In the words of Billy Joel, Oh! What a Night! Last night had the makings of one of those nights when a lot of teams who were ranked and favored were going to lose. It was delivered in a big way. Houston went to Iowa State and lost. Hilton Magic was working again for the Cyclones as they finally got their signature win to justify their excellent metrics. Houston was the last undefeated team, now every team in America has a loss. Purdue went to Lincoln and was dominated by the Huskers. It was Nebraska’s first win over a top-ranked team in 41 years. That will also be the Huskers' signature win for their NCAA tournament resume.
Those were the big results last night but there were many other games with eye-popping results. Texas finally has a top 100 win as they beat Cincinnati in Ohio. Florida State upset Wake Forest, Rutgers got their first Big Ten win over Indiana, Boise State beat Colorado State, Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech and UNLV beat New Mexico. San Diego State escaped San Jose State and the Atlantic 10 conference season has been crazy over the first couple of games. Every road team won in the Atlantic 10 last night. Rhode Island beat Davidson, VCU beat George Mason, and Richmond beat Loyola Chicago. Perhaps the craziest start of the conference season goes to Western Michigan. They entered conference play at 3-9 and after beating Northern Illinois yesterday they now sit at 3-0 in the MAC, just like everyone predicted.
Yesterday I went 21-12 in my picks. That brings my 63 day total to 1,787-649 overall. I don’t know how the sport can follow yesterday but it is going to give it a heck of a try. Today is not a day that has nearly the upset potential that yesterday did but there are still a lot of quality games to watch. There are also some games to keep an eye on from an upset perspective just not nearly as many as yesterday. Picks for day 64 January 10,2024, are below.
Green Bay over IUPUI
Army over Loyola MD
Penn State over Northwestern
St. John’s over Providence
Youngstown State over Fort Wayne
Kansas over UCF
Mississippi State over Tennessee
Clemson over Virginia Tech
Miami over Louisville
Temple over East Carolina
Charlotte over Tulsa
Presbyterian over Winthrop
High Point over UNC Asheville
Gardner-Webb over Charleston Southern
Colgate over Lafayette
Holy Cross over Navy
Boston University over American
UMass over La Salle
Saint Joseph’s over Saint Louis
Lehigh over Bucknell
Wofford over Mercer
Western Carolina over ETSU
Furman over The Citadel
Wright State over Robert Morris
Oakland over Northern Kentucky
Chicago State over Fairleigh Dickinson
Marshall over Georgia Southern
Queens over Florida Gulf Coast
Kennesaw State over Stetson
Liberty over Jacksonville State
Belmont over Illinois State
Sam Houston over Western Kentucky
North Carolina over NC State
Memphis over UTSA
Southern Illinois over Valpo
Northern Iowa over UIC
Missouri State over Murray State
Drake over Indiana State
Bradley over Evansville
UConn over Xavier
Ohio State over Wisconsin
Troy over Louisiana
Oklahoma over TCU
Marquette over Butler
Syracuse over Boston College
Georgia over Arkansas
Ole Miss over Florida
USC over Washington State
Colorado over California
There are a lot of games today and there are a few to keep an eye on. Just remember that winning on the road, especially in the conference is hard. Just ask Houston and Purdue. UConn and Kansas are both on the road today in conference games. UConn is without their big man Donovan Clingan and with him out is has affected how the Huskies have had to play. Xavier is capable especially in their own building. Kansas should beat UCF by a lot, but Kansas has struggled with teams they should easily beat this year and have not been able to get on that dominant winning streak that they usually go one. Those games are one to watch for a possible upset.
The best game of the day comes in the Missouri Valley with Drake and Indiana State. There is going to be a ton of scoring in that game and we are going to get to watch the two best players in the Valley square off. Tucker DeVries from Drake and Isaiah Swope from Indiana State are the frontrunners for the conference Player of the Year right now.