Alcorn State might have the hardest non-conference schedule in college basketball. The Braves will get paid to lose at least 11 of their first 12 games.
Probably.
There is no way to predict the outcome of a college basketball game before it happens but the odds are stacked against one of the worst teams in the country from a year ago. They don’t have a choice.
Alcorn State is at a disadvantage.
Alcorn State finished as the No. 330 team in the NET rankings last season. NET Rating measures a team’s point differential per 100 possessions, calculated by subtracting the team’s Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) from its Offensive Rating (points scored per 100 possessions).
There are currently 361 schools that are full members of a Division I basketball conference, plus four additional programs that are in transition from NCAA Division II.
The Braves finished in the 92nd percentile, essentially 31st from last. They went 11-20 overall.
This is not a knock on a program that is trying its best. It is hard to recruit to a town in Mississippi with a total population of ~1,000. It is even harder to compete with such few resources.
Rather, this is just to point out the struggles of the Alcorn State team in recent years. The Braves lost their first 14 games of the year in 2024 and 2025 does not look much better.
Is this the hardest non-conference schedule in college basketball?
Alcorn State will begin this upcoming season with at least 11 losses. It will also play its first 15 games on the road.
- at Florida State — Loss
- at South Alabama — Loss ?
- at Minnesota — Loss
- at Maryland — Loss
- at Howard — Loss ?
- at LSU — Loss
- at Oklahoma — Loss
- neutral site vs. Indiana State — Loss
- neutral site vs. Louisiana Tech — Loss
- at Iowa State — Loss
- at Baylor — Loss
- at Ole Miss — Loss
- at Jackson State — ?
- at Alabama A&M — ?
- at Alabama State — ?
Oof. There may not be a more difficult 12-game stretch in the entire country. 0-12 is very much in play. 0-15 seems likely based on last year’s results.
This is the unfortunate reality for a school like Alcorn State. All of this big-name programs pay these smaller teams to lose. These first 12 games of the season will effectively serve as the funding for the program for the entire year. They don’t have a choice but to play those games.
“Man people really think we ‘choose’ these schedules,” Grambling State head coach Patrick Crarey said recently.
Wouldn’t it be great if the Braves could pull an upset or two? They won’t, but what if?!