Rankings by Jake Fenner (@jakefenner_)
On the latest episode of Connecticut Basketball Spaces, Daily Mail college basketball writer Jake Fenner revealed his choices for The 2026 College Basketball “Sicko” Games of the Year. Daly Dose of Hoops obtained permission from Jake and Connecticut Basketball Spaces to publish a written account of this list.
With the college basketball season upon us, fans will soon be tapped in to their favorite teams playing high-profile matchups in their non-conference schedules.
But the true romantics of the sport know that the magic doesn’t lie in the Duke-UConns or the St. John’s-Arizonas or the Kansas-Kentuckys.
Instead, the real beauty, the real madness, the real joie de vivre of the sport lies in the disgusting one-offs or MTE matchups that no person in their right mind should ever be watching unless they have a specific tie to these schools.
In short, it’s the games that the sickos live and breathe. The kind of games that you brag about only to those who share a similar temperament – nay, a similar disease because this truly is a sickness.
With this in mind, it’s best to define the four criteria that make up the entries on this list. I’ve taken the liberty of dubbing them “The Four Sicknesses.” Entry to this list requires at least one of these. The best entries on this list combine more than one into a super sickness that no antibiotics or time spent with family/loved ones/doing other hobbies can cure.
- Competitively Sicko: A matchup between two teams who rarely play each other or are so mismatched historically or presently that it doesn’t make sense that this game exists.
- Organizationally Sicko: A game played at a strange time or broadcast on a non-traditional channel.
- Logistically Sicko: One team travels a long distance or a bizarre route, or the game is played in a strange locale – even if it’s an MTE.
- Spiritually Sicko: A matchup played under a bizarre circumstance, in a little-known or eccentric MTE, or any element of a game that makes you wonder “why is this happening?”
There are a few other rules to this. No team can be on here more than once, unless they take part in multiple MTEs which qualify for the list. We also tried to avoid putting multiple games held at the same venue on this list (otherwise, there would be at least three matchups at the Sanford Pentagon on here).
The last rule is that there are no Division II or Division III teams represented here, because those should be cheap victories for Division I programs. Also, in keeping with the title, we will be picking individual games to represent the most sicko events, but as you will see, some whole events will be represented here.
So with all these ground rules in mind, we must not waste any more time.
10. Ball State at Georgia Southern
Monday, November 2 / 7:00pm ET / ESPN+
The MAC-Sun Belt Challenge has plenty of disgusting matchups to whet the appetite for an upcoming season.
It was tough to choose between the likes of UMass traveling over a thousand miles south to play Troy or Eastern Michigan flying from Ypsilanti to Conway, South Carolina to take on Coastal Carolina.
But instead, we’ve gone with the spiritually disgusting trip of Ball State traveling to Statesboro, Georgia to face Georgia Southern. Beyond how gross it is, it involves the Cardinals taking an hour and 20-minute drive from Muncie to Indianapolis, boarding a flight to Savannah, and then driving another hour to GSU.
Or, there’s always the possibility of a 12-hour drive through Kentucky and parts of Tennessee and both Carolinas, but that flight is the most likely option.
This will be the fourth matchup between the two schools. Ball State has only won once.
9. Abilene Christian at South Dakota State
Wednesday, November 25 / 2:00pmET (1:00pm local) / Summit League Network by Midco Sports
The first game of a home-and-home series across two years, the Wildcats and the Jackrabbits will meet for the first time in school history on the day before Thanksgiving.
During one of the busiest travel periods of the year, the Wildcats will need to connect in either Dallas or Denver before flying to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and then driving just short of an hour north to Brookings.
Both schools made the jump from Division II to Division I at around the same time (South Dakota State in 2012, Abilene Christian in 2013).
But while the Jackrabbits have made the Big Dance seven times, they have never won a single game. Meanwhile, Abilene has appeared in two tournaments and managed to pull off a big upset over Texas in 2021 before falling to 11-seed and eventual Final Four participant UCLA.
8. The Entire Mississippi Valley State Non-Conference Schedule
Over the course of this offseason, there were two other candidates for this spot, because there were some schools who just leaned into the disgusting side too much.
There was UTSA, who had games against VMI, Seattle, Florida A&M and SIU Edwardsville on its roster. Then, Oakland took the belt off the Roadrunners with one wild road trip that took them from California to Alabama to Idaho and back to Michigan across a six-day span.
None of them have anything on the Delta Devils. Mississippi Valley State does not play a home game until 2027.
Let me repeat that: Mississippi Valley State does NOT play a HOME game until January 9, 2027.
While there isn’t one particular game that is “sicko” per se, the Delta Devils open their season with a 14-game non-conference schedule that is entirely on the road against the likes of Oklahoma, Michigan, UConn, Ohio State, Texas Tech and Baylor.
Then, adding insult to injury, their first two SWAC games of the conference schedule are on the road at Alabama State and at Alabama A&M.
7. Florida Gulf Coast at Pepperdine
Saturday, December 5 / 8:00pm ET (5:00pm local) / ESPN+
This is one of two entrants that are on here mostly because of the distance between them. Honorable mention to the game that missed the cut which was in this vein, Sacramento State at Presbyterian.
Pepperdine does make a bizarre trip up to Cornell to open the season, which is very funny, but not nearly as disgusting as a glorified community college flying from Fort Myers, Florida to Malibu.
The 2,253-mile journey involves a flight from Fort Myers to either Newark or Chicago-O’Hare before flying out to Los Angeles. From there, without traffic, it’s a 45-minute drive to the idyllic Malibu campus.
Adding to the disgust, not only is this the first time these two teams faced each other, they both also finished sub-225 in KenPom last season (FGCU 244, Pepperdine 263).
6. Field of 68 Tipoff Marathon: Northern Kentucky vs. UTEP
Monday, November 2 / 2:00pm ET (1:00pm local) / YouTube
So, I think for the purpose of this, there has to be a line drawn in the sand for events that are “intentionally sicko.”
Give credit to the people at the Field of 68, this is a debaucherous schedule of events that starts at 12:01am ET and follows up with games at 3:00am, 6:00am, and 9:00am ET in Rock Hill, South Carolina before transitioning to a pair of events at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota.
If I was picking what may be the most sicko of all of these, it’s absolutely the 6:00am tipoff between Appalachian State and Merrimack. If this thing was played at like 11:00am ET in a four-team MTE, then that would be here and it would be a LOT higher.
But the intention of the event dilutes the sickness that comes with it. The people at Fo68 intended to be disgusting with this – which, in turn, makes it slightly less disgusting.
Of the two events at the Sanford Pentagon, either could be considered disgusting: an 11:30am ET (10:30am CT) tipoff between Murray State and Tennessee State kicks things off before the 2:00pm (1:00pm CT) matinee between UTEP and Northern Kentucky.
Considering the first game features a team we will have on this list later (spoiler alert), we default to the Norse and the Miners. Watch the entirety of the marathon, if you can keep up.
5. Sunshine Slam: Wyoming vs. Duquesne
Sunday, November 22 / 2:00pmET / FloSports
ALL THESE GAMES ON THIS LIST, BROTHER, ARE NONE OF MY CONCERN.
For last year’s list, we included the matchup between Stony Brook and Pacific in the 2025 edition of the Sunshine Slam.
While the fact that an MTE taking place in Daytona Beach is fun enough, we get to add to it with non-basketball sports history.
Last year, we discovered, to our horror and surprise, that the Sunshine Slam is played at the Ocean Center. The Ocean Center is where the WCW held Bash At The Beach in 1996, where Hulk Hogan turned heel, betrayed Macho Man Randy Savage, and established the NWO.
We can only hope that a matchup between the Cowboys of Wyoming and the Dukes of Duquesne, at 2:00pm on an NFL Sunday, can match the intensity of such a feat.
Before we get into the top four, I’d like to stop and hand out some honorable mentions. I’m stopping it here because for months it was nearly impossible to separate these four games from each other in terms of how truly disgusting they were. Yet, we managed to organize them.
I’ll give three quick honorable mentions: first, shout out to UNC Greensboro flying all the way out to take on UC Santa Barbara. That should be a legitimately intriguing mid-major matchup that is truly beautiful.
Next, there’s South Dakota playing Utah Tech at the Sanford Pentagon. I mentioned earlier that three Pentagon games were under consideration (the other being Minnesota v. Cal), but this one nearly got there.
The final honorable mention here would have made it if the rule about no inter-division matchups wasn’t here. But the University of Chicago (Division III) isn’t just playing Harvard, they’re hosting the Crimson. It’s the first time the Maroons are hosting a Division I basketball team on campus since 1970.
Anyway, we’re done with the appetizers and the main courses. It’s time for the most decadently disgusting matchups of the year.
4. Murray State vs. Hofstra
Tuesday, November 17 / Noon ET (11:00am local) / Unknown
If there was an award for most confusing messaging around a game, this matchup would win it.
We asked both Murray State and Hofstra for information about where this game would be broadcast and neither were able to provide a definitive answer, excellent start.
Then, if you go onto the Murray State website, if you look at the event, it says that the game is part of the Savage Brothers Showcase and that it takes place at the Landers Center in Memphis, Tennessee.
When this event was announced, Murray State said it was in Memphis. When the time was announced, Murray State said it was in Memphis.
There’s just one problem. The Landers Center is not in Memphis. The Landers Center (and this is why this game is so high on this list) is in Southaven, Mississippi.
Now, is Southaven, Mississippi just over the border with Memphis? Yes, yes it is. But if I said that an event was happening in Philadelphia, when it was actually being held in Camden, New Jersey, I would be wrong.
It’s that hysterical confusion that only adds to the evidence that this game deserves a mention.
3. Cancun Challenge: Southeastern Louisiana vs. Northern Colorado
Tuesday November 24 / 12:30pm ET (11:30am local) / FloSports
I’ve been doing these lists for about three years now, mostly for my own entertainment. There are few teams or events that have consistently popped up each year, barring one: The Cancun Challenge.
I attended the NABC Conference this year at the Final Four in Indianapolis. You should have seen the glee on my face when I noticed that the Cancun Challenge had a table there.
Who wouldn’t want to come out? Auburn coach Bruce Pearl once sang the praises of this tournament when he said, “The games, they’re all right there.”
The organizers for the Cancun Challenge have consistently provided some absolutely disgusting fields but this year may take the cake: Eastern Michigan, the College of Charleston, UTEP, Kennesaw State, Detroit Mercy and North Dakota are six of the eight teams playing in this event held at the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
But the game that kicks it all off is so depraved that it nearly offends the senses. It hits you like smelling salts. No one in their right mind should or would tune in on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to watch Southeastern Louisiana take on Northern Colorado for the first time ever.
Yet, that’s what’s going to happen. This game, it’s all right here.
2. Alabama State at Hawai’i
Tuesday December 22 / 7:00pm Hawai’ian Time (Midnight CT, 1:00am ET) / Mountain West +
The 2025 “Sicko Game of the Year” is maybe the most sicko game of all time and involved a trip to the Hawaiian Islands. It was one of the four matchups in the Rainbow Classic and saw Manhattan playing Mississippi Valley State at 2:00am ET at the Stan Sheriff Center in a game that was not even broadcast in any form. It was beautiful.
In keeping with our rule of having no two teams on this list twice, we had to choose between one of two deeply disgusting matchups involving teams flying to Hawai’i.
The first involved Doug Gottlieb’s Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix. To get to that game, they’d have to fly from Green Bay to Chicago-O’Hare before going out to Honolulu. A flight back would involve a layover in Denver or Los Angeles.
But the only matchup that could possibly be sicker than that trip involves Alabama State, a school that finished 102 spots lower in KenPom last year.
The Hornets’ quickest trip would have them fly from Montgomery to Dallas-Fort Worth with a two-hour layover before they fly eight hours to Honolulu.
Adding to the sickness is the fact that the game tips off at 7:00pm in Hawai’i, which is Midnight back in Montgomery and 1:00am on the East coast. Also this trip takes place three days before Christmas. What a present this is. God Bless Us, Everyone.
1. North Florida at South Dakota
Saturday, December 12 / 2:00pm ET (1:00pm local) / Summit League Network on MidcoSportsPlus
If we go back to the beginning, we can look at the definitions of the four criteria for what makes a game “sicko.” We’ll find that this game, unequivocally, is the No. 1 sicko game of the year.
For Competitively Sicko, this is the first time ever that North Florida and South Dakota are playing each other. South Dakota ranks 256th in KenPom this preseason while North Florida sits all the way down at 320th.
While we don’t get a bizarre MTE tie in to make this Organizationally Sicko, we do have that covered thanks to the broadcaster: MidcoSportsPlus – a paid subscription service that exclusively holds the rights to Upper Midwest leagues such as the Summit League, the CCHA (a collegiate hockey conference featuring the likes of Lake Superior State, Bemidji State and Augustana), the Missouri Valley Conference’s football offerings, the Pioneer Football League and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Under Logistically Sicko, we have ourselves a treat. North Florida is in Jacksonville, so they will have to fly to either Minneapolis or Chicago-O’Hare (depending on what airline they fly) before then flying to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. From there, they have to drive an hour until they arrive at the campus of USD in Vermillion.
If all of that wasn’t sicko enough, we arrive at the final criteria: “Spiritually Sicko: A matchup played under a bizarre circumstance, in a little-known or eccentric MTE, or any element of a game that makes you wonder ‘why is this happening?’”
This is what truly sets this game apart. It’s not the fact that it’s a trek halfway across the country, it’s not that it’s because it’s on a regional subscription network, and it’s not because these teams comparatively suck.
This is the sicko game of the year because: it’s the return game of a home-and-home. But not just any home-and-home, it’s the return game of an in-season home-and-home.
That’s right, the Coyotes are flying out to Jacksonville for the 12th game of their schedule on Thursday, December 3. Two days later, South Dakota flies from Jacksonville (with a connection) to play San Francisco on the fifth. Three days after that, it flies to Missoula (connecting in Denver) to play at Montana before finally going home. Meanwhile, North Florida plays Florida Polytechnic and gets seven days off before the Ospreys fly up to Vermillion to play South Dakota for the second time in the same season.
Considering all the factors, this is unequivocally and definitively THE Sicko Game of the Year. And seeing as the subscription fee for Midco Sports Plus is only $15 a month, I would consider this more than worth the cost.
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