What a start to conference season. Things went as everyone expected yesterday but we still got a buzzer beater and a huge upset. In the Big Ten Purdue crushed Maryland and Illinois beat Northwestern by 30. Wisconsin struggled with Iowa for a half before eventually pulling away for an 11-point win.
In the ACC, Wake Forest beat Boston College, North Carolina beat Pitt, and Duke beat Syracuse. The Big East saw UConn destroy DePaul. Creighton got their first win against Georgetown and St. John’s beat Butler. Florida Atlantic won their first ever American Athletic game and Drake won in the Missouri Valley. The Mountain West was a lot of fun with Utah State, Colorado State, and Wyoming all winners. The upset of the day came in the MAC when Buffalo, who had not beaten a Division 1 team all season, went to Central Michigan and beat the Chips by 12 points.
Yesterday I went 25-5 In my picks. That brings my 56 day total to 1,574-544 total. There is another loaded schedule today highlighted by Big Ten and Big East conference play. Big South and Atlantic 10 conference play start. Patriot League and Southern Conference play also begin. Today is the beginning of the Big Sky and the Summit League challenge. Pac 12, ACC, Conference USA, and Mountain West also resume their conference schedules. Picks for the day 57 January 3, 2024, are below.
Howard over Yale
UNC Asheville over SC Upstate
Providence over Seton Hall
Longwood over Winthrop
George Mason over La Salle
Lafayette over Army
Virginia over Louisville
Florida State over Georgia Tech
Indiana State over Evansville
Radford over High Point
Presbyterian over Charleston Southern
Ohio State over Rutgers
Oklahoma State over Chicago State
Navy over Boston University
American over Lehigh
Dayton over Davidson
George Washington over Fordham
Duquesne over UMass
Saint Joseph’s over Rhode Island
Saint Louis over Loyola Chicago
Colgate over Loyola MD
Bucknell over Holy Cross
Western Carolina over The Citadel
UNC Greensboro over Furman
Wofford over VMI
ETSU over Mercer
Samford over Chattanooga
Marshall over UL Monroe
Miami over Clemson
Bradley over Valpo
North Dakota State over Montana
North Dakota over Northern Colorado
Northern Arizona over Omaha
South Dakota over Eastern Washington
Villanova over Xavier
UCLA over Stanford
NC State over Notre Dame
Tulane over Rice
Missouri State over Northern Iowa
VCU over Saint Bonaventure
Sacramento State over Kansas City
Nebraska over Indiana
St Thomas over Idaho
Weber State over South Dakota State
Denver over Idaho State
Montana State over Oral Roberts
USC over California
San Diego State over Fresno State
There are a lot of great games today. There are a lot of games today with tournament implications as well. Nebraska and Indiana is the game of the day. Nebraska is a team that is predicated on their interior defense, rebounding, and three-point shooting. They have been able to win games when all of those are going well. Indiana doesn’t shoot threes or defend the three-point line and uses their three big men to pound the ball inside for their points. That game has huge NCAA tournament implications.
Providence and Seton Hall is another great game. The Pirates beat UConn by 15 points and Providence has been rolling after a few early stumbles this year. The best mid-major game is UMass and Duquesne in the Atlantic 10. Those two teams both have great guards who do most of the heavy lifting but UMass may have the X factor in big man Josh Cohen. Can Duquesne and their 4 big men neutralize the paint? That should be a good game to kick off Atlantic 10 play for both teams.