Welcome back, college sports fans, to episode 721 which is, almost, all about basketball. First, G is getting older and forgot to mention that JoJo was able to travel to her school’s (Chattanooga) bitter rival (W Carolina) in a wonderful personal tradition. One of her best friends, M, is graduating WCAR in December, as is JoJo, and they have made the trip to support/vie against each other during their collegiate years. For the first time since 2021, JoJo’s Mocs bested the Catamounts 41-18. There were not many Chattanooga fans that made the trip to Cullowhee, NC (beautiful views but in the middle of proverbial nowhere). JoJo told G that when CHAT scored, it was her and the cheerleaders doing all of the celebrating. All of us at GCR headquarters (that would be G) are pleased that JoJo’s team finally got a win during her tenure at UTC.
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But today is all about basketball. Our opening salvos begin November 1st at 9:30am (all times Eastern), when Notre Dame (all teams are 0-0/1) and Villanova men begin the season playing in Rome, Italy. That game is followed, with a projected 12:00 noon start, with the same schools featuring their women. Almost 12 hours later, at 11:59pm, the Liberty and High Point men meet up in Rock Hill, SC. With just six teams playing Sunday is the least busy college basketball day other than December 24th, 25th, and 26th when there are no games at all. We’ll come back to that in a moment.
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Just like in football, there were a good number (29 overall) teams that changed conferences or divisions this season. Also like football, we focus only on Division I (more on this later as well). For both men (365) and women (363) the net result is the same number of teams as last season, but St Francis dropped to Division III and West Florida promoted in. There are no independent teams in basketball (hint hint football) because one has to win a conference tournament to receive an automatic bid to the NCAAs. Most of the changes this season started with the recreation of the Pac 12. Here is every conference, our abbreviation for that conference, the number of teams for 2026-27, and the changes from last year, if any.
| Conference (ABBR) Teams | Teams Gained | Teams Lost |
| Atlantic 10 (A10) 14 | — | — |
| Atlantic Sun (ASUN) 8 | West Florida | Austin Peay, C Arkansas, E Kentucky, North Alabama, West Georgia |
| Atlantic Coast (ACC) 18 | — | — |
| American East (AME) 9 | — | — |
| American (AAC) 13 | — | — |
| Big Ten (B10) 18 | — | — |
| Big 12 (B12) 16 | — | — |
| Big East (BE) 11 | — | — |
| Big Sky (SKY) 11 | S Utah, Utah Tech | Sacramento St |
| Big South (BSO) 9 | — | — |
| Big West (BW) 12 | CA Baptist, Sacramento St, Utah Valley | Hawaii, UC Davis |
| Conference USA (USA) 10 | — | LA Tech, UTEP |
| Coastal (CAA) 13 | — | — |
| Horizon (HOR) 12 | N Illinois | — |
| Ivy (IVY) 8 | — | — |
| Mid-Eastern (MEAC) 8 | — | — |
| Metro (MAAC) 13 | — | — |
| Mid-American (MAC) 12 | — | N Illinois |
| Missouri Valley (MVC) 11 | — | — |
| Mountain West (MWC) 10 | Hawaii, UC Davis, UTEP | Boise St, Colorado St, Fresno St, San Diego St, Utah St |
| Northeast (NEC) 9 | — | St Francis |
| Ohio Valley (OVC) 9 | — | Little Rock, TN Tech |
| Pac 12 (P12) 9 | Boise St, Colorado St, Fresno St, Gonzaga, Oregon St, San Diego St, Texas St, Utah St, Washington St | — |
| Patriot (PAT) 10 | — | — |
| Southeastern (SEC) 16 | — | — |
| Southwest (SWAC) 12 | — | — |
| Southern (SoCon) 11 men, 9 women | TN Tech | — |
| Southland (SLAN) 12 | — | — |
| Summit (SUM) 8 | — | Denver |
| Sun Belt (SUN) 14 | LA Tech | Texas St |
| United Athletic (UAC) 9 | Austin Peay, C Arkansas, E Kentucky, Little Rock, North Alabama, West Georgia | CA Baptist, S Utah, Utah Tech, Utah Valley |
| West Coast (WCC) 10 | Denver | Gonzaga, Oregon St, Washington St |
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During the course of the season, there are tournaments that pit teams based on a win or a loss following the first game, which will add to the total number of games played. Conference and post season tournaments will add even more. That said, the 363 women’s teams (note: neither Citadel nor VMI have women’s teams) have 5717 games on the schedule so far. That includes 431 games played against 306 DIFFERENT non-Division I (non-D1) teams. Other than opening day (11/1) and the Holiday break, there are just four more days with fewer than 10 teams participating: 12/17 (4 teams/2 games), 1/11 (8/4), 2/1 (8/4), and 2/15 (8/4). The 365 men’s teams have 6003 games so far. That’s a total of 11,720 games on the schedule between 11/1 and 3/7 (127 days). The men only have one day (other than opening day) with fewer than 10 games: 12/27 when 5 teams play 3 games (1 is against a non-D1 team). Overall the men will play 589 non-D1 games against 379 (yes, more than the number of D1 teams) different non-D1 teams. That means the women play down a level or two 7.5% of the time while their male counterparts do the same 9.8%. The women have 10 days in which at least 220 teams take the court with 2/13 leading the way with 260 teams (130 games). The men have 8 such days with 4 exceeding 300 including the busiest day of the season (and for the GCR) 320 teams/160 games on 2/13. That’s 580 teams/290 games in one day. At least football season will be over.
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That’s it for today. Tune in tomorrow as we begin Week 9 of College Football with a couple more games from Conference USA. Thank you for reading (it’s why we do this), commenting or suggesting (it’s how we improve), and sharing with others (it’s how we grow), JoJo and G
