NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 74 of the 2023-24 season

I am back with the picks of the day. I needed a few days to take a mental reset and get my thoughts back in order after some emotional days. The last time we talked was Wednesday morning and a lot has happened since then. No one on the bubble seems to want to win. In the last couple of days.

Nebraska lost to Rutgers, Mississippi State lost to Kentucky, Ole Miss lost to LSU, Miami lost to Florida State, Texas lost to UCF, Nevada lost to San Diego State, Memphis lost to South Florida,  and Oregon lost to Colorado. That is a lot of movement on the Bubble and some teams are going to need to win some games to stay in the tournament and find their signature wins.

On Wednesday I went 26-18 on my picks which brought my 71-day total to 2,028-779 overall. There are a lot of games today with a ton of NCAA tournament implications. A lot of bubble teams play today and wins are going to help them immensely. The games are getting more intense as we get closer to February because the games mean more. Every game matters at this point in the season. Picks for day 74 January 20, 2024, are below.

Baylor over Texas

Marquette over St. John’s

Creighton over Seton Hall

Syracuse over Miami

NC State over Virginia Tech

Wake Forest over Louisville

Ohio State over Penn State

UMass over George Washington

IUPUI over Robert Morris

Dayton over Rhode Island

Cincinnati over Oklahoma

Gardner-Webb over Winthrop

San Diego State over Boise State

Arkansas over South Carolina

Fordham over Loyola-Chicago

The Citadel over VMI

New Hampshire over UMBC

Denver over North Dakota

Omaha over Kansas City

Navy over Army

Purdue over Iowa

Houston over UCF

Tennessee over Alabama

TCU over Iowa State

Arizona State over USC

Temple over Rice

Missouri State over Illinois State

Bradley over Belmont

Radford over SC Upstate

NC A&T over William & Mary

Monmouth over Hampton

Drexel over Delaware

Colgate over Boston University

George Mason over St. Bonaventure

Holy Cross over Loyola MD

Lafayette over Bucknell

Bowling Green over Western Michigan

Ball State over Miami Ohio

Western Carolina over Furman

Cleveland State over Fort Wayne

Yale over Dartmouth

Princeton over Columbia

Maine over NJIT

UMass Lowell over Binghamton

South Dakota over South Dakota State

North Dakota State over Oral Roberts

Brown over Cornell

Nebraska over Northwestern

North Carolina over Boston College

Saint Joseph’s over Duquesne

UAB over East Carolina

SMU over Tulsa

Longwood over Presbyterian

Georgia State over Georgia Southern

Jacksonville over Kennesaw State

Southern over Grambling

Mississippi State over Vanderbilt

Southern Mississippi over Troy

Kansas over West Virginia

Arizona over UCLA

Utah State over Fresno State

NC Central over SC State

Delaware State over Maryland Eastern Shore

Florida State over Clemson

Alcorn State over Texas Southern

North Texas over Charlotte

Valpo over UIC

Towson over Campbell

Butler over DePaul

Pine Bluff over Florida A&M

LSU over Texas A&M

Davidson over Richmond

Air Force over New Mexico

Howard over Norfolk State

Morgan State over Coppin State

Ohio over Eastern Michigan

UNC Greensboro over Wofford

Youngstown State over Detroit Mercy

South Alabama over Louisiana

Abilene Christian over UT Arlington

Utah Valley over Utah Tech

Santa Barbara over Fullerton

Northern Arizona over Sacramento State

Western Illinois over Tennessee State

Morehead State over Southern Indiana

Lindenwood over Eastern Illinois

Appalachian State over Coastal Carolina

Southeastern Louisiana over Texas A&M Commerce

Texas A&M Corpus Christi over Nicholls

Lamar over Houston Christian

SEMO over SIU Edwardsville

Washington State over California

American over Lehigh

Lipscomb over North Alabama

New Orleans over Northwestern State

North Florida over Queens

Jacksonville State over Louisiana Tech

UC Davis over UC Irvine

Texas State over Arkansas State

Austin Peay over Central Arkansas

Kentucky over Georgia

Texas Tech over BYU

Georgia Tech over Virginia

Drake over Evansville

UNC Wilmington over Charleston

Samford over Mercer

Penn over Harvard

James Madison over Marshall

McNeese over Incarnate Word

Northern Kentucky over Green Bay

Jackson State over Prairie View

Colorado over Oregon State

Kansas State over Oklahoma State

High Point over Charleston Southern

Elon over Northeastern

FGCU over Stetson

Santa Clara over Portland

Wright State over Milwaukee

Old Dominion over Louisiana-Monroe

Bryant over Albany

Bethune over Mississippi Valley State

Eastern Kentucky over Bellarmine

Liberty over Sam Houston

UC San Diego over Hawaii

Nevada over Wyoming

UT Rio Grande over Tarleton

Duke over Pitt

Northern Iowa over Southern Illinois

Missouri over Florida

Cal Baptist over Southern Utah

Northridge over Riverside

Northern Colorado over Portland State

Eastern Washington over Idaho State

Auburn over Ole Miss

Stanford over Washington

New Mexico State over Middle Tennessee

Western Kentucky over UTEP

Montana State over Montana

Weber State over Idaho

San Francisco over Saint Mary’s

Pepperdine over LMU

Gonzaga over San Diego

Grand Canyon over Seattle

Bakersfield over Cal Poly

There are a lot of games tomorrow and there are so many that have NCAA tournament implications. At this point, it is just important for teams to start stacking wins and win as many games as possible. Nebraska and Northwestern are two teams who have almost the same resumes it is in Lincoln, so give the edge to the Huskers even without star Juwan Gary.

Tennessee and Alabama is the game of the day. One team loves to play defense and loves to slow it down on offense while the other team is going to play really fast and take as many threes as possible. Something is going to give. The best mid-major game of the day is between San Francisco and Saint Mary’s the winner of that game will be in outright first place in the West Coast Conference. There is a lot to like with this slate of games today.