The college basketball regular season is very irregular, so it behooves fans who hope to pick the (nearly) perfect bracket to pay attention to what happened around the holidays. Feast Week during Thanksgiving is one of the most important weeks. That’s because teams with Final Four aspirations are building up their “non-conference resume.” Later, the conference schedule gets clogged with league opponents in January and February.
BY MATTY D.
My family laughs at me because I am so locked in during Feast Week, paying attention to who is performing well on a neutral floor. That irregular schedule for college hoops starts with a flurry of very important measuring stick games between teams who don’t naturally play each other. January can be more low-key as a bad loss in conference could be excused. However, in February and especially early March, bubble teams need to win every game to solidify their resume for a tournament birth. And, even the teams ranked in the top 10 want wins so that they can lock up 1 and 2 seeds. Here are some of the teams that looked like 1 or 2 seeds this Feast Week.
Looking Like 1 or 2 Seed NCAA Tournament Teams in November
This college basketball season started with an eye-opening performance by Arizona. More specifically, it was a coming out party for freshman Koa Peat, who dominated a game against Florida. However, as the Gators no longer look like a top 10 team and that Wildcats victory fades into our memory, a new red hot team is jumping onto the radar.
Can Wolverines Continue to Dominate College Basketball?
For a brief moment there during the Feast Week festivities, Gonzaga looked like they would be proclaimed the people’s champion and front-runner for the 2026 Championship. The newer “Players Era” Championship feast week tournament has become all the rage. The stock for traditional tournaments such as The Battle for Atlantis and The Mauii Invitational has lost value. In the Players Era semifinals, Gonzaga put a hurting on the always-tough defensive unit that is San Diego State. They looked like a very veteran team that could possibly sail to an unblemished non-conference record and then an even more comfortable conference schedule in the West Coast Conference.
However, then Michigan happened. Gonzaga played Michigan in the championship game and it was never even close. Michigan won by 40 points, Trey McKenney scored 17, and Yexel Lendeborg was named tournament MVP for his blossoming play.
Lendeborg, a native of Puerto Rico, has had an interesting pathway to Division 1 success. He not only played the last two seasons in relative obscurity at UAB, but he also barely knew that he’d be a college athlete during his major life adjustment over high school. Watch a special report by News 11 in Yuma, Arizona, where Lendeborg played junior college basketball.
Another Team in Michigan Carries an Undefeated Record into December
Michigan State was another notable program to pass on the tournament format during Feast Week. They and Duke continued rolling in their own paths. The Spartans continue to be fueled by the nation’s best dunker, Coen Carr and the steady hand of point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. A showcase game between Michigan State and UNC saw the experience and athleticism of the Spartans outpace the sometimes sensational play of UNC super freshman Caleb Wilson.
Houston Out-bullied by the Tennessee Volunteers
Tennessee’s win over Houston wasn’t just a notch on the Vols’ non-conference belt — it was a toughness test, and they passed it in the final possessions. In a game defined by defensive clamps and half-court grit, it was Tennessee that made the firmer cuts, secured the harder rebounds, and executed the cleaner possessions when it mattered most. Houston rarely gets out-muscled in winning time, but the Vols did just enough of the dirty work to finish the job and earn one of November’s most meaningful victories. Ja’Kobi Gillespie proved that he was one of the best point guards in the nation (exemplified by how he carried himself in a postgame interview that has since gone viral) and Jaylen Carey was just a men amongst boys down low.
College Basketball Eye Test 