NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 23 of the 2024-25 season

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Every game of the Maui Classic except for Michigan State beating Colorado was wonderful. Memphis was mighty impressive in their win over UConn. The Huskies will be fine, but Memphis might have something special this year. Auburn beat Iowa State on a last-second tip by John Broome. The Cyclones blew a huge lead in that game. North Carolina beat Dayton with a 60-point second half. The Flyers jumped out to a 21-point lead early in the second half of that one. Liberty won the Paradise Jam, and Columbia stayed undefeated. Hard to believe that today could be any better.

Yesterday, I went 35-12 in my picks. That brings my 22-day total to 746-228 overall. Today will be better than yesterday, and there are some huge games on the schedule today. The Maui Invitational, Sunshine Slam, Cayman Islands Classic, Gulf Coast Showcase, and the Fort Myers Tip-Off all continue today. The Players Era Festival in Vegas, The Cancun Challenge, The Acrisure Holiday Invitational, and Terry’s Chocolate Vegas Showdown all begin today. Picks for day 23, November 26, 2024, are below.

Drexel over Chicago State

Siena over Jacksonville

Old Dominion over Duquesne

Southern Illinois over Eastern Kentucky

Tulsa over Detroit Mercy

Southeastern Louisiana over Gardner-Webb

San Francisco over Fordham

Miami Ohio over Mercer

High Point over Hampton

Creighton over San Diego State

Austin Peay over Georgia State

Louisiana Tech over Richmond

North Dakota over Bethune

UConn over Colorado

Clemson over Penn State

Utah Tech over Denver

Bryant over Tennessee Tech

Utah Valley over West Georgia

Texas A&M over Oregon

South Dakota State over Missouri State

Murray State over UT Arlington

Memphis over Michigan State

Cleveland State over NJIT

Tulane over Wyoming

Kentucky over Western Kentucky

Fort Wayne over Radford

Florida State over Western Carolina

Lehigh over St Francis PA

VMI over Loyola Maryland

Saint Peters over Fairleigh Dickinson

Grand Canyon over Stanford

Georgetown over Wagner

Virginia over Manhattan

Saint Joseph’s over Coppin State

Boise State over Boston College

Samford over North Dakota State

Houston over Alabama

South Alabama over Western Illinois

Iowa over South Carolina Upstate

Iowa State over Dayton

Belmont over LMU

UTEP over Long Beach State

Kansas over Duke

Pepperdine over Fullerton

Eastern Michigan over Northern Arizona

Montana State over Abilene Christian

Utah over Mississippi Valley State

SMU over Cal Baptist

Cal Poly over Grambling

Santa Barbara over Eastern Washington

UCLA over Southern Utah

Rutgers over Notre Dame

Auburn over North Carolina

UNC Greensboro over San Jose State

Seattle over Furman

Washington State over Fresno State

Where do you begin with that slate? I will just take you through the games I am going to watch today. Creighton and San Diego State is a very interesting game and I would not have said that a week ago. Creighton goes into the game without their point guard and three-point specialist Steven Ashworth. He will be out for a while with a sprained ankle. San Diego State already is hard enough to play full strength. Penn State and Clemson is an interesting game because the Nittany Lions will finally play some Power Five competition. They have scored over 100 3 times, and they look very good. A win today against Clemson could validate that. Clemson made the Elite Eight last year and is still a force in the ACC.

Let’s move on to Wyoming and Tulane in Cancun. This game will just be fun. I love the way Tulane head coach Ron Hunter runs his team, and I am very interested in watching Sunshine Wicks and his Wyoming Cowboys. This will be a close and hard fought game. Houston and Alabama from Vegas. Something has to give here a run-and-gun score as fast as you can, shoot a ton of threes offense in Alabama, or slow it down and make it almost impossible to score defense like Houston. Its two top 10 teams are National Title hopefuls, who are going to make the second weekend of the tournament. Not much else to ask for. Auburn and North Carolina from Maui. Two brilliant offenses, two National Player of the Year hopefuls, and two teams who are going to be potential one-seeds. So much to like in that one.

You could also watch Kansas and Duke from Vegas, Michigan State and Memphis from Maui, Rutgers and Notre Dame from Vegas, Boston College and Boise State from the Cayman Islands, Iowa State and Dayton from Maui, Stanford and Grand Canyon from Palm Springs, and Oregon and Texas A&M from Vegas. Take your pick and enjoy your hoops.