NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 5 of the 2024-25 season

Last night looked to be a night that was not going to be competitive but there were some decent games. DePaul has two wins in November. It has been a long time since DePaul could say they have had that. Stony Brook upset Central Michigan, Omaha looked very good in their win at Stetson, Illinois State beat North Dakota State in Fargo. Outside of those games the rest of the results went as expected. One thing of note though, USC struggled to beat Idaho State. Could be a one off but it could also be something.

Yesterday I went 20-3 in my picks. That brings my 4 day total to 143-27 overall. Welcome to the first Friday of the 2024-2025 season. There are some very good games today. The top team in the country is action. There are some Multi Team events taking place today as well. The Jersey Jam, Veterans Classic, Rainbow Classic, and the Marquette Challenge all get underway. Picks for day 5, November 8, 2024, are below.

North Carolina Central over Gardner-Webb

Stanford over Fullerton

Duke over Army

Temple over Monmouth

UMass Lowell over Saint Peter’s

Cornell over Samford

Xavier over IU Indy

Penn State over UMBC

Boston College over VCU

Butler over Austin Peay

Kansas over North Carolina

Purdue over Northern Kentucky

Cincinnati over Morehead State

Ole Miss over Grambling

Saint Thomas over Green Bay

UNC Wilmington over Georgia Southern

Radford over William & Mary

Charleston over South Florida

Davidson over Bowling Green

Bryant over Siena

NC State over Presbyterian

Rhode Island over Holy Cross

George Washington over Hampton

Pitt over Murray State

UCF over Fort Wayne

South Carolina over South Carolina State

Queens over Western Carolina

ETSU over Eastern Kentucky

UMass over West Virginia

Virginia Tech over South Carolina Upstate

Hofstra over Iona

Clemson over St Francis

Saint Joseph’s over Central Connecticut

Nicholls over South Alabama

Belmont over Furman

Tulane over UL Monroe

Mississippi State over Georgia State

Alabama over Arkansas State

Texas A&M over Texas A&M Commerce

Texas over Houston Christian

Yale over Illinois-Chicago

Missouri over Howard

Maryland over Mount St. Mary’s

Illinois over SIU Edwardsville

TCU over Florida Gulf Coast

Princeton over Duquesne

Navy over Harvard

Villanova over NJIT

Marquette over George Mason

Santa Clara over Arizona State

Texas Tech over Northwestern State

Colorado over Northern Colorado

BYU over Riverside

South Dakota State over Long Beach State

San Jose State over Pacific

Colorado State over Tennessee State

San Diego over Boston University

UC Irvine over LMU

Fresno State over Sacramento State

Oregon over Montana

Oregon State over Weber State

UCLA over New Mexico

Washington State over Bradley

There are so many games to choose from in every window tonight. Let’s start with the game of the night with Kansas and North Carolina. Two top 10 teams it’s the second time that two top 10 teams have met already this year. That game is in the 6 pm window. In the 8pm window you are going to get Marquette and George Mason. The Patriots are good and will give Marquette a game from tip to finish.

Finally in the late night window you have UCLA and New Mexico. The Bruins are ranked in the top 25 and there are few teams who are as athletic as New Mexico that will also be a fantastic game. Enjoy the hoops.