NCAA Basketball: Picks for day 51 of the 2023-24 season
By Bryan Mauro
The last time I posted was on Saturday, December 23rd. That was the last full day of action before the mandatory Christmas Break. On that day Providence beat Butler, and Mississippi State beat Rutgers. Florida Atlantic beat Arizona in Double Overtime and that game is the early leader for game of the year. There will likely not be another game that comes close to the action that happened in that game. Santa Clara beat Duquese which was an upset and in the biggest upset of the night the Missouri State Bears went to Moraga and defeated Saint Mary’s. The Gaels are now 8-6 and their path to the tournament is murky at best.
Christmas Eve had the final day of the Diamond Head Classic. Nevada won the tournament and defeated Temple, TCU and Georgia Tech over those three days. The Wolf Pack are getting close to lock status for the NCAA tournament. There were zero games on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday only had two games between Division 1 opponents. The schedule picks up in a big way this weekend and we will be full on into conference play as the weekend hits.
On December 23rd I went 12-5 in my picks. On Christmas Eve I went 3-1 in my picks and yesterday I went 1-1 in my picks. That gives me a 50 day total of 1,426-494 overall. Today sees the return of conference play in the Horizon League. Conference play begins in the Ohio Valley, Pac 12, Big West, and the Big Sky. Picks for day 51 December 27, 2023 are below.
Oklahoma over Central Arkansas
Cleveland State over Oakland
Maryland over Coppin State
Albany over Long Island
Texas Tech over Sam Houston
UTSA over Prairie View
Little Rock over Tennessee Tech
Tennessee State over Tennessee Martin
Oregon over USC
Santa Barbara over UC Davis
Weber State over Montana
Montana State over Idaho State
Idaho over Sacramento State
Portland State over Eastern Washington
Oregon State over UCLA
Northridge over Cal Poly
UC San Diego over Bakersfield
Fullerton over Long Beach
UC Irvine over UC Riverside
There are some games with a ton of intrigue today. UCLA and Oregon State looks like the battle of last place teams in the Pac 12. At the start of the year there is no way I would have told you that UCLA was looking like one of the worst teams in the Pac 12.
10 early team disappointments of the season. dark. Next. 10 early team disappointments of the season
USC and Oregon is the game of the night. USC has not lived up to expectations at all and Oregon is always tough at home. UC Davis and Santa Barbara is the mid major game of the night. It has two of the best pure scorers in the country in Ajay Mitchell and Elijah Pepper. The schedule picks up a lot on Friday.