There is no optimal day for the college basketball season to open. On the sports calendar it must be wedged between the World Series and the launch of the NBA season, which dominate late October, and Thanksgiving, which begins a stretch of holidays and final exams that consumes campus life. (And if it started later, it would be also more cumbersome to fit in full schedules before March’s postseason.)
And of course, football owns much of the public’s attention on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Thursday throughout fall and winter. On Friday, there isn’t much attention to be had by anyone; ESPN, college hoops' primary avenue to a national audience, builds its Wednesday nights around the NBA.