NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 78 of the 2023-24 season

There were upsets last night, and teams were almost upset last night. It was a good night for some bubble teams and numerous other teams potentially played their way into the conversation for the NCAA tournament. Nebraska blasted Ohio State in Lincoln. South Carolina finally got their signature win when they blew out Kentucky in Columbia. Texas solidified its tournament resume by going to Norman and being Oklahoma.

Wisconsin held on at Minnesota after giving up an offensive rebound on a missed free throw and watching the layup get missed. Duquesne got on the board in the Atlantic 10 with a win against St. Bonaventure. Houston had the win of the night as they went into Provo and beat BYU. That is a tough place to get a win. Creighton beat Xavier in Omaha. Give it up for Air Force who had not won a game in the Mountain West since last February comes into Vegas and beats UNLV by 32 points.

Yesterday I went 23-9 in my picks. That brings my 77 day total to 2,169-846 overall. There are more huge bubble games today as well as games that are going to help teams already in the tournament solidify their seeding. There are some ranked teams who are on upset watch today as well. The schedule today brings us games from the Southern Conference, Big South, Big East, SEC, ACC, Big Ten, American, Missouri Valley, Patriot League, Atlantic 10, Sun Belt, Atlantic Sun, Conference USA, Big 12, Mountain West, and Pac 12. There is something for every fan today and things could get a little weird tonight with the potential for the upsets. Picks for day 78 January 24, 2024, are below.

ETSU over VMI

UNC Asheville over Radford

Seton Hall over Providence

Georgia over LSU

Virginia over NC State

Notre Dame over Miami

South Florida over Temple

Bradley over Murray State

High Point over South Carolina Upstate

Longwood over Gardner-Webb

Winthrop over Charleston Southern

Iowa over Maryland

Boston University over Army

American over Holy Cross

Rhode Island over Fordham

Saint Louis over Davidson

Richmond over George Washington

Lafayette over Loyola MD

Bucknell over Navy

Wofford over Chattanooga

Furman over Samford

The Citadel over Mercer

Western Carolina over UNC Greensboro

Troy over Texas State

James Madison over Old Dominion

Marshall over Georgia State

Southern Mississippi over Coastal Carolina

Kennesaw State over North Alabama

Queens over Central Arkansas

Alabama over Auburn

Wichita State over East Carolina

Jacksonville State over Middle Tennessee

Florida Atlantic over Rice

UTSA over Tulane

Indiana State over Illinois-Chicago

Southern Illinois over Valpo

Drake over Missouri State

St. John’s over Villanova

Florida over Mississippi State

Northwestern over Illinois

Marquette over DePaul

Iowa State over Kansas State

Ole Miss over Arkansas

Washington State over Utah

Nevada over Colorado State

New Mexico over San Jose State

Washington over Colorado

There is a lot on the schedule today. There are some very interesting games mainly Kansas State and Iowa State. Those are two teams who don’t have a great offense and win on the defensive end of the ball. It may be a low-scoring grind-it-out type game. Seton Hall and Providence is going to be a grinder. The Friars are still trying to figure out how to win without their star Bryce Hopkins and Seton Hall needs to win every game they can to solidify their spot in the NCAA tournament. Keep an eye on Evanston today as Northwestern is a team that can and will give Illinois problems, especially at home.

The other upset game that I have today is UTSA over Tulane. The Green Wave are a good team and are coming off a huge win over Memphis, but UTSA is different at home and has already taken Florida Atlantic and Memphis to the wire. I think that game is uncomfortably close for the Green Wave. Auburn and Alabama is the game of the night. Not only is it the most heated rivalry in college sports both teams are fantastic. The Tigers do not have a quad 1 win yet and this would be their first, while Alabama would love a win and improve their seeding in the NCAA tournament. Auburn and Alabama would both be in the tournament today.