Week one of the 2026-2027 season is in the books, and the country learned a lot about many teams. Most teams played only two games, but some are emerging as legitimate National Title contenders. A mid-major team was picked to finish last in its conference but will outpace those projections. Three huge upsets of power conference teams have already happened. Let's recap week one of the NCAA Season.
Illinois looks like one of the best teams ever.
The Big Ten finally won a National Title last season when Michigan cut down the nets. Many thought Michigan was one of the best teams ever. Then there is the 2026-2027 Illinois Fighting Illini, who look every bit as good as, if not better than, the 2025-2026 Michigan Wolverines.
Illinois has dominated its two opponents, and while those opponents aren't good, being beaten by 73 and 42, making 29 threes and scoring 232 points is not something many teams can do. To take this a step further, the Illini are doing this without their best player, and potential Wooden Player of the Year David Mirkovic. Illinois is an early frontrunner for the best team in the country. They undoubtedly had the best week of any one, and it isn’t particularly close.
Big Ten Bubble Teams take devastating losses.
The Big Ten is consistently one of the deeper conferences in the country, and heading into the season it looked like it would be the same again, especially since Maryland had a talented roster and, with the tournament expansion, should have been a lock to make the tournament. Purdue was the other Big Ten bubble team heading into the year, which is a wild sentence to write considering how well Purdue has been.
Maryland took a loss to Georgetown, which on the surface isn’t a bad loss. The Hoyas haven't been great under head coach Ed Cooley, and Georgetown wasn't supposed to be great in 2026-2027. The Hoyas hammered Maryland, and the random iso-ball offense the Terrapins have shown under coach Williams reared its ugly head again. Purdue lost a ton of talent with TKR, Braden Smith, and Fletcher Loyer after last season. The Boilermakers weren't projected to be as good, but no one thought they'd lose a double-overtime game in Mackey Arena against Valparaiso. Purdue is 0-2 and has a lot of problems that need to be ironed out quickly.
East Texas A&M is not the worst team in the Southland.
It's only two games into the 2026-2027 season, but the East Texas A&M Lions, who were picked to finish dead last in the Southland Conference, are currently 2-0 with wins at Oklahoma and Rice. East Texas A&M beating Oklahoma was the biggest win in the school's history, and beating Rice was one that was expected. It’s not so much that it happened, but how it happened.
The Lions got some wins in the transfer portal with Alonzo Dodd, an all-conference player at Appalachian State, and a dynamic freshman from France, Mohamed Diakite. Those two have been the best players on the floor in both games for the Lions. Winning the Southland will be hard given how good McNeese State is this season, but there is no chance East Texas A&M is the worst team in the Southland.
Upsets Galore!
There has been talk in media circles about the gap shrinking between the low and mid majors and Power Five programs. The first week has shown that this may be true, or it may just be an outlier. Time will tell, but Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Purdue all lost to inferior teams. Kansas State is in a true rebuild mode under head coach Casey Alexander, and they likely won’t win many games, but losing to South Dakota State on your home floor is a tough way to open the season. The Wildcats will have to hit a bunch of threes to stay in games all season long.
Oklahoma and Purdue both lost to teams they should have beaten by 20-plus points. Oklahoma and their loss to East Texas A&M was already touched on. It was an inexcusable loss that put coach Moser on the hot seat. Purdue rarely loses at home, and they never lose to non-conference opponents at home. That is until now. The double overtime loss to Valparaiso was one of the best games of the early season. It featured the Beacons making a ton of clutch shots and getting some key offensive rebounds in the second Overtime to win the game. The Boilermakers don’t look great right now, but coach Matt Painter will get it figured out.
It was an exciting opening week, and many more stories will follow throughout the season. Things like what we outlined above are why we all love this sport.
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