Thursday did not bring a lot of power five games but the one it did bring had some big-time results. Purdue beat Rutgers by 28 points at Mackey. That game ended Rutgers' late-season resurgence and was a huge statement game for Purdue. Even after the loss to Ohio State, they look like they are the best team in the country. Florida Atlantic protected their home floor and beat SMU. The Mustangs are now out of contention for an at large. Minnesota beat Ohio State which continues the resurgence for the Gophers under head coach Ben Johnson. Washington beat Arizona State in Overtime, Northwestern struggled with a depleted Michigan team before winning by 14. Gonzaga beat Portland to avoid a bad loss and Washington State completed the sweep of Arizona. The Cougars are now locked into the NCAA tournament bracket. It has been quite a season for Kyle Smith and the Cougars.
Yesterday I went 48-15 in my picks that brings my 107 day total to 3,171-1,282 overall. It is a Friday so that means there are never very many games to get excited about because most of the great games are on Saturday. There are still some great mid major games on tonight that are going to have an impact on seeding in the conference tournament and potentially who gets into the NCAA tournament. There are games in MAC, Atlantic Sun, MAAC, Ivy League, Horizon League, Atlantic 10, and Mountain West tonight. Picks for day 108 February 23, 2024, are below.
Akron over Kent State
Jacksonville over North Florida
Mount St. Mary’s over Saint Peter’s
Marist over Manhattan
Rider over Iona
Canisius over Niagara
Penn over Dartmouth
Bowling Green over Toledo
Green Bay over Fort Wayne
Cornell over Yale
Princeton over Harvard
Columbia over Brown
Milwaukee over Youngstown State
Duquesne over Fordham
Quinnipiac over Fairfield
Nevada over San Jose State
All mid-major games today with some big-time games on the ESPN family of networks. Green Bay needs to beat Fort Wayne at home to keep pace in the Horizon League race. The Phoenix are currently a game behind because they have played 2 fewer games in the league than everyone else has. That will change in the coming weeks. Akron needs to beat Kent State to keep first place in the MAC and Toledo needs to beat Bowling Green to stay in first place in the MAC.
Duquesne has been winning a lot in the Atlantic 10 over the last few weeks and they are still trying to make their push for a double bye in the conference tournament. That would be huge considering they started 0-5 in the league. Quinnipiac and Fairfield is the game of the night. The Bobcats are in first place in the MAAC and are having their best season ever. Fairfield may have the best talent in the league, and they are currently two games behind Quinnipiac in the standings a win by the Stags is going to make that race real tight coming down the stretch.