The headlines on Tuesday were all about Gonzaga adding Kentucky to their non-conference schedule, as well as the reveal of the WCC slate, but the Zags snuck another game onto their calendar as well, hosting the Kent State Golden Flashes on December 5. It will be the first ever meeting between the two programs.
At this point Gonzaga has likely added every big name opponent to their non-con schedule, with Kentucky joining Michigan State, Texas, Baylor, Alabama, Washington, and the trio of opponents in the PK85. However, it looks like they are adding more middle of the pack opponents to fill out the remaining games, a slight change of strategy from previous years when they scheduled buy games against sub-300 KenPom opponents like Texas Southern and Northern Arizona.
This year the Zags have added North Florida as the season opener (272 in KenPom last year) as well as Montana (248) and now Kent State (151) who finished with a 23-11 record in the MAC last season.
While none of these teams are expected to pull an upset over the Zags, it’s nice to see Mark Few schedule a few slightly tougher opponents for the softer part of the non-conference schedule.
Gonzaga will probably add four more games to the non-conference slate, and while the big names are almost certainly already on the calendar there is still a great opportunity for this team to find some intriguing matchups to sprinkle onto the calendar in November and December before conference play starts up on New Year’s Eve.
Host – Locked on Zags Podcast
Writer – Ducks Wire
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