NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 121 of 2023-24 season
By Bryan Mauro
It was a huge night for bubble teams last night. All the bubble teams that needed a win got one. Michigan State beat Northwestern in East Lansing. The Spartans were desperate for a win and needed one to stay in the field. They were able to get it done against a shorthanded Wildcat team. Seton Hall got a huge win over Villanova to put them closer to the field this morning. TCU avoided the bad loss on the road at West Virginia. New Mexico needed to avoid a bad loss to New Mexico, and they did. Texas A&M beat Mississippi State to move closer to the cutline. A good week at the SEC tournament next week is still needed for the Aggies. Florida Atlantic got a huge win over North Texas to stay in the field.
Conference tournaments were in full force again yesterday. The NEC tournament saw Central Connecticut, Merrimack, Le Moyne, and Wagner all advance. Radford beat South Carolina Upstate in the opening round of the Big South tournament; The Ohio Valley saw Tennessee State and SIU Edwardsville win their opening round games. Some other results were Houston beating UCF and Tennessee beating South Carolina. Those two teams are currently locked into a one seed. UConn beat Marquette in Milwaukee to keep a firm grasp of a one seed as well. Iowa State needed a late comeback to beat BYU, Kentucky beat Vanderbilt, and Indiana blew out Minnesota in Minneapolis. Utah State beat San Jose State to stay on top of the Mountain West
Yesterday I went 29-6 in my picks which gives me a 120 day total of 3,567-1,475 overall. Conference tournaments really get going today as there is basketball to watch all day. The Missouri Valley and the WCC start today. The Sun Belt, Horizon League, Atlantic Sun, and Ohio Valley all resume today. Those games are sandwiched around power conference games. There is not much on the schedule today outside of the conference tournaments to be excited about. Picks for day 121 March 7, 2024, are below.
South Alabama over Georgia Southern
Murray State over Missouri State
Louisiana over Coastal Carolina
Belmont over Valpo
Pepperdine over Pacific
Southern Mississippi over Texas State
Colgate over Holy Cross
Lafayette over Lehigh
Boston University over Navy
American over Bucknell
Oakland over Fort Wayne
Youngstown State over Cleveland State
Illinois State over Evansville
Stetson over Jacksonville
UAB over Temple
Wisconsin over Rutgers
Niagara over Siena
Quinnipiac over Marist
Iona over Manhattan
Fairfield over Canisius
Western Illinois over Tennessee State
North Carolina Central over South Carolina State
Morgan State over Coppin State
Utah Tech over UT Rio Grande Valley
Stephen F. Austin over Southern Utah
Wright State over Northern Kentucky
Austin Peay over North Alabama
Delaware State over Maryland Eastern Shore
Rider over Saint Peter’s
Tarleton State over Utah Valley
UT Arlington over Cal Baptist
Seattle over Abilene Christian
Georgia State over Marshall
Alcorn State over Mississippi Valley State
Southern over Alabama State
Grambling over Alabama A&M
Jackson State over Pine Bluff
Southeastern Louisiana over Nicholls
Washington State over Washington
Milwaukee over Green Bay
Oregon over Colorado
Norfolk State over Howard
UTEP over FIU
Louisiana Tech over Sam Houston
Arizona over UCLA
Southern Illinois over Illinois-Chicago
Morehead State over SIU Edwardsville
Long Beach over Santa Barbara
UC San Diego over UC Davis
Riverside over Fullerton
UC Irvine over Cal Poly
Stanford over California
USC over Arizona State
Utah over Oregon State
There are so many conference tournament games today. The Sun Belt has South Alabama and Georgia Southern, Louisiana and Coastal Carolina, Southern Mississippi and Texas State, and Georgia State and Marshall. The Missouri Valley has Murray State and Missouri State, Belmont and Valpo, Illinois State and Evansville, and Southern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago. The Patriot League has Colgate and Holy Cross, Lafayette and Lehigh, Boston University and Navy, and American and Bucknell. The Horizon League has Oakland and Fort Wayne, Youngstown State and Cleveland State, Wright State and Northern Kentucky, and Green Bay and Milwaukee. The Ohio Valley has Western Illinois and Tennessee State and Morehead State and SIU Edwardsville. The West Coast has Pacific and Pepperdine.
Finally, the Atlantic Sun has semifinals with Stetson and Jacksonville and Austin Peay and North Alabama. There are not too many other great games on today. Wisconsin and Rutgers has huge Big Ten standings impact.