NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 45 of the 2023-24 season
By Bryan Mauro
Yesterday I mentioned that there were a lot of games on the schedule that had upset potential. It delivered. The biggest upset of the night came in Westwood as UCLA lost to Cal State Northridge. UCLA is now officially in trouble. They have zero good wins and now they officially have a terrible loss. Doesn’t look like a tournament for UCLA. The Citadel beat Notre Dame; are the Bulldogs a potential sleeper in the Southern Conference? Western Carolina, Chattanooga, and Montana State won on buzzer-beaters. Indiana avoided the upset with a late 20-4 run to beat Morehead State by 1 point. Maryland avoided an upset against Nicholls. Finally, Providence blasted Marquette at the Dunk. The Friars are going to be just fine with current head coach Kim English.
Yesterday I went 32-9 in my picks. That gives me a 44 day total of 1,286-457 overall. The Wednesday before Christmas offers a great schedule of games. Big East conference play resumes. There is a game between two ranked opponents. The Sun Bowl Invitational and Hall of Fame Series in Phoenix begin and the Jumpman Invitational resumes. Today is also the last game for a lot of power schools before the Christmas break. It is imperative they win the games. Picks for day 45 December 20,2023, are below.
Central Arkansas over Western Illinois
Oklahoma State over Wofford
North Carolina Central over Longwood
UC San Diego over California
UConn over Seton Hall
Duke over Baylor
St. John’s over Xavier
Southeastern Louisiana over Grambling
Delaware over Rider
Georgia over Mount St. Mary’s
Robert Morris over St Francis PA
East Carolina over Delaware State
NC State over Saint Louis
Wyoming over South Dakota State
Toledo over Vermont
Pitt over Fort Wayne
Dayton over Oakland
West Virginia over Radford
ETSU over Kansas City
Nebraska over North Dakota
Belmont over Arkansas State
Rice over Prairie View
Evansville over Tennessee Tech
Grand Canyon over Sam Houston
Utah Valley over Liberty
Iowa over UMBC
Chicago State over Bethune
Northwestern over Arizona State
Oklahoma over North Carolina
Creighton over Villanova
Gonzaga over Jackson State
New Mexico over UC Irvine
Utah over Bellarmine
UTEP over Norfolk State
Santa Barbara over Howard
Seattle over Louisiana Tech
San Francisco over Northern Arizona
San Jose State over Santa Clara
Fullerton over Pacific
Arizona over Alabama
That is a huge and loaded schedule today. One thing to remember about Christmas break games. The students are not in attendance, so the power schools need to create their own energy and take care of their business at home. That was difficult for some schools yesterday. There are some trap games on the schedule for some of those teams. Pitt and Fort Wayne has tons of upset potential, as does Radford and West Virginia. UC San Diego is going to be beat California. Chicago State is favored in a game today.
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The best game of the night is the last game of the night between Arizona and Alabama. That one is going to be a track meet and extremely fun to watch. Oklahoma and North Carolina is another great game that also has tons of intrigue. Duke/Baylor and Creighton/Villanova will also be excellent watches. Toledo and Vermont and New Mexico and UC Irvine are the best mid major games of the day. The slate is loaded today with a ton of impact games. How many upsets will we see today?