Another huge Saturday in the books and there were a lot of bubble teams in action yesterday. Nebraska blew out Penn State in Lincoln. Can the Huskers finally get a win on the road this week? Wake Forest lost to Virginia in one of the ugliest games I have seen in a long time. Creighton blew out Butler, Alabama blew out Texas A&M. TCU used a last-second shot from Jameer Nelson Jr. to beat Kansas State in Manhattan. Oklahoma State blew out BYU, that win shows that the Big 12 is the best league in the country by a wide margin.
Wisconsin has now lost 5 out of 6 games after losing a close game to Iowa in Iowa City. Michigan State beat Michigan, LSU had a great win against South Carolina in Columbia. Cincinnati beat UCF, Miami lost to Boston College, Pitt blew out Louisville, Syracuse lost to Boston College, and Southern Illinois lost to Indiana State. The path to at large for the Sycamores may be zero now. Finally Colorado stays on the bubble with an Overtime win at USC.
There were some other big wins among ranked teams yesterday. UConn throttled Marquette in Storrs, Arizona crushed Arizona State, Kansas beat Oklahoma, and Baylor beat West Virginia. Kentucky beat Auburn in Alabama, Illinois finally beat Maryland at the Xfinity Center in College Park, and Duke beat Florida State. North Carolina beat Virginia Tech, Dayton beat Fordham and Houston blew out Texas. Those were key games for seeding for all of those teams who won. Yale is undefeated in the Ivy no more, they lost at Princeton and makes the top of the Ivy League a lot tighter. UMass Lowell picks up a huge win at Bryant to make the top of the America East very interesting. UT Martin beating Morehead State means there is a 3 way tie for second place in the Ohio Valley and all of those teams are a game out of first place Morehead State. There are going to be some great storylines coming down the stretch in some of these conferences.
Yesterday I went 110-39 in my picks that brings my 102 day total to 3,047-1,233 overall. There is not a large quantity of games today but the quality is great especially in the Big Ten, Big East, and Pac 12. Those conferences all have bubble teams playing. The American, MAAC, Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, and Southern Conference round out the games. Picks for day 103 February 18, 2024, are below.
Florida Atlantic over South Florida
Charlotte over Wichita State
Loyola Chicago over Rhode Island
Purdue over Ohio State
Iona over Saint Peter’s
UTSA over Temple
East Carolina over Tulane
Bradley over Northern Iowa
Drake over Murray State
Belmont over Illinois Chicago
Rider over Manhattan
Quinnipiac over Niagara
Fairfield over Mount St. Mary’s
Canisius over Siena
Chattanooga over Furman
UAB over North Texas
Illinois State over Evansville
Northwestern over Indiana
SMU over Memphis
St. John’s over Seton Hall
Minnesota over Rutgers
UCLA over Utah
Let’s start with the bubble games. Northwestern looks to try and get on the right track again after losing Ty Berry for the year. Indiana is wearing black uniforms for the first time ever but it still won’t be enough and I do think Northwestern wins that game going away. Utah needs to win to stay in the field a loss and they are out very simple. UCLA has been playing great basketball and is looking to likely avenge a 50-point loss to Utah the last time the two met. St John’s can’t get it figured out over the last month and Seton Hall needs to find some consistency. Those are two bubble teams who need to start stacking wins.
Then there is the American Conference race. South Florida is currently winning the league and has Florida Atlantic at home. If they can get that win it would go a long way towards securing the one seed in the conference tournament. Charlotte also has a winnable game and they are one game out of first in the American. Tomorrow is a huge day in that league. Loyola-Chicago needs to win to keep pace in the Atlantic 10 race.