NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 126 of the 2023-24 season

The first day of championship week didn’t have many games and didn’t have many upsets either. It did have two teams qualifying for the NCAA tournament though. James Madison won the Sun Belt tournament, and they received the automatic bid into the tournament. That’s a good thing for the bubble because the Dukes had a decent resume and a team with 30 wins had never been left out before. No worries as the Dukes can breathe easy until Selection Sunday. Samford won the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs headed into the season as the favorites and headed into the tournament as the top seed and were able to get the job done. James Madison and Samford are both teams who can win a game in the tournament.

In other results Oakland beat Cleveland State and Milwaukee beat Northern Kentucky to set up the Horizon League final. South Dakota State beat St. Thomas and Denver beat Omaha to set up the Summit League final. Denver has never made the NCAA tournament and they are one of the longest running programs to never make it. Charleston beat Towson and Stony Brook beat Hofstra to set up the CAA final. Gonzaga beat San Francisco and Saint Mary’s beat Santa Clara to set up the West Coast Final.

Yesterday I went 11-3 in my picks that brings my 125 day total to 3,709-1,548 overall. There will be five automatic bids handed out today. In addition to the automatic bids there are a lot of bigger conference tournaments starting today as well. The Atlantic 10, Big 12, ACC, MAAC, and the Conference USA all start today. There are going to be games on all day from now until Selection Sunday. Enjoy it. Picks for day 126 March 12, 2024, are below.

Davidson over Fordham

UCF over Oklahoma State

La Salle over George Washington

Notre Dame over Georgia Tech

Cincinnati over West Virginia

Rhode Island over Saint Louis

NC State over Louisville

Vermont over New Hampshire

Mount St. Mary’s over Canisius

UMass Lowell over Bryant

McNeese over Lamar

Charleston over Stony Brook

Oakland over Milwaukee

Merrimack over Wagner

Boston College over Miami

Iona over Manhattan

Montana State over Sacramento State

Saint Mary’s over Gonzaga

Texas A&M Corpus Christi over Nicholls

Jacksonville State over FIU

South Dakota State over Denver

Niagara over Siena

Montana over Idaho State

As always let’s start with the five auto bids that are going to be handed out today. Charleston and Stony Brook battle it out for the CAA title. Charleston runs high powered offense and the last time they played Stony Brook it was a shootout. The Seawolves can score a lot of points as well. That one will be a lot of fun. Merrimack and Wagner in the NEC. Merrimack is finally eligible after their transition period, and they play slow low low-scoring affairs.  Wagner plays ever slower, and that game may be in the 50’s. Oakland and Milwaukee in the Horizon League. Each of those teams can score and each of those teams has a star who can carry them for points. That will be a fun game.  South Dakota State is the perennial powerhouse in the Summit, and they face Denver who doesn’t have much basketball history, but Denver does have the top scorer in the country in Tommy Bruner.

Finally, the game of the night is between Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga. Round three, Saint Mary’s just got blasted by Gonzaga a week ago and are going to be out for revenge.  No bid steal in the WCC as both of those teams are firmly in the field.