Happy Monday! I sincerely hope you all enjoyed your weekend and were able to sit down and watch one of the best weekends of College Basketball we have all been treated to all year. I mentioned earlier that my city was one of the ones in a winter storm warning, which meant that I was able to watch Basketball all day on Saturday and Sunday. We already discussed the Saturday games yesterday and saw the chaos. Sunday was a day that was dominated by the mid and low-major conferences, but there were some power conference games on the schedule. Let’s focus on those first.
In the Big Ten, Indiana got a huge road win against Penn State, which is going to make the Hoosier fans feel a lot better about this team, even though Indiana almost blew the game down the stretch. Penn State had been undefeated at Bryce Jordan this year and blew out Purdue to open Big Ten play in that very same building. The win is significant for Indiana because they move to 3-1 overall in the league and picked up a road win in a league where road wins are going to be hard to come by.
Two other games in the Big Ten illustrated the above point. Maryland blew a 13-point lead in Eugene and then lost to Oregon. The Terps have got to find a way to win on the road. Maryland has struggled under head coach Kevin Willard away from College Park. Purdue destroyed Northwestern at Mackey. It was the first time all season that Purdue looked like I expected them to, and Northwestern looked like I expected them to. The Wildcats have an uphill climb in the Big Ten as they now sit at 1-3 overall.
There were three more games of national relevance yesterday, and one of them surprised me. Kansas avoided the trap and destroyed UCF in Florida. This was a game that I highlighted that had extreme upset potential because of how well the Knights had been playing and how bad Kansas had been playing. The Jayhawks looked like the preseason number 1 team yesterday as they won 99-48. Illinois backed up their win against Oregon with a close win in Seattle. The Washington Huskies are starting to come around under head coach Danny Sprinkle.
Finally, the last two big games yesterday saw UConn avoid a loss to Providence. Ordinarily, this would not be that bad of a loss for the Huskies. However, the game was at Gampel, and Providence is not very good this season. UConn won and avoided a bad loss in the Big East. Memphis doesn’t have a single quad 1 opportunity remaining on their schedule; winning is imperative for the Tigers. They did enough to afford a bad loss, but multiple losses may hurt them. Memphis survived a scare from North Texas but ultimately took care of business.
How do we recover from a huge weekend of basketball? With more basketball, of course. Today, the 16-game schedule features games from the Big Ten, American, Southland, MEAC, SWAC, and the Big 12. There should be something today for everyone. There is one ranked team playing in a game that likely won’t be close. Picks for day 60, January 6, 2025, are below.
Winner | Loser |
|---|---|
Alabama State | Arkansas Pine Bluff |
Wichita State | South Florida |
Rutgers | Wisconsin |
UT Rio Grande Valley | Southeastern Louisiana |
Nicholls | East Texas A&M |
Norfolk State | Delaware State |
Texas A&M Corpus Christi | New Orleans |
McNeese | Northwestern State |
Stephen F. Austin | Houston Christian |
Alabama A&M | Mississippi Valley State |
Lamar | Incarnate Word |
South Carolina State | Coppin State |
Southern | Prairie View A&M |
Houston | TCU |
Texas Southern | Grambling |
Ohio State | Minnesota |
A lot of the games are projected to be blowouts today. The one game that likely will be close takes place in Piscataway when Rutgers hosts Wisconsin. The Badgers are coming off a record-setting game against Iowa, which saw them make over 20 threes and score well over 100 points. Wisconsin is due for some regression.
Rutgers is finally back home, where they have their lone league win, and the Scarlet Knights should get back superstar Dylan Harper. The other star freshman for Rutgers, Ace Bailey, is coming off a 39-point game against Rutgers. That game will be a good one. Enjoy the hoops.