Texas A&M is coming to Spokane next season

The Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Texas A&M Aggies have agreed to a two-game series, with the first game happening in November in Spokane, Jim Meehan of the Spokesman Review reported on Wednesday.

Mark Few and the coaching staff are clearly gunning for a No. 1 seed next season. The Zags have all of the pre-season hype, recently clocking in as someone’s too-early #2 team. Just recently, the Zags added the Tennessee Volunteers to the non-conference slate, which also includes Washington at home, North Carolina and Creighton on the road, and a Maui Invitational featuring the likes of Arizona, Auburn, Duke, Illinois, Iowa State, San Diego State, and Xavier.

Texas A&M most likely won’t be on the pretty side of the SEC. Last season the Aggies lost 13 games total, went just 9-9 in conference play, but still managed to make the Sweet 16. The only issue is that the Aggies are losing the lion’s share of their squad from last season. How good they will be next year remains to be seen.

Still, what is important here is the quality of opponent coming to Spokane. Mark Few is now regularly scheduling schools from the Power 5 conferences to home and home series, and this distinction is important. Gonzaga seemingly will still play anyone, anywhere, but now the Zags are asking for a favor in return.

Last season, the Zags non-conference slate was a drain on the RPI, which when it comes to the Selection Committee those Quadrant wins, matters a lot. Thanks to West Coast Conference changes (which helped keep the Zags in the WCC), the Zags also have a couple of more non-conference games at their disposal.