Not much happened in a very light slate of games on Friday. Some MAAC conference play saw all of the conference favorites win their games. Quinnipiac and Merrimack both won tough games on the road. West Virginia took a late lead against Georgetown and held on for a win. Northwestern, who I don’t think is very good, caught Illinois on a terrible shooting night and beat the Illini at Welsch Ryan Arena.
Yesterday, I went 10-6 in my picks. That brings my 33-day total to 1,034-368 overall. The Thursday and Friday schedule was light, so the Saturday schedule could deliver a ton of games. There is conference play beginning in the ACC. The Big Ten has some huge games, and there are rivalry games. The Big 5 Classic concludes with the championship game, and two top 10 teams play a game late at night. There are a ton of great games today that will be enough to entertain you all day long. Picks for day 34, December 7, 2024, are below.
Saint John’s over Kansas State
Michigan State over Nebraska
Incarnate Word over East Texas A&M
Notre Dame over Syracuse
Clemson over Miami
Wake Forest over Boston College
Furman over Princeton
Ohio State over Rutgers
UMass over UMass Lowell
Rhode Island over Providence
Loyola Chicago over South Florida
Towson over UMBC
Albany over Boston University
Wright State over Detroit Mercy
Queens over VMI
Marquette over Wisconsin
Pitt over Virginia Tech
North Carolina over Georgia Tech
Penn over Drexel
UNC Greensboro over North Carolina A&T
Gardner-Webb over NC Central
UNC Wilmington over Marshall
Western Kentucky over Evansville
Arizona over Southern Utah
Tennessee Tech over West Georgia
Navy over NJIT
Loyola Maryland over Delaware State
Yale over Vermont
Michigan over Iowa
Central Connecticut over Holy Cross
Bowling Green over Morgan State
Northern Arizona over South Dakota
Nicholls over New Orleans
Dayton over Lehigh
George Mason over Tulane
Arkansas over UTSA
South Carolina over East Carolina
Youngstown State over Oakland
Northern Kentucky over IU Indy
SMU over Virginia
Southern Illinois over Southern Indiana
Air Force over Stony Brook
Tulsa over Southern
Mercyhurst over Lafayette
St Thomas over Montana
Western Carolina over South Carolina Upstate
Green Bay over Cleveland State
Middle Tennessee over Belmont
James Madison over Utah Valley
UTEP over Seattle
NC State over Florida State
California over Stanford
Boise State over Washington State
Ohio over Morehead State
Sacramento State over Omaha
St. Bonaventure over Buffalo
George Washington over Old Dominion
Creighton over UNLV
Long Beach State over Hawaii
Temple over Villanova
Houston Christian over Northwestern State
Texas A&M Corpus Christi over Stephen F. Austin
Pepperdine over Grambling
Oregon State over Idaho
Portland State over Denver
Houston over Butler
Sam Houston over Texas Southern
UT Rio Grande Valley over Lamar
Washington over USC
Le Moyne over Binghamton
Northern Iowa over Northern Illinois
Saint Joseph’s over La Salle
Elon over Wofford
Illinois State over Pacific
Santa Clara over Fresno State
Central Arkansas over Pine Bluff
Wichita State over ETSU
Utah over Saint Mary’s
Winthrop over Coastal Carolina
Liberty over Mississippi Valley State
South Dakota State over Eastern Washington
North Florida over Georgia Southern
Oklahoma over Alcorn State
Ole Miss over Lindenwood
Missouri State over Indiana State
Idaho State over Oral Roberts
North Dakota over Weber State
North Dakota State over Northern Colorado
Cal Poly over Northridge
Riverside over Fullerton
UC Davis over Santa Barbara
Colorado over Colorado State
Utah State over Utah Tech
New Mexico over New Mexico State
Nevada over LMU
Montana State over Kansas City
Gonzaga over Kentucky
San Diego State over San Diego
UC San Diego over Bakersfield
Where to begin for the Saturday games? Let’s start off in the Big Ten with Nebraska and Michigan State. The Huskers are a capable team who can beat Michigan State if they continue to stay hot from three. The Spartans rarely lose at home and have a deeper team than last year. Marquette and Wisconsin play in Milwaukee. That game is a heated rivalr,y and it never matters how good the other one is. This year, both teams are very good. Kentucky and Gonzaga play in Seattle. That is the game of the day between two potential one-seeds in the NCAA tournament. Dylan Harper plays today when Rutgers visits Ohio State. Enjoy the hoops.