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NCAA Basketball: Top 15 opening week games for 2018-19

By Brad Cavallaro

LEXINGTON, KY - NOVEMBER 20: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats gives instructions to Quade Green #0 during the game against the Troy Torjans at Rupp Arena on November 20, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KY - NOVEMBER 20: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats gives instructions to Quade Green #0 during the game against the Troy Torjans at Rupp Arena on November 20, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – MARCH 22: PJ Washington #25 of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrates his basket against the Kansas State Wildcats in the second half during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament South Regional at Philips Arena on March 22, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – MARCH 22: PJ Washington #25 of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrates his basket against the Kansas State Wildcats in the second half during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament South Regional at Philips Arena on March 22, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

The start of NCAA basketball season is always exciting after the lengthy offseason, but the quality of the opening week games seems to have improved this season. What are the Top 15 games during opening week?

Opening week is an exciting time for dedicated NCAA basketball fans and, this season, there is a strong slate of games to start the season. This has not always been the case, but moving opening day from Friday to Tuesday has given teams (and events) more flexibility to schedule compelling matchups.

Last year, the first day of the NCAA Basketball season involved almost every team, but there were only a few notable matchups. West Virginia and Texas A&M squared off as the lone Top 25 matchup, but the Aggies dominated, giving the Mountaineers a surprising loss to open the season. Both teams advanced to the Sweet Sixteen so this game may have been even better in hindsight.

The most interesting game was arguably UCLA versus Georgia Tech in China, but this intrigue stemmed from the notorious shoplifting incident. Three UCLA freshmen were suspended which left the team shorthanded, but Georgia Tech was also missing its best player (Josh Okogie) due to a suspension. UCLA prevailed in an ugly late night game.

Another interesting aspect of the start of the NCAA Basketball season is the mid major upsets. Each year, high major teams that look past their early season opponents suffer embarrassing losses that often serve as a sign of things to come. Here are the high major teams that were upset by smaller programs on opening night last season and their dreadful records:

UC Riverside over Cal (8-24, 2-16 PAC12)

Navy over Pitt (8-24, 0-18 ACC)

Georgia Southern over Wake Forest(11-20, 4-14 ACC)

Indiana State over Indiana( 16-15, 9-9 B10)

Whether there are compelling matchups to open the season or a buy-game riddled slate, storylines always emerge. This season we are fortunate enough to have exciting games between potential NCAA Tournament teams which, combined with the unavoidable upsets, will lead to a fascinating start to the season.

This article will rank the top 15 NCAA Basketball games of opening week. For the sake of these rankings, opening week consists of games from Tuesday, November 6th to Sunday, November 11th. To determine the opening week rankings, I added my rankings of the two participating teams and the games with the lowest scores were deemed the best games. For example, the best possible game would be number 1 versus number 2 as their rankings would add up to 3 (the lowest possible score.)

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