The 2022–23 men’s college basketball season opened with a whimper, with only two games in the first four days pitting two high-major teams (Vanderbilt vs. Memphis and Tulsa vs. Memphis, both on opening night). As independent site Heat Check CBB pointed out, the numbers point to this being the worst opening-week slate in at least a decade.
There are multiple reasons for this, the most obvious being that the move to open the season on a Monday night to avoid conflicts with Election Day meant the traditional opening-night-headlining Champions Classic was pushed to the second week.