Nashville, TENN—Vanderbilt basketball launches a new era on Monday night at Memorial Gymnasium as it takes on Maryland Eastern Shore for Mark Byington's first game at the helm.

Here's some final thoughts and things to watch for as Vanderbilt opens its season.

From the looks of it on a normal night the starting five will be AJ Hoggard, Jason Edwards, Tyler Nickel, Devin McGlockton and Jaylen Carey

Opening night won't include Hoggard in the lineup due to a suspension, but from game two on a healthy Vanderbilt team will likely start this group. Both of Vanderbilt's secret scrimmages included this starting lineup, per source.

All five projected starters come via the transfer portal. Hoggard projects to be the Commodores' primary ballhandler and lead initiator, Edwards has a chance to be their leading scorer, Nickel is a do-it all guy that could be Vanderbilt's best player when it's all said and done while McGlockton and Carey give Vanderbilt the most inside presence of anyone on its roster.

That seems to be Vanderbilt's most logical group to start, although Byington toying with lineups to account for matchups or injuries is possible.

There’s value in unfamiliarity

Vanderbilt is an unknown commodity around the country to this point. Nobody has seen its players on the floor together in game action. Nobody has seen how Byington's scheme will be adjusted to a new level, either.

That's something that Vanderbilt has embraced, particularly offensively where Hoggard says it is different than most teams he's seen at the power-conference level.

For at least a short period of time, Vanderbilt will be difficult to prepare for as a result of being completely revamped.

Value also comes with experience. This may take time, though

Vanderbilt ranks eighth nationally and second in the SEC in minutes played from the 23-24 season. That matters.

That's also a reason that a 16th-place SEC finish seems difficult.

For the first month or two of the season it may be difficult to weather the downpour of turnovers, untimely cuts and poor transition defense. That's naturally what will happen with a team of 13 newcomers playing in a system like this.

That doesn't mean this can't be fun, though. The experience and track record of Vanderbilt's players at their previous stops indicate that this thing will probably get going at some point or will at least show signs of it.

Expect MJ Collins to be a difference maker

Collins likely won't start for Vanderbilt but has all the tools to be a consistently productive player. Look for the Virginia Tech transfer to guard the other team's best player, to make a blow you away athletic play and to get his own shot.

The efficiency numbers weren't kind to Collins in his final season at Virginia Tech, but were significantly better in the second half of the season than the first.

Perhaps the 6-foot-4 guard can continue that positive momentum in a new situation and with a coaching staff that seems to have instilled some confidence in him.

Alex Hemenway is “doubtful” against Maryland Eastern Shore, his role will be one to follow

The Clemson transfer has missed a good portion of the offseason with injury and is projected to miss the opener, although he's returned to practice.

Hemenway has dealt with injuries on and off for the entirety of his college career and is someone Vanderbilt will have to be careful not to rush back. How Hemenway adjusts to Vanderbilt's new scheme will be intriguing, though.

The graduate transfer is among the Commodores' best shooters and is a known commodity in Byington's mind, but hasn't been experienced within the read and react-oriented scheme that Vanderbilt is trying to run.

Vanderbilt seems to have a solid seven guys set within its rotation while role allocation beyond those guys seems to be cloudy. Hemenway could be the best shooter on Vanderbilt's roster and is its oldest player, as a result he'll be hard to keep off the floor. The injury history and lack of experience in the system doesn't help him, though.

AJ Hoggard will miss opening night with a suspension, perhaps that opens the door for Tyler Tanner

Hoggard was suspended for the opener against Maryland Eastern Shore due to playing in the non-NCAA approved Portsmouth Invitational.

As a result, freshman guard Tyler Tanner as well as Davidson transfer Grant Huffman will have to play extended minutes. Huffman and Tanner are expected to compete for minutes at the back end of the rotation and will continue that competition into the season.

Monday could be a chance for one of them to gain a leg up.

Monday could indicate whether Karris Bilal redshirts or not

Tanner's impressive summer has put him in a position to get on the floor early, whereas his classmate Karris Bilal has been delegated to scout team at times and could end up redshirting for his freshman season.

Whether Bilal is dressed for Monday's game and whether or not he plays in what could be a blowout could indicate his fate this season.

The defense will be a work in progress

Vanderbilt's defense, which gave up 102 and 89 points in its two secret scrimmages, has been said to have improved since then. When numbers like that pop up in 40-minute games there's a pretty strong chance that the recipe to winning involves racing the opponent to 100 points for awhile, though.

The issues on the defensive end for Vanderbilt seem to be largely technical and fixable, a source said. That doesn't mean they'll be fixed in a week, though.

Vanderbilt will give up some jarring numbers on that end at times, it's just about how it overcomes that on the offensive end.

A look at the frontcourt rotation will be interesting on opening night.

The hole in Vanderbilt's roster comes in the frontcourt. No question about it.

That was already the case before 6-foot-9 USC transfer Kijani Wright went down with a non basketball-related health issue. Without Wright, Vanderbilt has some real questions to answer at center.

Even without Wright, Vanderbilt should be able to handle Maryland Eastern Shore easily. What will be worth noting is how Byington distributes frontcourt minutes without Wright.

The majority of the minutes will likely go to Carey, who will have some pressure on him to produce and to stay on the floor without a true backup. When Carey isn't on the floor it will likely be McGlockton and JaQualon Roberts taking on minutes against bigger opposing frontcourts.

What's the support like in game one?

Vanderbilt's football program has generated the most fan support that it has throughout essentially all of program history.

As Vanderbilt basketball enters a new era its crowd will be interesting to gauge after seven NCAA Tournament-less seasons.