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The start of the college basketball season is rapidly approaching, as we are now less than a month away from the tipoff at the annual 2K Classic (formerly known as the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic). The season kicks off with the Pitt Panthers taking on the SMU Mustangs on November 17, 2016.
Coming off of an NCAA Tournament birth last year, the Panthers turned over a new leaf this offseason when they moved on from long-time coach Jamie Dixion and brought in Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings on March 28, 2016. Stallings is looking to continue the success that Dixion had in Pittsburgh.
When Does the College Basketball Season Start?
The 2016-17 College Basketball season starts on November 17, 2016.
College Basketball 2016-17 Season Opener Viewing Details
Date: November 17, 2016
Time: 7:00 P.M. EST
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Broadcast: ESPN2
2016 NCAA Tournament Recap
The Villanova Wildcats were the champions of March Madness last year, in what was one of the most thrilling sporting events that has ever occurred. They defeated North Carolina 77-74 on a buzzer beater from Kris Jenkins. It was one of those moments that you will remember for the rest of your life. Moving on to the 2017 season, the Duke Blue Devils are coming into this year as the number one ranked seed, and as always there are a ton of new freshman faces that are expected to be one and dones.
Pitt Panthers Predictions
To be honest, I’m not quite sure how the Panthers are going to do this year. I’m interested to see how they perform under Coach Stallings, who didn’t have great success at Vanderbilt, but also didn’t have the type of talent to work with that he does at Pitt. The problem for Pitt is that they play in the brutal ACC with some of the best teams in the country, but I also think they have a gritty enough team to be very competitive this year. My prediction for them is that they’ll surprise a lot of people this year, and end up getting into the NCAA Tournament as a seventh or eighth seed.
