It was the start of championship week last night and the Atlantic Sun gave us two fantastic games to start everything off. Jacksonville beat Kennesaw State to move on in the league tournament and Queens also moves on after a win against big-time sleeper Florida Gulf Coast. Queens is a team to keep an eye on moving forward. Duke beat NC State and Baylor came back from a second-half deficit to defeat Texas in Waco. Montana State beat Weber State on the last day of the Big Sky. In the same conference both Northern Colorado and Montana won which pushed Weber State to the 4 seed and Northern Colorado earned the 2 and Montana the 3. That league tournament gets started on Saturday.
Yesterday I went 13-9 in my picks which brings my 118-day total to 3,509-1,455 overall. League tournaments are starting in the Patriot League, Sun Belt, Horizon League, and the Atlantic Sun continue today. There are a lot of other impact games today as well in the power leagues between bubble teams and teams already in the field just playing for seeding. A lot is going on today in the college basketball world as the season starts to wind down. Picks for day 119 March 5, 2024, are below.
Army over Holy Cross
Louisiana Monroe over Coastal Carolina
UMass Lowell over Maine
Purdue over Illinois
North Carolina over Notre Dame
Florida over Alabama
South Florida over Tulane
Navy over Loyola MD
Cleveland State over IUPUI
Fort Wayne over Robert Morris
Eastern Kentucky over Jacksonville
Queens over Stetson
Virginia Tech over Louisville
Clemson over Syracuse
Providence over Georgetown
Georgia over Ole Miss
VCU over Duquesne
Ohio over Buffalo
Kent State over Ball State
Akron over Eastern Michigan
Toledo over Miami Ohio
Western Michigan over Bowling Green
Harvard over Dartmouth
Vermont over New Hampshire
Binghamton over UMBC
Bryant over Albany
Liberty over MTSU
Milwaukee over Detroit Mercy
Austin Peay over North Florida
Lipscomb over North Alabama
Texas Tech over Oklahoma State
Oklahoma over Cincinnati
Central Michigan over Northern Illinois
Texas State over Old Dominion
Wyoming over Air Force
Auburn over Missouri
Kansas over Kansas State
Dayton over Saint Louis
Wake Forest over Georgia Tech
Pitt over Florida State
St John’s over DePaul
UNLV over San Diego State
Boise State over Nevada
Let’s start with the conference tournaments again, as the Horizon League, Patriot League, and Sun Belt get started. It’s a full day of Atlantic Sun games with Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville, Queens and Stetson, Lipscomb and North Alabama, and Austin Peay and North Florida. Queens is going to be a popular upset pick today.
Illinois and Purdue play in Champaign today with the top seed in the Big Ten on the line. If Purdue wins, they clinch the top seed in the Big Ten tournament next week. Florida hosts Alabama in a game that is going to have NCAA tournament-seeding implications. Alabama also needs to win that game to continue their quest for back-to-back regular season SEC titles. If Kansas State beats Kansas in Lawrence, they are going to have a great shot to hear their name called on Selection Sunday. Providence can not lose to Georgetown if they want to make the NCAA tournament. St. John's also has a must win game at DePaul.