The 2015-16 college basketball season has finally arrived as many teams are ready to tip off their schedules on Friday night. Most big time schools open up against team's they know they will beat but not Pittsburgh as they will start their season off against Gonzaga on Friday night, in one of the best matchups on the docket, in the Armed Forces Classic which takes place in Japan.
Gonzaga comes into this season ranked ninth in the nation as they are coming off an extremely impressive season where they made it to the Elite Eight before being knocked off by the eventual champion Duke Blue Devils. The Bulldogs come into this season having lost a couple of key players in Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. so they are very inexperienced at the guard positions.
Mark Few's team though, does boast one of the best frontcourt's in the nation led by preseason All-American Kyle Wiltjer. Wiltjer is a 6 foot-10 forward who is coming off a season where he averaged 16.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and he is one of the very best players in the country.
Wiltjer is joined in the frontcourt by Arvydas Sabonis and Przemek Karnowski. The 6 foot-11 Sabonis may not play in this tilt on Friday night after falling hard on his back in an exhibition game about a week ago. The 7 foot-1 Karnowski will be available though and his size should provide all sorts of trouble for the Panthers in this one.
Pittsburgh is coming off a disappointing season where they were on the tournament bubble for most of it but lost their final four regular season games and were instead relegated to the NIT where they were eliminated in the first round. It was only the second time Pittsburgh has missed the NCAA Tournament under head coach Jamie Dixon who has been there for 12 years.
The Panthers do return their top two scorers from a year ago in forwards Jamel Artis and Michael Young who averaged 13.6 and 13.4 points respectively last season. While Pittsburgh had trouble scoring last season it was on the defensive end where Dixon wasn't happy with his team and he hopes they improve on that end this season.
Another player to watch for Pittsburgh is freshman Damon Wilson Jr. who will be making his college basketball debut on Friday night. Wilson is a four-star guard that heads up Pitt's 2015 recruiting class as he was ranked as the 81st best recruit in the 2015 class. Wilson should help the Panthers on offense right away and is a major reason why they should be a better team this year.
The game tips off at 7 P.M. Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Gonzaga radio broadcast go here and for the Pittsburgh radio broadcast go here.
