NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 80 of the 2023-24 season

If you stayed up late to watch the Pac 12, you saw a huge upset that will have a huge impact on seeding in the NCAA tournament.  Otherwise, yesterday was uneventful.  The upset I am referring to is Oregon State beating Arizona on a buzzer-beater by Jordan Pope.  The Beavers are better this year, but they had only won one game in the Pac 12 before beating Arizona last night.  If the Wildcats are not careful, they will find themselves outside of the top two seed lines. Central Connecticut is now in outright first place in NEC after their win against Fairleigh Dickinson.  

Vermont beat UMass Lowell and Bryant beat NJIT.  Bryant and Vermont are both undefeated in the America East.  Towson beat Drexel.  Drexel was previously undefeated in the CAA. Green Bay who was one of the worst programs in the country last year beat Oakland to take over outright first place in the Horizon League. Eastern Kentucky remained undefeated in the Atlantic Sun.  Eastern Washington survives at home against Northern Colorado to remain undefeated in the Big Sky.  Saint Mary’s allowed a total of 28 points in a victory over Pacific to remain undefeated in the West Coast Conference.  Their showdown with Gonzaga is coming up.

Yesterday I went 44-15 in my picks.  That brings my 79 day total to 2,246-875 overall.  There are only 8 games on the schedule for Friday but that is going to act like an appetizer for a full day of hoops on Saturday with over 150 games.  The Big Ten and Pac 12 have showcase games and the MAAC, MAC, Atlantic 10, and the WAC are the other conferences in action.  Picks for day 80 January 26, 2024, are below.

Kent State over Ohio

Niagara over Marist

Iona over Siena

Canisius over Manhattan

Wisconsin over Michigan State

St. Bonaventure over Saint Joseph’s

Seattle over Utah Valley

Stanford over California

That is all that is on the schedule today.  There is only one game that could potentially have an impactful upset and that is Michigan State and Wisconsin.  The Badgers are great at home and are currently in first place by 1 game in the standings.  They need to win to keep it that way heading into the tough part of their schedule. 

Michigan State desperately needs a signature win to justify its spot in the NCAA Tournament.  The Spartans have been playing much better and have a team that can pull off the upset. Stanford and California is a huge rivalry and that game is unpredictable. The Cardinal are playing much better right now than they were at the start of the season.  California is at home and has also been playing much better. That one should be a fun one.