NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 65 of the 2023-24 season

It was another one of those nights in College Basketball.  In the last 48 hours Purdue, Houston, Kansas, and Tennessee have all lost to unranked teams.  They were ranked number 1, 2, 3 and 5 in the latest AP Poll.  The number 4 team is the UConn Huskies, and they were tested last night by Xavier and escaped with a 5 point win.  Kansas blew a 16 point lead and lost to UCF in Florida.  Mississippi State beat Tennessee at the Hump for their signature win of the season. Clemson was ranked 21 and they also lost in Blacksburg to Virginia Tech.  Apparently, it is a bad week to be ranked. 

There were some other very surprising results last night as well.  Louisville went on the road and beat the Miami Hurricanes.  That is the biggest win for the Cardinals under Kenny Payne, and it was a loss that Miami can’t take as a bubble team.  Colgate, who usually dominates within the Patriot League, lost to Lafayette at home.  Lafayette had only beaten one Division 1 team this year before winning last night.

It was a weird night, and the last two nights have been some of the best basketball nights of the season. Some other eye-popping results especially for bubble teams were California beating bubble team Colorado.  Colorado also blew a huge lead in that game.  Washington State beat USC.  Saint Louis beat Saint Joseph’s.  Jacksonville State beat Liberty.  Memphis needed overtime to beat UTSA in Memphis.  TCU beat Oklahoma, who was ranked at the number 9 team in the country.  Butler beat 11th ranked Marquette in Milwaukee and finally Georgia beat Arkansas.  It has been a disappointing season for the Razorbacks, and it doesn’t look like they are going to get going anytime soon.

Yesterday I went 30-19 in my picks.  That brings my 64 day total to 1,817-668 overall.  After two weird nights that saw a ton of upsets today should be quieter but there are still games with tremendous upset potential especially in the American and the Big Ten.  The rest of the schedule is games in the America East, CAA, Southern, Sun Belt, Conference USA, Summit, Ohio Valley, SWAC, Pac 12, Big West, WAC, Big Sky, and WCC.  There are some ranked teams playing tonight so be on alert for those teams to fall.  Picks for day 65 January 11, 2024, are below.

Maine over New Hampshire

UMass Lowell over NJIT

Tulane over Florida Atlantic

Hampton over William & Mary

Towson over Stony Brook

UNC Wilmington over Monmouth

Hofstra over Northeastern

Charleston over Elon

Drexel over North Carolina A&T

Delaware over Campbell

Maryland over Michigan

Chattanooga over VMI

James Madison over South Alabama

Georgia State over Old Dominion

Appalachian State over Coastal Carolina

Vermont over UMBC

Bryant over Binghamton

FIU over New Mexico State

Seattle over UT Rio Grande Valley

Alcorn State over Alabama A&M

Samford over UNC Greensboro

Kansas City over North Dakota State

St Thomas over South Dakota State

Omaha over North Dakota

Oral Roberts over South Dakota

UT Arlington over Utah Valley

UT Martin over Western Illinois

SIU Edwardsville over Southern Indiana

Lindenwood over Southeast Missouri State

Eastern Illinois over Morehead State

Alabama State over Jackson State

Southern Mississippi over Louisiana-Monroe

Arkansas State over Texas State

Eastern Kentucky over Central Arkansas

North Alabama over Bellarmine

Illinois over Michigan State

Utah over UCLA

Longwood over Radford

Utah Tech over Stephen F. Austin

Grand Canyon over Abilene Christian

Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee

Northridge over UC Davis

Weber State over Sacramento State

Montana State over Northern Arizona

Montana over Northern Colorado

Gonzaga over Santa Clara

San Francisco over San Diego

Pepperdine over Pacific

Cal Baptist over Tarleton State

UC San Diego over Long Beach

Riverside over Cal Poly

Santa Barbara over Bakersfield

Portland State over Idaho State

Washington over Arizona State

Oregon State over Stanford

Saint Mary’s over Portland

Hawaii over UC Irvine

There are a lot of games on the schedule today and there are some that I would like to point out as upsets.  This week has gotten weird so let’s continue to get weird.  Tulane is one of the best teams in the American and have the guards and a big man in Kevin Cross who will constantly pressure Florida Atlantic.  The Owls have not responded as well as some would have thought with a target on their back and winning on the road is never easy.

Maryland beating Michigan would not be an upset, but Michigan will not have their star Dug McDaniel tonight as he starts his 6 suspension for only road games tonight against Maryland. Michigan State was challenged by coach Izzo after their latest loss to Northwestern and they travel to Illinois tonight.  The last time they were challenged they beat Baylor by 24 points.  The Spartans are always capable of going on a long run. 

A mid major game is the game of the night between two Big South contenders in Longwood and Radford. The game is on ESPNU and features a team in Radford who is a Big South power against Longwood who has been one of the best in the league over the last 3 years.  The Lancers have one of the best coaches in all of basketball and Radford has Kenyon Giles who is one of the best players in the league.  That will be a fun game.