphia native Jim Phelan for 49 years from 1954-2003. Phelan was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. The Mountaineers were last in the NCAA tournament in 2014 when they lost a play-in game to Albany.

That also was the season Villanova last played the Mountaineers. Villanova trounced Mount St. Mary's by 31 that night when baby-faced freshman Josh Hart, playing in just his second college game, scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

"I definitely have a good feeling about it, but I always have room to improve," Hart said that night.

Yeah, he's improved. Hart – a very real candidate for national player of the year -- has helped the Wildcats win one national title and put them in good shape to win another.

The next step comes Thursday. All Villanova needs now is a dance partner.

No. 1 seeds are 128-0 all-time against No. 16s.  … This is Villanova's third No. 1 seed. In 2006, the Wildcats advanced to the Elite 8 before losing to Florida. In 2015, the Kittens were upset by eighth-seeded North Carolina State. … For their two championship runs, the Wildcats were an 8-seed in 1985 and a 2-seed last year.