We are four weeks into the 2025-26 men's college basketball season, and we've had our fair share of surprises. As expected, all eyes were less on the traditional MTEs (exempt multiteam events) and more on the power-packed Players Era Festival with top contenders getting upset. The early nonconference matchups were more telling and competitive than anticipated -- welcome to the 1-seed group, Arizona.
Now, the tournaments are over as the calendar turns to December and conference play approaches -- or, as in the case of the Big Ten, is already here.
And any month that begins with the ACC-SEC Challenge (Tuesday and Wednesday on ESPN networks) will not be lacking for compelling nonconference matchups.