It was an eventful Martin Luther King Jr. Day slate yesterday with some key results in the Big Ten and the Big East. Michigan beat Ohio State in Ann Arbor in front of the Fab 5. That puts Ohio State strictly on the bubble and they have now lost 3 in a row with some tough games coming up. Iowa beat Minnesota and has now won 3 in a row. The Hawkeyes have a good shot at the NCAA tournament if they can keep winning. They have a huge showdown with Purdue in Iowa City coming up. Finally, Marquette got back to winning as they beat Villanova in Milwaukee. There were some other results too and those involve McNeese moving to 15-2 with a win over Lamar, Central Connecticut is the only 3-0 team in the NEC with a win over Merrimack. Princeton moved to 14-1 with a win over Dartmouth.
Yesterday I went 19-8 in my picks. That brings my 69 day total to 1,981-751 overall. There are some fantastic games on today that are going to have impacts on conference races and at large resumes. The huge games take place in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, Southern Conference, and the Mountain West. Every one of those games is going to have an impact on seeding for the conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament. Picks for day 70 January 16,2024, are below.
Tennessee over Florida
Western Carolina over Samford
Xavier over Butler
Purdue over Indiana
Cincinnati over TCU
Pitt over Syracuse
NC State over Wake Forest
Indiana State over Missouri State
Alabama over Missouri
Duquesne over Richmond
Ohio over Central Michigan
Miami Ohio over Bowling Green
Akron over Western Michigan
Ball State over Eastern Michigan
Toledo over Buffalo
Kansas State over Baylor
Dayton over Saint Louis
SMU over Temple
Rice over Charlotte
Kent State over Northern Illinois
Seton Hall over St. John’s
Kansas over Oklahoma State
Wisconsin over Penn State
BYU over Iowa State
Clemson over Georgia Tech
South Carolina over Georgia
Arkansas over Texas A&M
Colorado State over Air Force
Fresno State over San Jose State
Boise State over UNLV
New Mexico over Utah State
There is a lot on the line for a lot of teams today. Samford has won 15 games in a row, and they take that winning streak to Western Carolina who has the best player in the Southern Conference and has won 9 in a row. The winner of that game is going to be in the driver’s seat in the Southern Conference. Indiana and Purdue is a sneaky good game. The Hoosiers are much better at Assembly Hall and Purdue looks motivated after the Nebraska loss.
The game of the night is between two ranked teams in Provo as BYU hosts Iowa State. The Cyclones beat Houston and Oklahoma State last week and BYU got their first Big 12 win over UCF the last time out. Can they get a great home win tonight and get back to .500 in the league? The other game that really intrigues me is Seton Hall and St. John’s I went with the home team here, but anyone can win that game. Those two teams are well coached and playing at an extremely high level. It may be a defensive battle, but it will still be a great game. Kansas State does have what it takes to pull off the upset tonight against Baylor in Manhattan.