Bulldogs tip off season at #15 Gonzaga Sat.

FULL GAME NOTES
Watch: KHQ/Root Sports
Listen: gozags.com
Live Stats: gozags.com
Follow along on Twitter: @BryantGameday

THE PARTICULARS
The Bryant University men's basketball team travels across the country to kick off the 2013-14 campaign Saturday against arguably its toughest opponent on this year's slate. The Bulldogs match up against No. 15/14 Gonzaga in a 4:00 p.m. PST (7:00 p.m. EST) matchup that marks the season opener for both sides.

THE SERIES
Saturday's opener marks the first time the Bulldogs and the Zags have met on the hardwood and is Bryant's first meeting with a team out of the West Coast Conference.

SCOUTING THE ZAGS
The No. 1 seed in the 2012-13 NCAA tournament West Regional who finished the season ranked atop the AP Top 25 poll, Gonzaga enters this year's campaign with a preseason No. 15 ranking. The Zags have lost just four letterwinners from a team that went 32-3 a season ago but are without three of last year's starters in guard Mike Hart (2.0 ppg/3.9 rpg), forward Elias Harris (14.6/7.4) and, most notably, center Kelly Olynyk (17.8/7.3, drafted 13th overall), whose early departure leaves Gonzaga without its leading scorer. Still, the Zags were picked to win the WCC this season, receiving eight of the league's 10 first-place votes. Gonzaga  will look to the guard play of Kevin Pangos (11.9 ppg), Gary Bell Jr. (9.0) and David Stockton (3.7) to lead the offense, while the team remains deep with nine returning letterwinners, three rookies and the eligibility of Providence College transfer Gerard Coleman (13.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg at PC in 2011-12).BRYANT vs. THE WEST COAST CONFERENCEThis is the first meeting between the Bulldogs and a team from the WCC in the program's history. But teams from the Bulldogs' home within the Northeast Conference have seen WCC action, going 8-34 all-time in 42 meetings against the league. And while NEC teams are 0-4 against the Zags all time, the league has fared better against the WCC as a whole as of late, boasting a 3-2 mark over the last five seasons.

COMING OUT SWINGING
Bryant continues its trend of scheduling not only challenging non-conference slates, but challenging non-conference starts in 2013-14. For the second-straight season, the Bulldogs will open the year against a nationally ranked opponent, this time in No. 15 Gonzaga.
Bryant kicked off last year's campaign against preseason favorite Indiana on the road at Assembly Hall in a game that marked the program's first official contest as a full Division I member. The Bulldogs have competed against four ranked opponents over the past two seasons alone, adding San Diego State, Notre Dame and Arizona to the list.

PULLING RANK
Saturday's opener against Gonzaga isn't the only contest Bryant will play against a nationally ranked opponent this season, as the Bulldogs feature three more games against teams that appear in the preseason national polls. Bryant will participate in the Gotham Classic throughout the month of December, an in-season tournament that will pit the Black and Gold against No. 21 Notre Dame and No. 11 Ohio State in a three-day span.

The Bulldogs travel to South Bend on Dec. 9 to play a nationally ranked Fighting Irish side for the second time in three years live on ESPNU and will continue the road trip into Columbus, Ohio Dec. 11 to face the Buckeyes on the Big Ten Network. The contests are part of a stretch that will see Bryant play four games in eight days. But before they get to the Gotham Classic, the Bulldogs will have to go into unfriendly territory to take on a tough Harvard side that is receiving votes in both national preseason polls. Bryant will play their regional rival Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.

OPENING NIGHT
Since the inception of the Bryant men's basketball program in 1963-64, Bulldog teams have done fairly well in season openers, going 27-23 (.540) all-time in the first game of the year. Bryant took the win in the program's first eight season tips, not suffering an opening-day loss until the 1971-72 season. But the Bulldogs haven't been as hot as of late and haven't taken a victory in the season's first contest since 2005-06, when they topped Adelphi, 70-62. The Bulldogs are still winless in Division I season openers dating back to the 2008-09 season, and Bryant is 6-8 in its last 14 after a 97-54 loss to the top-ranked Hoosiers in the team's 2012-13 debut at Assembly Hall. The Black and Gold begin the year on the road for the fifth-straight season in 2013-14 as well.

THE GRIND CONTINUES
Bryant's schedule doesn't get much easier after Saturday's opener against Gonzaga. The Bulldogs have opponents from nine different conferences (ACC, Big Ten, West Coast Conference, Ivy League, America East, Summit League, Patriot League, CAA and Northeast Conference) lined up in 2013-14. In total, the  31-game slate includes 11 games against opponents who made postseason appearances in 2012-13, including six coming from last year's NCAA tournament field. The schedule also features 14 home contests and participation in the 2013 Gotham Classic, where the Bulldogs will host North Dakota State, face Notre Dame and Ohio State on the road and take on the University of Delaware in a marquee matchup on one of basketball's biggest stages — Madison Square Garden.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING?
Senior forward Alex Francis has the potential to become the first player in Northeast Conference history to score 2,000 points and pull down 1,000 rebounds in a career. An All-NEC First Teamer last season, he enters the 2013-14 campaign with 1,490 career points and 728 career rebounds after finishing last season ranked in the NEC's top five in scoring average (5th, 17.4 ppg), rebounding average (3rd, 8.6 rpg), shooting percentage (3rd, .569) and double-doubles (2nd, 10). His field goal accuracy also ranked 21st in the nation among all Division I players. Francis has boasted back-to-back 500-point campaigns, but will need a career season on the glass (272) to hit the mark. A former NEC Rookie of the Year and potential Player of the Year candidate as a senior, Francis joined the 1,000-point club just three games into his junior season. He also set Division I program records for single-season field goals (205), single-season rebounds (260), shooting percentage in a game (.917) and rebounds in a game (18) as a junior.

A STARK CONTRAST
Junior guard Dyami Starks made all the difference for the Black and Gold last season after sitting out the 2011-12 campaign due to NCAA transfer rules (Columbia). The two-time NEC Player of the Week and All-NEC Second Teamer led the Bulldogs in points per game (17.7, 4th in NEC), 3-pointers made (95, 1st), 3-point field goal percentage (.408, 8th) and free throw percentage (.848, 2nd) in 2012-13 and finished the season with 548 points to set a new Division I individual program record. In total, Starks set four new DI program bests and matched two more, breaking the mark for single-season points, 3-pointers made, 3-pointers attempted (226) and field goals attempted (415) while equaling previous marks for trifectas in a game (7) and 3-point percentage in a game (.857). The sharpshooter ranked 13th nationally in 3-pointers per game (3.06) and 20th in total triples made, while his shooting percentage from beyond the arc was good for second in the Northeast Conference and 36th in nation. Starks also ranked ninth on the league circuit in field goal percentage (.450) on the year.

ON POINT
While the Bulldogs may have the majority of their experience back from a season ago, the team loses a key piece of the puzzle in the graduation of starting point guard Frankie Dobbs. Dobbs, who joins the Bryant coaching staff this season as Director of Basketball Operations, was a 1,000-point scorer for the Black and Gold, starting in all but a single game during his three seasons in Smithfield. He averaged 13.4 points and 5.2 assists per game in 2012-13, numbers the Bulldogs will need to replace if they hope to replicate the success they found last season. Luckily for the Black and Gold, the 2013-14 team provides a number of options for role, starting with versatile senior Corey Maynard. A two-year starter on the wing, Maynard has served as a sparkplug for the Bulldogs throughout his career. His ability to create, score, defend and ball handle — combined with his experience and leadership — make him a top option to run the offense. Sophomore Shane McLaughlin, who spent last season learning and honing his game behind Dobbs, will give the Bulldogs a second look at the position, while head coach Tim O'Shea also has talented rookie Justin Brickman, a true freshman and younger brother of LIU Brooklyn's all-conference point guard Jason Brickman, ready and waiting in the wings.

1,000 REASONS...
After leading the Bulldogs in nearly every offensive statistic and setting the program's Division I mark for points in a season, junior sharpshooter Dyami Starks could become the third player in a two-year span to join the 1,000-point club. He enters the season with 636 career points, 88 of those coming during his freshman campaign at Columbia (2010-11). Starks would need to average 11.7 points per game — well below both his Bryant (17.7) and career (12.5) scoring average — to eclipse the milestone by the end of the 2013-14 regular season.

MEET HEAD COACH TIM O'SHEA
Now in his sixth season at the helm of the Bryant program and entering his 13th year as a head coach in 2013-14, Tim O'Shea (Boston College '84) has ushered in a new era for Bryant basketball, not only leading the Bulldogs through the arduous NCAA reclassification process, but then producing a one-year transformation that will go down in the history books. Following a 2-28 season in 2011-12, Bryant was picked 10th in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll last season, but O'Shea and his Bulldogs served notice to their conference foes with breakthrough non-league wins over Boston College and Lehigh on the road, a threat they would follow through on en route to a second-place league finish. Armed with two impact transfers and a number of talented veterans, O'Shea and his troops earned a national ranking in the Mid-Major Top 25 for seven weeks during the 2012-13 campaign and claimed the No. 4 seed in the NEC Tournament in the program's first year of postseason eligibility. O'Shea garnered much attention after the Bulldogs' historic season and earned three major coaching awards in 2012-13, including the Jim Phelan NEC Coach of the Year (as voted by league head coaches), College Insider NEC Coach of the Year and Rhode Island Coach of the Year. Before arriving in Smithfield, O'Shea was previously the head coach at Ohio University for seven seasons. He was also an assistant at the University of Rhode Island (1988-1997) and Boston College (1997-2001), his alma mater.

WHAT'S ON TONIGHT?
The Bryant men's basketball team will be featured in live national and regional broadcasts six times throughout the 2013-14 season. The Bulldogs will see air time on ESPNU at Notre Dame on Dec. 9 and at Robert Morris Jan. 30 (also on ESPN3). The Big Ten Network will carry Bryant's Dec. 11 game at Ohio State, while NEC road matchups against LIU Brooklyn on Jan. 23 (MSG+, Fox College Sports and Cox) and Wagner Feb. 16 (CBS Sports Network) will also air nationally. Bryant's Saturday season opener against Gonzaga can be seen live on KHQ/Root Sports.