NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 31 of 2024-25 season

Well, a lot happened last night. This is going to be a long recap. Let’s start with Villanova beating Cincinnati, which is looking very good. The Wildcats hopefully have found something. Providence, who looked terrible a few days ago, blew out BYU. It was the first good night of the season for the Big East. The SEC is dominating the SEC/ACC Challenge. LSU beat Florida State, Arkansas beat Miami, Georgia blew out Notre Dame, Missouri beat California, South Carolina blew out Boston College, Tennessee blew out Syracuse, Oklahoma beat Georgia Tech, Texas A&M beat Wake Forest, and Ole Miss beat Louisville. However, the ACC does have one huge win. Clemson beat Kentucky for their 4th win in a row over a ranked team.

Now to the Big Ten conference. They began their conference season last night, and Iowa hit a long three at the buzzer to beat Northwestern. Michigan won at the Kohl Center and beat Wisconsin. That will be one of the better wins any Big Ten will get all season. Finally, UCLA won their first-ever Big Ten game in a slugfest against Washington. The other games of significance last night were Princeton beating Saint Joseph’s, Lipscomb going on the road and blowing out Chattanooga, Florida A&M winning a home game against Presbyterian, and Santa Clara going to Louisiana and beating McNeese. Saint Mary’s avoided a huge loss to UTSA but needed Overtime to win.

Yesterday I went 31-15 in my picks. That brings my 30-day total to 970-337 overall. As good as the schedule was yesterday, today is even better. The number 1 team in the country is on upset watch. The Big Ten and Missouri Valley resume conference play. The Horizon League conference play begins. MAAC conference play begins. Mountain West conference play begins. There is a top 20 matchup and a top 10 matchup in the SEC/ACC Challenge. The Big 12-Big East Battle brings us a top 10 matchup, and many games could result in an upset. Picks for day 31, December 4, 2024, are below.

Mercer over West Georgia

Harvard over Holy Cross

UConn over Baylor

Florida Atlantic over FIU

Columbia over Albany

Maryland over Ohio State

Green Bay over IU Indy

Wofford over Gardner-Webb

Marshall over Morehead State

Campbell over Coastal Carolina

Belmont over Illinois State

Wagner over Coppin State

Furman over FGCU

Western Carolina over Bellarmine

Lehigh over Monmouth

Cornell over Colgate

St. Bonaventure over Bucknell

UMass over Central Connecticut

George Washington over American

Fordham over Fairleigh Dickinson

Robert Morris over Youngstown State

North Alabama over Tennessee Tech

Fairfield over Rider

VCU over Georgia Southern

North Carolina over Alabama

Florida over Virginia

Wichita State over Alcorn State

Iowa State over Marquette

Memphis over Louisiana Tech

Oklahoma State over Tulsa

Illinois-Chicago over Northern Iowa

Little Rock over Central Arkansas

Omaha over Montana State

South Dakota over Idaho State

Northern Arizona over Oral Roberts

Kansas City over Idaho

Northern Colorado over St Thomas

Creighton over Kansas

Michigan State over Minnesota

Seton Hall over NJIT

New Mexico State over Abilene Christian

Utah State over Wyoming

New Mexico over San Jose State

Colorado State over LMU

Denver over Sacramento State

South Dakota State over Montana

Weber State over North Dakota State

Eastern Washington over North Dakota

Duke over Auburn

Mississippi State over Pittsburgh

Texas Tech over DePaul

NC State over Texas

Vanderbilt over Virginia Tech

Seattle over Portland State

Oregon over USC

San Diego State over Fresno State

The schedule today delivers. Duke and Auburn is a Final Four-type game, and Cameron will be rowdy. Duke needs a signature non-conference win badly and I think they get it tonight. Creighton is in a similar position as Duke. They desperately need a big win to get them going again and I have the upset picked there. Omaha will jump all night long, especially if Creighton finishes the job. Iowa State plays Marquette at Hilton. Will there be some Hilton Magic tonight?  North Carolina also desperately needs a big-time non-conference win, and Alabama comes to town.

UConn needs to get back on track, and they can do so with a huge win against Baylor. That win will greatly increase their confidence, and the game is in Storrs. A lot is going on today, and every one of these big games has their own time slot. Enjoy the hoops.