Exhibition games not always telling sign

For sports fans, one of the hardest lessons to learn is that preseason games do not matter. This lesson is being taught again to deeply embedded members of the college basketball world. The 2025-26 season was the first where Division-I college basketball teams could play exhibition games against each other without needing a waiver from the NCAA.

Before last fall, there were only a handful of high-profile exhibition games between D-I squads, which had to be played for charitable purposes and required NCAA permission. Now, legitimate national title contenders are squaring off against each other instead of playing teams from lower divisions.

Overreacting to Exhibition Results

This new era of college basketball preseason has led to some surprising results, with teams like Xavier hammering preseason No. 8 Tennessee and Seattle U knocking off Oregon. However, it is essential to remember that these games do not necessarily determine a team’s performance in the regular season.

Last year’s exhibition games provided evidence of this, with teams like Cincinnati beating Michigan, only to lose 15 games and miss the NCAA Tournament, while the Wolverines went on to win the national championship. Similarly, Ole Miss beat Houston, but the Cougars became a 2-seed, and the Rebels lost 20 games and finished near the bottom of the SEC.

These examples illustrate that preseason games are not always indicative of a team’s true potential. As the college basketball world heads into another season of exhibition games, fans must keep this in mind and avoid overreacting to the results.

The upcoming schedule features several high-profile matchups, including Tennessee at Duke, Connecticut at Michigan State, and Louisville at Kansas. With so many games being played between now and opening night on November 2, fans must resist the urge to make sweeping generalizations about which teams are legitimate Final Four contenders based on these exhibition games.

A look at the early 1990s Buffalo Bills, who lost consecutive preseason games but still made it to the Super Bowl in four consecutive years, serves as a reminder that preseason performance is not always a reliable indicator of a team’s success.

On Tuesday, October 20th, Tennessee will face off against Duke at 7pm, while Connecticut will take on Michigan State at 7pm. The following day, Louisville will play Kansas at 7pm, and Oregon will face Utah at 8:30pm. These games will be the start of a busy preseason schedule, with many more matchups to come.