These basketball games don’t count, but they are very meaningful

In the wake of news that the FBI is investigating the sordid underworld of men’s college basketball, fans should take note of one of the sport’s more noble ventures these days: exhibition games.

North Carolina recently announced a jamboree for hurricane relief to be played Nov. 3 in Chapel Hill and to include East Carolina, UNC Greensboro and UNC Wilmington. A recent Kansas-Missouri exhibition game netted $1.75 million for relief efforts, and games are scheduled across the country for the same cause.

Beyond that, the Big Four programs have been reaching out for years to lend a helping hand to their little brothers at the Division II level through exhibition games.

“You’re always thinking about the game, the total game,” Mike Krzyzewski says, “just to show we think they are important ... that all levels of basketball are important.”

The NCAA allowed Division I programs to add a third exhibition game this season for hurricane relief. The standing policy is that teams can play any combination of two exhibition games against non-Division I teams or closed scrimmages against Division I teams.

“We’ve done the two exhibitions instead of playing the scrimmage because you can’t simulate the crowd,” Krzyzewski says. “Especially for this (young) team, I would rather have them play in front of a crowd.”

Danny Manning, Wake Forest’s fourth-year head coach, sees greater value in the closed-door scrimmages.

“I think a closed door is more beneficial because it is longer than 40 minutes,” Manning says. “Not only can you stop the game and teach, but you can create different scenarios you can run across in games.”

UNC, N.C. State and Wake Forest all have one exhibition game against an in-state Division II opponent with the Tar Heels playing Barton on Friday, the Wolfpack meeting Mars Hill and Wake Forest playing Queens, both on Nov. 3.

Early in Roy Williams’ tenure as the Kansas head coach he scheduled an exhibition game against a Division II opponent from outside the state. He then took the advice of a Kansas sports columnist who said that in-state lower-division teams should most benefit from playing the Jayhawks.

“I did that every year after that at Kansas and have done it at UNC,” Williams says.

The exhibitions are not big paydays for the visiting Division II teams. The standard payout is in the $10,000 range, which can still go a long way in budgeting for the smaller schools. But the games are not about the money.

“There are many (coaches) out there who spent time at small schools who recognize that when we get to play at the University of South Carolina, and we get to play at the University of North Carolina, they are creating a lifelong memory, a lifelong experience for people when that game has not a lot of meaning to the large school,” says Newberry (S.C.) coach Dave Davis, who took his Pfeiffer team to UNC in 2006.

UNC won the game 140-101, yet Pfeiffer outscored the Tar Heels 70-66 in the second half. A 29-point, second-half showing by Pfeiffer’s DeMario Greer provided a lifetime memory for the 6-foot All-American guard.

One year recently, tiny Transylvania of Kentucky played an exhibition game before a sellout crowd in Rupp Arena against Kentucky. When Transylvania took a short-lived early lead, a photographer quickly captured the scoreboard, and the picture now hangs in the athletics department.

Duke attempts to provide those kinds of experiences for a Division II historically black college opponent ever preseason. The Blue Devils play Bowie State on Nov. 4. For the ninth consecutive preseason, Duke will play host to the NCAA Division II defending national champion when Northwest Missouri State visits Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday.

Krzyzewski’s best recollection is that he was watching a Division II national championship game on TV about a decade ago and came up with the idea of rewarding that team with an exhibition game the following season.

“What it’s turned out to be for those schools is to celebrate again their national championship,” Krzyzewski says. “I love it. I absolutely love it.”

Now Division II players after winning the championship no longer shout: “We’re going to Disney!” Instead, they chant “We’re going to Duke!”　

This story was originally published October 26, 2017 at 12:24 PM with the headline "These basketball games don’t count, but they are very meaningful."