It was another huge night of movement on the bubble. There were a lot of teams that picked up huge victories to drastically help their resume. Nebraska finally got a conference road win when they beat Indiana at Assembly Hall. Providence beat Xavier in Ohio to get a big road win as well. St. John’s struggled but did Georgetown in DC. Clemson isn’t a bubble team, but they also got a big win against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Clemson needed that win to keep their seed line. Mississippi State beat Ole Miss in a battle of two bubble teams. Starkvegas was rocking last night after that win.
Some tournament teams hurt their resumes last night. Cincinnati ended their NCAA tournament hopes with a home loss to Oklahoma State. Illinois blew a 10-point lead late in the second half to lose to Penn State in State College. The Nittany Lions are a tough out and they are very tough at home. Dayton lost in DC to George Mason. The Patriots are a capable team and that was an upset I picked yesterday. The Flyers are regressing a bit heading into the tournament. Kentucky continues to take head-scratching losses. They lose on a last-second to LSU. The Wildcats have got to figure out a way to play defense or they are going to go home early in March again.
Then there were the teams who held serve and got the wins they were supposed to get. Richmond beat Rhode Island to maintain their grip on the top of the Atlantic 10 conference. Duke beat Miami. That loss ends the Hurricanes' chances for an at-large. Alabama beat Florida in Tuscaloosa, keeping the Tide first in the SEC. James Madison beat Marshall which keeps them right on pace for the top seed in the Sun Belt. Samford needed a buzzer-beater to beat Furman, but the Bulldogs got it and improved to 24-4. South Florida maintains their top seed in the American with a road win over UTSA. Drake beat Belmont, Indiana State beat Valpo, New Mexico beat Colorado State, and finally, Marquette blew out DePaul. The Blue Demons are on pace to become the worst Power Conference team ever.
Yesterday I went 31-14 in my picks that brings my 106 day total to 3,123-1,267 overall. It was a big day of games yesterday and there is more of the same today although on a lesser scale. There are not as many power 5 games today but that ones that are today are big ones. There are some huge mid major games that will have conference seeding and some have NCAA tournament implications as well. Picks for day 107 February 22, 2024, are below.
Maine over UMBC
Stony Brook over North Carolina A&T
UMass Lowell over Binghamton
Bellarmine over Central Arkansas
Purdue over Rutgers
Florida Atlantic over SMU
Gardner-Webb over Radford
UNC Wilmington over William & Mary
Towson over Monmouth
Campbell over Hampton
Northeastern over Elon
Drexel over Hofstra
Delaware over Charleston
Long Island over Le Moyne
Sacred Heart over Fairleigh Dickinson
Central Connecticut over Wagner
Merrimack over St Francis PA
Wright State over Detroit Mercy
Oakland over Robert Morris
Northern Kentucky over Cleveland State
Appalachian State over Old Dominion
New Hampshire over NJIT
Vermont over Albany
Stetson over Queens
Florida Gulf Coast over Kennesaw State
Eastern Kentucky over North Alabama
Liberty over Florida International
Minnesota over Ohio State
Little Rock over Southeast Missouri State
Southern Mississippi over South Alabama
Georgia Southern over Texas State
Omaha over Oral Roberts
Kansas City over South Dakota
South Dakota State over Denver
North Dakota State over St Thomas
UT Arlington over Southern Utah
Utah Valley over UT Rio Grande Valley
Tarleton over Grand Canyon
Abilene Christian over Cal Baptist
Northern Colorado over Idaho
Eastern Washington over Northern Arizona
Tennessee Tech over SIU Edwardsville
Western Illinois over Morehead State
UT Martin over Lindenwood
Tennessee State over Eastern Illinois
UL Monroe over Louisiana
Arizona State over Washington
Northwestern over Michigan
Gonzaga over Portland
Arkansas State over Troy
Louisiana Tech over UTEP
New Mexico State over Sam Houston
Montana State over Portland State
Montana over Sacramento State
California over Oregon State
Seattle over Stephen F. Austin
Northridge over UC Davis
Long Beach over Bakersfield
Fullerton over Cal Poly
UC San Diego over Riverside
Arizona over Washington State
Stanford over Oregon
Santa Clara over LMU
UC Irvine over Santa Barbara
As mentioned, there are a ton of games today and a lot of them are impact games. Purdue looks to get back to winning against a pesky Rutgers team at Mackey. Northwestern has not looked great since Ty Berry went down but they have a get-right game against a very shorthanded Michigan team in Evanston tonight. The Ohio Valley could get very interesting tonight. If Western Illinois, Little Rock, and UT Martin all win that would be a 3 way tie at the top of the league with three games left. It would also more Morehead State to second place. I have Grand Canyon on upset watch today against Tarleton. Tarleton has been great in the WAC this year and they are good enough to beat Grand Canyon at home.
Arizona vs Washington State is the game of the night. The Cougars have their biggest game in the last 20 years if they win the game, they will for sure be wearing their home jerseys in March. Arizona was rewarded with the final seed on Saturday during the top 16 reveal, but they need to keep winning to keep that spot. That game is going to be excellent TV on the late-night slot on FS1