How good was that Tuesday night of ball? UConn goes into Phog Allen Fieldhouse and rips a win from Kansas. Florida comes back from 15 down in the second half and nearly steals one against Duke. UNC and Kentucky battled for 40 minutes — with 14 lead changes and nine ties — the Tar Heels gutting out a win at Rupp Arena. And setting Kentucky into a state of panic after a 5-3 start.
Three games with five blue bloods all coming down to the final possessions.
Each game featured two ranked teams, too.
It was just the latest dosage of must-watch college ball in what’s become an all-time start for the sport.
An elite November started with No. 3 Florida vs. No. 13 Arizona in Las Vegas on the opening night of the season and closed with No. 5 Connecticut and No. 13 Illinois playing at Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving weekend. Then we got jolted with more appointment television Tuesday night. On Wednesday, No. 6 Louisville travels to No. 25 Arkansas for another ranked-on-ranked affair.
If it’s felt to you like college basketball’s nonconference slate has been better than usual, you’re right.
By the end of this week, college basketball’s schedule will have given us 36 ranked-on-ranked nonconference matchups through the first five weeks of the season.
Last year the total was 31. The year before that it was 28.
Looking ahead to the rest of the nonconference calendar — even into February, when Duke and Michigan will meet — and it’s plausible we could get as many as 50 games between ranked teams in nonconference play. This is the best schedule to start a college basketball season ever.
Factor in the intra-conference battles between good teams in January, February and March and the number of high-end games between ranked teams in college basketball this season will soar past 100.
The TV networks have worked with intention to make this possible, but ultimately the coaches also have to opt in to a lot of this. My memo to every high-major coach in the sport: KEEP IT UP. Stop for a moment to reflect on how the sport is being covered, followed and reacted to right now. See how many prominent games were played at the MTE level and in on-campus environments to start this season. This model can and should be duplicated moving forward. It needs to be the approach every year in order to increase the sport’s visibility during the busiest time on the sports calendar.
This is how it’s supposed to be.
Don’t be afraid to schedule. Lean into the hard stuff. You’re improving college basketball as a result. I don’t want this to be a one-off. When it comes time to schedule games in the forthcoming weeks and months for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons, remember how this feels right now. Make this the standard.
And if you’re curious on what’s next, here’s a look at the best games between ranked competition in the days to come.
Friday, 7 p.m. ET: No. 11 Gonzaga vs. No. 18 Kentucky (in Nashville)
Saturday, noon ET: No. 10 Iowa State @ No. 1 Purdue (on CBS)
Saturday, noon ET: No. 4 Duke @ No. 7 Michigan State
Saturday, 2 p.m. ET: No. 6 Louisville @ No. 22 Indiana (on CBS)
Saturday, 8 p.m. ET: No. 14 Illinois vs. No. 13 Tennessee (in Nashville)
Saturday, 10 p.m. ET: No. 20 Auburn @ No. 2 Arizona
Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET: No. 15 Florida vs. No. 5 UConn (in New York City)
Power-ranking the Power Five one month in
For all the great games we’ve been treated to, there’s also some interesting developments at the top of the sport. We’re 1,647 games into the season as of Wednesday morning. My buddy Jeff Eisenberg has a good piece up on how the power conferences have separated — perhaps to an unprecedented level — from the mid-majors. The data convincingly bears that out so far, but we’ll see if the NCAA Tournament can work its magic in 2026.
So, what’s the high-major hierarchy this season? Well, the SEC’s epic 2024-25 run won’t be repeated — not by the SEC or by any other league. In fact, the SEC has taken a big step back through the first four-plus weeks. Here’s how I’m power-ranking the leagues, with some stats on performance included.
1. Big Ten
Overall non-con record: 109-25 (.813)
Record vs. other four high-major leagues: 22-19
Record vs. ranked opponents: 8-7
Record vs. KenPom Top 50: 12-13
Unbeatens: Indiana, Michigan, Michigan St, Nebraska, Purdue, USC
The Big Ten has more undefeated teams (six) than any other conference. Michigan (7-0) looks like the best outfit in the sport, and if not the Wolverines, then No. 1 Purdue (8-0) has a solid case. Meanwhile, Michigan State (8-0) isn’t that far behind. Michigan has five of the conference’s top-50 wins and MSU owns four, meaning the Mitten claims nine of the 13 legitimate victories to this point.
Nebraska’s 12-game winning streak is college basketball’s longest. On the West Coast, USC’s 8-0 start sets up for the Trojans to be undefeated heading into January. There’s still a lot to prove, however. Indiana, Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State and USC have all yet to play a top-50 foe.
At the bottom, Maryland, Rutgers, Oregon and Minnesota are the only teams with three or four losses so far.
I’d narrowly rank the Big Ten No. 1, particularly because the Big 12 had a bad Monday and Tuesday.
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2. Big 12
Overall non-con record: 102-23 (.816)
Record vs. other four high-major leagues: 32-17
Record vs. ranked opponents: 8-12
Record vs. KenPom Top 50: 17-16
Unbeatens: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa State, Oklahoma State
That 32-17 mark against the other power conferences is by far the best of any league in college hoops. As is the Big 12’s overall winning percentage against the rest of the sport. Four undefeated squads more than a month in is also a feather in the cap of a conference that rated No. 1 for the majority of the previous decade.
But it’s No. 2 in the pecking order after Kansas State lost at home to Bowling Green on Monday night, then Kansas and Utah failed to get it done on their home floors Tuesday. Top-to-bottom, the Big Ten seems to be slightly better. At the top, the edge goes to the Big 12: Arizona, Iowa State, Houston, BYU and a fully healthy Kansas are all Final Four contenders. Perhaps Texas Tech still is, too.
Then there are the surprises. Oklahoma State and Colorado are off to their best starts in ages, albeit against less competition.
3. ACC
Overall non-con record: 113-34 (.769)
Record vs. other four high-major leagues: 24-25
Record vs. ranked opponents: 8-9
Record vs. KenPom Top 50: 14-20
Unbeatens: Duke, Louisville, SMU
I’m surprising myself by slotting the ACC No. 3, but it’s got the third-best overall winning percentage, more wins vs. ranked opponents and a better hit rate against power conferences than the SEC.
It should be 3.
Remember how the ACC went 2-14 in the ACC/SEC Challenge a year ago? After Tuesday, the league has a 6-3 advantage, and not only that, it’s actually outperforming the SEC in overall résumé strength to this point. Duke and Louisville are national title contenders, with North Carolina looking to join those ranks after winning at Kentucky for the first time in 18 years. Eight the league’s 18 teams have zero or one loss, but half the conference is at three or four Ls already.
Even those teams, like Notre Dame and Syracuse, picked off valuable wins over SEC teams on Tuesday. The ACC is coming off its worst season ever and looks poised to send a minimum of six to the Big Dance in 2026.
4. SEC
Overall non-con record: 96-32 (.750)
Record vs. other four high-major leagues: 20-26
Record vs. ranked opponents: 5-14
Record vs. KenPom Top 50: 8-22
Unbeatens: LSU, Vanderbilt
The SEC set an NCAA record with 14 tournament bids last season. It will not be matching that in 2026, nor will it get 13 or even 12. And 11 could prove to be far too difficult. It doesn’t have a team in the top 10 at KenPom, either. Kentucky and Florida have been big underachievers. Alabama is dangerous but inconsistent. Same for Tennessee and Arkansas. A lot of potential here, but much of it not yet met — which perhaps explains why the SEC is still rated No. 1 at KenPom, despite the results not bearing out that predictive metric.
LSU is off to an undefeated start … but it hasn’t played a top-100 opponent yet. Missouri’s nonconference schedule ranks 363rd out of 365 teams. There’s a lot of work to be done here.
5. Big East
Overall non-con record: 61-26 (.701)
Record vs. other four high-major leagues: 13-21
Record vs. ranked opponents: 4-8
Record vs. KenPom Top 50: 7-17
Unbeatens: None
By any and every objective metric, the Big East is a firm fifth in the high-major hierarchy, even with UConn looking like a top-three team. The Huskies’ dominance aside, the Big East looks fated to be the worst high-major in 2025-26.
Marquette just lost four games in November for the first time in school history … and needed overtime on Tuesday to escape against Valpo. Creighton was a preseason top-30 team that’s down a big man for the season and might not have NCAA Tournament talent. Six of the league’s 11 teams already have at least three losses. St. John’s is one of those, and it’s TBD on if Rick Pitino has a good club or if the Red Storm will wind up being one of the most overhyped squads from October.
The surprise is that Villanova, Seton Hall and Butler are a combined 20-3, but those schools are outside the top 30 of every metric to date, and so they’ll have to keep winning in a big way to ensure the Big East isn’t under constant threat to be a three-bid-max league in 2026.
Players Era postmortem
College basketball’s biggest discussion topic of November: The Players Era Championship. Here’s some additional info, quotes and thoughts on the event, which is poised to puff to 32 schools next year. (Too large for my liking, but the idea here is to have a tournament so huge, it defines the opening month of college basketball.)
1. The format moving forward: As the four-day event unfolded, it became clear that a format prioritizing point differential as the No. 2 tiebreaker (after record) was untidy for an 18-team arrangement. (It was 18 instead of 16 because Kansas committed after 16 were in and there was no turning back on other teams at that point.) After all, Iowa State went 3-0 just like Michigan and Kansas, but ISU didn’t get any additional NIL money.
“That would’ve been really tricky in the locker room because I told the guys if we won two games we’d be playing for more money,” one head coach in the event told CBS Sports.
After consistent criticism about the unconventional setup, Players Era co-founder Seth Berger told me, “For 2026, we know we will have four eight-team groups and the Four Kings from those groups — and we will work very quickly to get to a better format.”
I think Players Era goes to four eight-team brackets next year. Being in Vegas, just name them Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades. With the eight Big 12 teams guaranteed to play, put two apiece on opposite sides of each bracket and hope for the best.
Now, you’ll still have point differential come into play: with four 3-0 teams winning each bracket, the two schools that win by the greatest average margin will play for the $1 million bonus championship game, with the other two settling for the third-place game ($300,000 to that winner, $200,000 to the loser).
“I’m not sure the point differential is all bad,” Bill Self told me. “I think whoever goes to [unbeaten], you split the money. The point differential may determine who plays in [championship] game, in the [third-place] game and the [fifth-place] game. But you still split the money. So it doesn’t have to be $1 million and $500,000. Iowa State played their ass off here. If they go to brackets, great. … And the other thing is, with the bracket, it’s easy if it’s 24 [or 32] teams. It’s a little harder with 18 teams.”
The tight turnarounds and late decisions on matchups also was needlessly stressful.
“It was tough for everyone except the top four because they knew,” the aforementioned coach said. “We had no idea who we were playing and had gone through the math and thought we could play [Team X] or [Team Y]. There wasn’t a whole lot of consistency on what your math was and the games you played. Bracket play cleans it up and makes more sense.”
The schedule is not set, but a target is to have 16 teams fly to Las Vegas the week before Thanksgiving for games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The next week, 16 more will play the Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday surrounding Thanksgiving. And then either that Monday or Tuesday following will be the final two standalone NIL games.
Expect more updates on 2026 Players Era in January.
2. The Big 12’s big bond: If you missed the news when it came out last Monday, the Big 12 has a contract with Players Era for the next five years that guarantees eight of its teams a spot in the event. The Big 12 is also poised to earn a minimum of $50 million in the deal, provided Players Era grows and sustains as planned to the end of the decade. I talked to commissioner Brett Yormark in Vegas about the gambit — which he doesn’t view as a gamble whatsoever.
“This has a chance to be a really spectacular event, and I’m really excited about it,” said Yormark, “And for us, there really was no downside. And my schools wanted to participate, which was key. We get to be the conference most heavily associated, with having eight [teams each year].”
BYU and Arizona are both projected to finish top-eight in the Big 12 this season but also scheduled to play next year in Maui. Will either buy out to join Players Era in 2026, or will we wait at least two years before they make the Vegas trip?
3. The TV deal: TNT had the media rights the past two years and it’s in the mix to re-up, but it’s in competition with three other networks, including one streamer, I’m told. Sounds like this should be decided by early January. The goal is for a four-year rights deal beginning in 2026. I do think the high-profile nature of the event this year is going to vault Players Era into another echelon next November, when it’s plausible that half its field could be ranked teams.
4. The location: Las Vegas is almost definitely going to serve as the permanent host of Players Era. As interesting as it would be to have most of these games on campus, TV rights deals make it almost logistically impossible. Plus: The allure of Vegas and the ease in which it is to get a hotel room on the Strip and watch the games at Michelob Ultra Arena and MGM Grand Garden Arena makes for an ideal setup with so much basketball over a three-/four-day period. It’s also an ideal setup for media and NBA evaluators.
There’s not another city that could logistically handle 16 teams in back-to-back weeks and provide the arenas and close quarters to do it, I don’t think. Another quirk was having all the teams stay in the same hotel, at Park MGM on the Strip. It had the feel of both a summer AAU week and the NCAA COVID tourney. Different, but fun. The on-the-ground logistics were fairly seamless.
“Park MGM is small enough where your guys can’t get lost in the casino, the conference room setup was really good,” one coach said. “I wish there was a practice gym closer to the Strip, but that was my only complaint and it’s a small one.”
Brian Rothmuller, Getty Images
Norlander’s news + nuggets
• How good was UConn’s defense on Tuesday night at the Phog? Kansas’ 56 points were the fewest at home against a nonconference opponent under Bill Self. If only Darryn Peterson would have been on the floor.
• Vanderbilt and SMU: two 8-0 teams that began the season unranked and square off Wednesday. Vandy’s 17th in the AP poll, while the Mustangs still aren’t in the Top 25. The last time these teams started 9-0? For SMU, it was a decade ago under Larry Brown. The program was on a postseason ban but still got off to an 18-0 start. Vandy’s most recent 9-0 opening came in 2007-08 with Shan Foster and A.J. Ogilvy. They made it to 16-0 before taking a loss.
• You think that’s good? Colorado is 8-0 for the first time since 1949! The Buffs will go for 9-0 on the road against Colorado State this weekend. Good on Tad Boyle for continually being willing to play in-state competition.
• Speaking of winning streaks, Nebraska’s 12-game run is the longest in the sport dating back to last season. But unfortunately the team lost key guard Connor Essegian to a right ankle injury in Nov. 25 win over Winthrop.
• Not sure if good or bad, but true nonetheless: The leading scorer for seven of the ACC’s 18 teams is a freshman. They are: Cameron Boozer (Duke), Mouhamed Sylla (Georgia Tech), Caleb Wilson (North Carolina), Ebuka Okorie (Stanford), Kiyan Anthony (Syracuse), Thijs De Ridder (Virginia), Neoklis Avdalas (Virginia Tech). And this doesn’t include Mikel Brown Jr. at Louisville, whose17.0 ppg are second to Ryan Conwell’s 20.1.
• As for Boozer, he’s had back-to-back games with at least 25 points against ranked teams. We haven’t seen that from a Dookie since J.J. Redick in January 2006. Even more ridiculous: Boozer is the only men’s player in NCAA or NBA in the past 30 years to have an eight-game stretch with at least 175 points, 75 rebounds and 25 assists, 10 or fewer turnovers while not losing a game in that stretch. Incredible nugget from Opta Stats.
• Was wondering which outlet would be the first to do a story on the 50-year anniversary of the last undefeated men’s D-I team. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim waxes on the immortal Hoosiers here.
• A big night for Syracuse on Tuesday. The Orange beat a non-con ranked opponent for the first time since 2018 at Ohio State. Wild, right? Here’s what’s even wilder: The last time SU won at home against a ranked team in non-league play came all the way back in 2013, when it beat Villanova (first year not in the Big East).
• No. 1 Purdue blew out Rutgers on the road as expected on Tuesday night. Matt Painter’s team continued its November dominance into December. Winning in March and April is the most important time to peak, but Purdue’s November dominance can’t be ignored. The Boilermakers are 48-2 since 2021 in non-league play, by far the best record, which includes a 14-5 mark against top-15 opponents.
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