The House of College Hoops Weekly Digest #1: Opening Day 2026-27
Happy College Basketball Opening Day! If you are reading this, dear hoops fan, pat yourself on the back. You are in on the ground floor of the House of College Hoops' most ambitious project yet. Starting today, and coming at you every week for the rest of this season, the House of College Hoops Weekly Digest is here to give you a quick bite of everything you need to set yourself up for a great week of hoops viewership.
From today until the confetti flies in Detroit, you can count on the Weekly Digest for the following:
Updated polls
Links to all of our college hoops coverage
Schedules for key teams and games
Exclusive columns from our House of College Hoops writers
Keep reading for a first look into the future of the House of College Hoops!
-Sam Basel, Head of Content at House Enterprise
Around the House
The ECB Pod returns to preview the 2026-27 season!
ECB's Josh Burton sits down with UConn's Silas Demary Jr.!
The ECB/House of College Hoops Top 25: Preseason 2026-27
This season, the Everything College Basketball podcast and the House of College Hoops have teamed up to present one unified Top 25, featuring ballots from our HoCH staff and friends of the ECB Pod! Below is our first ranking of the season, voted on and calculated before the tip-off of Villanova vs. Notre Dame on Sunday Morning.
When comparing our Preseason Top 25 to that of the Associated Press, we're pretty aligned on most picks, not deviating more than 1 or 2 spots in either direction for most teams. The major difference in our two rankings is our inclusion of Nebraska at 25, while the AP voters selected BYU in that spot.
Featured Column: DeRosa's Corner
In our first featured column, our very own hoops extraordinaire Michael DeRosa gives hits thoughts on the Big East
by Michael DeRosa (@MDtheDream)
It’s good to be back, guys.
I'm going to talk nationally in this column as the year goes on, but we’ll start with the Big East, the league I know best. I tweeted about it, but Villanova in their debut was really unimpressive. I thought Luigi Suigo was really overhyped entering the season, but the main note from me concerns shot volume. Notre Dame shot 13 more FG's and 7 more FT’s than Villanova. You can’t win many games like that. Villanova gave up 17 offensive rebounds to a pretty soft opponent and had 20 turnovers. Kwame Evans is recovering from injury, and Nova needs him at his best going forward. A weird setting in Italy at a weird time, and the first game with a new team are all fair pushbacks, but this was a pretty bad opening performance from Villanova.
As we look across the league, Marquette is the team to watch for me. After a poor 2025-26 campaign, I think this year's group has been really underrated. Nigel James is a legitimate NPOY candidate if all breaks right, and a good PG can take you so far. I believe they really upgraded with Parham and Stevens getting another year under their belt, as well as the additions of Sananda Fru inside (a real interior presence!) and Nolan Minessale. Fru in particular plays a lot like the bigs Shaka had at Texas–who all went to the league–and should be super effective on the glass and as a screener/roller.
Some notes on the bigger games this week:
(11/5)-South Florida at DePaul:
There's been a lot of hype surrounding this DePaul team. I’m not as high on this roster as others, but even so, this is a great spot to show something. This South Florida team, coached by former Xavier coach Chris Mack, has real talent. Sonny Wilson, Mike James, Garrett Johnson, Josh Omojafo and Zayden High all belong at this level. This is a good early season test for a potential upstart Demon team. I’m very interested to see who emerges as the go-to guy for DePaul; their offense needs to take a huge leap if they’re to take a step forward. Kah’mere Holmes and Koree Cotton are names to watch in that role, where hopefully Layden Blocker can be more of a facilitator.
(11/6)-UConn vs Michigan (Boston):
A rematch of last year's National Title Game which will look really different. Huskies bring back Silas Demary, who will look to take another step forward in what has been an excellent collegiate career. Najai Hines vs Moustapha Thiam is an awesome matchup between two elite transfer portal bigs, and Oscar Giltay has been pretty impressive in exhibition season for the Huskies as well. We all know how good UConn can be, and this backcourt matchup is as good as it gets all season. Silas Demary and Braylon Mullins vs. Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney. Fireworks. I'm really interested to see how Mike Boynton-led Wolverines look in a spot like this. Should be a fun one!
(11/7)-Providence at Nebraska:
Not knowing who’s going to play and who isn’t is very frustrating as a consumer of the sport, even more frustrating as a fan of a team, and it must be the most frustrating of all as someone on a team. Providence has been bit by that as much as anyone else, with Dink Pate, Joseph Pinion and Derek Simpson all experiencing some version of eligibility limbo, while Elijah Saunders was just recently announced on this team as a defensive minded four man. This matchup will see tons of pace-and-space basketball, with plenty of three-point attempts. Miles Byrd vs Braden Frager will be a super fun matchup on the wings, if Byrd can take Frager out of the game, this one gets interesting. I don’t think either team has a ton of creation at the PG spot, and where Nebraska probably has better shooters, Providence has athletes who can really take advantage of a softer, smaller Nebraska team. Don’t be surprised if PC can come away with a huge early-season win as underdogs.
(11/7)-Maryland at Georgetown:
The Battle for the Beltway. It does pain me that Georgetown and Syracuse don’t play every year, but this matchup will certainly do (still want both!). Prominent DMV/Maryland freshman Baba Oladotun has a chance to make a statement in this district battle, as his recruitment came down to these two teams. The difference for me here comes on the glass. Pharrel Payne and Tomislav Buljan will dominate the glass/interior against most opponents, so Georgetown needs the best version of Vince Iwuchukwu to keep them in check. Iwuchukwu has looked out of shape early in the exhibitions, and Georgetown cannot afford bad Vince here. At PG, Jaland Lowe has been excellent for Georgetown in exhibitions, but they will need that in this spot, especially with Vyctorious Miller unlikely to suit up. Georgetown getting NJ Benson eligible in this game would do wonders, but that seems very unlikely. This should be a really fun, intense game. I love that they play this; the intensity locally is real. Hopefully, these two teams are better than they were a season ago.
(11/8)-Butler at Boise State:
A return game after Boise shocked the Bulldogs a year ago. Two completely different teams makes that game almost entirely irrelevant here, with only a handful of players returning on each respective squad. Boise State generally loves attacking the glass under Coach Rice, which is something Butler struggled with against the size of Indiana. However, very few teams will match Indiana’s size, and Boise isn’t one of them. Butler G Jalen Jackson looked excellent against Ohio State, and the Bulldogs need that version of Jalen to compete here. Both these teams have shown potential for long scoring droughts, so I’m expecting a slugfest in this one. Really good opportunity for Coach Nored and Co. to make an early season statement that they’re not going to accept being a cellar dweller in this league.
Fun games up ahead, excited to follow it all!
AP Top 25 Matchups This Week:
All times EST. [Brackets] denote special event matchups.
Monday, November 2nd
6p-(14) Miami vs. (1) Florida [Orion180 Tipoff Classic]
6p-Oakland vs. (16) Michigan
6:30p-Army vs. (2) Duke
6:30p-Montmouth vs. (13) St. John's
7p-Quinnipiac vs. (6) Michigan State
7p-Memphis vs. (18) Iowa State
7p-Jackson State vs. (19) Texas Tech
7p-Bellarmine vs. (24) Vanderbilt
7:30p-(15) Gonzaga vs. Purdue [Hall of Fame Series-Las Vegas]
8p-Fordham vs. (17) Kansas
8p-Fairleigh Dickinson vs. (3) Illinois
9p-Gardner-Webb vs. (4) UConn
9p-Chicago State vs. (7) Texas
9p-La Salle vs. (10) Houston
9p-Chattanooga vs. (11) Louisville
9p-Ohio State vs. (25) BYU [Bad Boy Mowers Series]
10p-(5) Arizona vs. (22) UCLA [Hall of Fame Series-Las Vegas]
10:30p-Milwaukee vs. (21) USC
Tuesday, November 3rd
6p-Wofford vs. (8) Tennessee
7p-Manhattan vs. (23) Kentucky
7:30p-Drexel vs. (9) Virginia
7:30p-Sam Houston vs. (20) Alabama
8p-Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. (12) Arkansas
Thursday, November 5th
6p-Wake Forest vs. (24) Vanderbilt
8p-Jacksonville vs. (1) Florida
8p-Coastal Carolina vs. (2) Duke
8p-Toledo vs. (6) Michigan State
8p-Gardner-Webb vs. (7) Texas
8:30p-Penn vs. (3) Illinois
9p-Bethune-Cookman vs. (19) Texas Tech
10:30p-Cal Poly vs. (5) Arizona
Friday, November 6th
5p-Northeastern vs. (9) Virginia
7p-James Madison vs. (23) Kentucky
7:30p-Arkansas State vs. (20) Alabama
8p-(4) UConn vs. (16) Michigan [Hall of Fame Series-Boston]
8p-Southern Miss vs. (18) Iowa State
9p-Wagner vs. (14) Miami
9p-Middle Tennessee vs. (19) Kansas
9p-Omaha vs. (25) BYU
10:30p-North Florida vs. (22) UCLA
Saturday, November 7th
12p-Morehead State vs. (11) Louisville
5p-New Mexico State vs. (15) Gonzaga
Sunday, November 8th
12p-Iona vs. (13) St. John's
1p-(12) Arkansas vs. (9) Virginia [Capital Showcase]
8:30p-(10) Houston vs. Cal [Lake Tahoe Classic]
11p-(21) USC vs. Wichita State
Comments