NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 1 of the 2024-2025 season
By Bryan Mauro
Happy tip off to all of you college hoops junkies out there. It is now finally time for the picks of the day to come back. It will be a be a daily post where I will highlight the big stories from the day before and then give you my picks for every game of the next day. These picks are going to be based on who I think will win the matchup. They are straight up winners and I do not pick using point spreads.
Today is a huge day as it is opening day. I will only preview the games between two division 1 teams. The games against non division 1 competition will not be featured. Lets get into it the picks for day 1 of the 2024-2025 season are below.
Charleston over Southern Illinois
Santa Clara over Saint Louis
Stanford over Denver
Harvard over Marist
Liberty over Valparaiso
Temple over Sacred Heart
Purdue over Texas A&M Corpus Christi
McNeese over South Dakota State
Delaware over Bucknell
Appalachian State over Miami Ohio
St. John’s over Fordham
Butler over Missouri State
Duke over Maine
Tennessee over Gardner-Webb
Texas A&M over UCF
Cincinnati over Pine Bluff
Kentucky over Wright State
UNC Greensboro over Florida Gulf Coast
Columbia over Loyola Maryland
Penn over NJIT
Michigan State over Monmouth
Coastal Carolina over Western Michigan
Troy over Toledo
Ohio over James Madison
Georgia Southern over Northern Illinois
Old Dominion over Buffalo
Georgia State over Ball State
Brown over Siena
Saint Bonaventure over Cal State Northridge
NC State over South Carolina Upstate
UMass over New Hampshire
Dayton over St Francis
George Mason over NC Central
Pitt over Radford
Miami over Fairleigh Dickinson
Florida State over Northern Kentucky
Providence over Central Connecticut
South Carolina over North Florida
Maryland over Manhattan
West Virginia over Robert Morris
Syracuse over Le Moyne
Princeton over Iona
Louisville over Morehead State
Clemson over Charleston Southern
VCU over Bellarmine
Saint Joseph’s over Navy
La Salle over American
Florida Atlantic over Indiana State
UAB over Vermont
Boston University over Northeastern
Xavier over Texas Southern
Seton Hall over Saint Peter’s
Penn State over Binghamton
Mississippi State over West Georgia
Georgia over Tennessee Tech
Kansas over Howard
Nebraska over Texas Rio Grande Valley
Houston over Jackson State
Iowa State over Mississippi Valley State
Vanderbilit over Maryland Eastern Shore
Illinois State over Tennessee-Martin
Bradley over Southeast Missouri
Wichita State over Western Kentucky
Albany over Army
Yale over Quinnipiac
Louisiana over Kent State
Texas State over Eastern Michigan
South Alabama over Central Michigan
Southern Mississippi over Bowling Green
Arkansas State over Akron
Charlotte over Presbyterian
Rhode Island over Fairfield
George Washington over Mercyhurst
Villanova over Lafayette
DePaul over Southern Indiana
Wisconsin over Holy Cross
Northwestern over Lehigh
Iowa over Texas A&M Commerce
Missouri over Memphis
Duquesne over Lipscomb
Michigan over Cleveland State
Illinois over Eastern Illinois
TCU over Florida A&M
Virginia Tech over Delaware State
Boston College over The Citadel
Wake Forest over Coppin State
Marquette over Stony Brook
Florida over South Florida
Ole Miss over Long Island
Loyola Chicago over Chicago State
SMU over Tarleton State
Alabama over UNC Asheville
North Carolina over Elon
Oklahoma over Lindenwood
Grand Canyon over Fullerton
New Mexico over Nicholls
South Dakota over Southern
Utah over Alcorn State
Oklahoma State over Green Bay
Colorado over Eastern Washington
Colorado State over North Dakota
North Alabama over Air Force
Arizona over Canisius
Texas over Ohio State
Oregon State over Utah Tech
Saint Mary’s over Towson
San Jose State over Western Illinois
Nevada over Sam Houston
USC over Chattanooga
Cal Baptist over Incarnate Word
UCLA over Rider
Oregon over Riverside
Washington State over Portland State
Gonzaga over Baylor
UNLV over Alabama State
California over Bakersfield
Next. Ranking all 364 teams for 2024-25 season. Ranking all 364 teams for 2024-25 season. dark
There are a lot of pretty good games on the opening night slate. No game is going to be better than Gonzaga and Baylor. Everyone gets a top-10 matchup on opening night. The first big game of the day in the Field of 68 showcase of Charleston and Southern Illinois is a game between two very good mid-major teams. Texas and Ohio State and Missouri and Memphis will be good games as well. West Georgia and Mercyhurst make their Division 1 debuts.