The NCAA Division I college basketball season typically starts in early November, with the 2025–26 season officially tipping off on Monday, November 3, 2025. Preseason practices and exhibition games usually run through September and October before that first regular-season day.

Key dates at a glance

  • Preseason practice: Runs from September through October, including closed practices and public exhibition games.
  • Regular-season start: November 3, 2025, for the 2025–26 Division I season.
  • Nonconference games: Mostly played from early November through late December, featuring many early-season tournaments and neutral-site events.
  • Conference play: Generally ramps up in late December or right after New Year’s, when teams focus on league opponents.

How the season unfolds

  • The season opens with marquee tip-off events and high-profile neutral-site games designed to grab attention during football season.
  • Through November and December, teams build résumés with nonconference matchups that the NCAA Tournament committee later evaluates.
  • From late December into March, conference schedules determine league standings, seeding for conference tournaments, and often bubble status for March Madness.

March Madness timing

  • Conference tournaments usually run from late February into early March, crowning automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament.
  • Selection Sunday for the 2026 men’s tournament is set for March 15, 2026, with the First Four starting March 17 and the national title game on April 6, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Quick FAQ style notes

  • If you are asking “when does college basketball season start” in general, the best answer is: early November every year , with recent seasons beginning in the first week of November.
  • Women’s Division I basketball follows a nearly identical calendar, with regular-season games also beginning in early November and culminating in a separate NCAA Tournament in March and early April.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.