NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 77 of the 2023-24 season

Yesterday was a day of almost. There were some teams that almost got huge wins. There were almost some upsets, but the teams expected to win won all the games last night. It was an uneventful night in college hoops. McNeese came back from 18 in the middle of the second half to beat Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi played one of the worst final minutes of the season that lost them the game. Kansas escaped Cincinnati at the Phog, and North Carolina blew out Wake Forest. It was a game that Wake Forest needed to keep close for their tournament resume and it did not go well. Florida A&M beat Mississippi Valley State. That moves the Delta Devils to 0-19 on the season.

Yesterday I went 13-2 in my picks that brings my 76 day total to 2,146-837 overall. After an extremely light slate of games on Monday, the schedule picks up in a big way today. There are impact games all over the place between bubble teams and there are other games that have big time upset potential. There are a lot of great power five and mid major games today. Picks for day 77 January 23,2024 are below.

Dayton over La Salle

Butler over Georgetown

South Carolina over Kentucky

Nebraska over Ohio State

Oklahoma over Texas

Duke over Louisville

Wisconsin over Minnesota

Pitt over Georgia Tech

Syracuse over Florida State

UCF over West Virginia

Charlotte over UAB

Duquesne over St Bonaventure

UMass over Saint Joseph’s

VCU over Loyola Chicago

Buffalo over Ball State

Bowling Green over Kent State

Central Michigan over Miami Ohio

Western Michigan over Eastern Michigan

Akron over Ohio

Northern Iowa over Evansville

Belmont over Illinois State

Toledo over Northern Illinois

Creighton over Xavier

Purdue over Michigan

BYU over Houston

Portland over San Diego

Virginia Tech over Boston College

TCU over Oklahoma State

San Diego State over Wyoming

Texas A&M over Missouri

Boise State over Fresno State

UNLV over Air Force

Today brings us to the they better not lose that game portion of the season. Syracuse is firmly on the bubble now and if they want to have a chance to make the tournament, they better beat Florida State. Dayton better beat La Salle if they want one of the protected seeds. Wisconsin better beat Minnesota if they want a reasonable chance at the Big Ten regular season title. TCU better beat Oklahoma State, and Nebraska needs to beat Ohio State. South Carolina did beat Grand Canyon earlier this year, but they are still looking for that signature win to set their resume apart from the rest of the bubble teams. What an opportunity in Columbia tonight.

BYU is tough to beat in Provo and Houston is going to find that out tonight. Yes, even with a loss Houston still deserves to be ranked as high as they are. Duquesne and Saint Bonaventure is the mid-major game of the night. The Dukes are much better than they have shown at the start of the Atlantic 10 and tonight is a perfect chance for them to get a good win and get back on track.