November 1st was the start of a four-month journey in college basketball, where teams look to build the best Bracketology resume possible for the 2027 NCAA Tournament. Some teams did well, while others took some steps back just days into the 2026-27 campaign.
The good news is that even for those who took bad losses, there’s plenty of time to recover. Still, the reality is that these are blemishes that’ll be on these teams’ resumes for the rest of the season until Selection Sunday. Here’s a look at the biggest bracketology losers from opening week.
Dayton Flyers
Northern Illinois was a team that lost to Grambling to open the season and ranked around 300 in kenpom. Picked to finish in the bottom in the Horizon League, the Huskies aren’t a team an Atlantic 10 program should be losing to. And yet, that didn’t stop Dayton from falling to them in overtime, 81-76. That was despite 20 points and 10 rebounds from freshman wing, Aiden Derkack. This is a Quad 4 setback that will haunt them for months to come, needing to win its top non-con games coming up just to offset this.
Purdue Boilermakers
Losing to Gonzaga was acceptable and they arguably overachieved on opening night. But the next game was at home against Valpo. It turned into one of the worst regular season losses in the Matt Painter era, falling 83-80 in overtime, allowing 35 points to Rakim Chaney. The Boilermakers are now 0-2 with a likely Quad 3/4 loss in just the first week of the season. They do have chances to make up for it but are they good enough?
Oklahoma Sooners
The biggest result on opening night of the season was arguably Oklahoma falling 68-64 to East Texas A&M at home. While it was without leading scorer Xzayvier Brown, it’s still inexcusable to take this Quad 4 loss to a newer D-I program from the Southland Conference. The good news for the Sooners is that they’re in the SEC, with plenty of future opportunities to get signature wins. The bad news is that this blemish could be what puts them on the wrong side of the bubble if it’s close.
Kansas State Wildcats
The beginning of the Coach Casey Alexander era got off to a rough start, falling 68-66 at home to South Dakota State. They did rebound with a 95-78 victory over Cal State Northridge but the reality is that the Wildcats have an early Quad 4 setback. Since they were picked to finish last in the Big 12, it may not ultimately matter.
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