The NCAA has decided to make a change involving the preseason scrimmage rules. There will be no more secret or private scrimmages for college basketball. Each school will have the opportunity to play two preseason exhibition games vs Division I schools starting in the 2025-2026 season.
No more secret scrimmages. Two exhibitions against four-year schools will be allowed. https://t.co/8ANQ2Ojwt7
— Andy Katz (@TheAndyKatz) January 15, 2025
These games will now be able to include official scoring and will remove preseason private scrimmages. This rule is for all four year school and Division I programs. Schools before the rule change had to fill out a waiver to play two Division I preseason scrimmages. Now each program will have the opportunity without a waiver process. This decision was made by the The Division I Men's Basketball Oversights Committee on Tuesday, January 13th.
North Carolina had their preseason exhibition games vs Memphis and Division II Johnson C. Smith this season. We could see the Tar Heels play two Division I schools next season in preseason action following the NCAA rule change. It will make sense for North Carolina to play two Division I schools before the season to prepare against higher quality competition. It will be interesting to see what Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels decide to do for their two exhibition games next year following the NCAA rule change for the 2025-2026 season.