Why the First Week of College Basketball Matters

The first week of college basketball matters — here’s why.

First impressions are important.

When you meet your girlfriend’s parents for the first time, you dress nicely and try to be as polite as you possibly can in an attempt to convince the parents that their daughter is in good hands. Same goes for when you are brought in for a job interview; except you are proving that you are even more valuable than you say you are on your job application.

The first week of college basketball is a team’s first dinner with their girlfriend’s parents or their chance to get the job. Teams need to demonstrate why their play will be exciting throughout the year to their fans and to themselves.  And since teams tend to load the beginning of their season with easily winnable games, college basketball fans get to focus on other statistics and aspects of games that can speak more towards the potential and identity of each team rather than just wins and losses.

The first week excites a team’s fan base.

The top 25 teams in the country are currently undefeated with an average margin of victory well over 20 points simply because the best teams in the country are playing teams that are completely outmatched. They do this so their first impression on the country isn’t spoiled.  Who wants to have a blemish on their record this early in the season when they aren’t even close to the best they will be yet?

So instead of focusing on wins and losses this early, fans look for signs of how good their team will be.  And of the things fans tend to watch for the first week of college basketball, freshmen performances are the most important.

In Duke’s first game, ESPN focused on Jahlil Okafor’s performance, as that is what excites college basketball fans. Okafor finished with 19 points and 6 rebounds as Duke beat Presbyterian 113- 44.

In ESPN’s recap for Kansas’s home opener, ESPN again focused on their freshmen talent in Devonte Graham and Cliff Alexander .

Week one is important simply because it is the first chance your team gets to prove their worth, and even more so, the first time freshman will play at the collegiate level. And this early, freshmen performance may be more important than simply winning.

The first week is also a good indication of what a team’s identity will be throughout the season.  Will they surprise teams or will they play the entire year with a target on their back?  Will they rely on one player or will they need their entire team to consistently contribute?

Remember the 2009-2010 North Carolina Tar Heels?

Following a national championship, and losing a lot of talent from the team that was predicted to win it all from day one, North Carolina was ranked 6^th in the AP Preseason top 25.  They had freshman recruits John Henson, David Wear, Travis Wear, and Dexter Strickland – all four of which were McDonald’s All-Americans.  Experts were debating whether they could win back-to-back national championships.  And even the skeptical analysts thought this team would have to carry the burden of being a huge game on every opponent’s schedule.

As it turns out, North Carolina was not that good after all. This Tar Heels team went 20-17, losing in the NIT Championship game.

Following the opening few games of basketball, it was pretty clear that North Carolina was not stacked with loads of college-ready freshmen. North Carolina’s identity throughout the season was that of a team too talented to be as mediocre as they were – an inverse to the previous year’s team.  Offensively, they didn’t have any scorers and their best players were playing out of position.  And while the first week from a wins and losses standpoint didn’t portray them as anything less than what they were expected to be, the impression that they left on their fans was underwhelming, as their average margin of victory before their first loss to Syracuse was 19.5 (10.3 without counting 47 point win against NC Central), and the freshmen who were supposedly meant to “reload” the Tar Heels were not as productive as projected.

Creating excitement and setting expectations for your fans is critical when trying to make your first impression as a college basketball team. It goes beyond the win and loss column.  Week one is a time when fans can focus more on who the team will become as the year goes on rather than who they are now.

It is important because it is the nation’s first chance to shake your hand and see whether you are worthy of their daughter’s attention or fit to work at the job.

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