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NCAA Basketball: Picks for Day 85 of the 2023-24 season

There were some big upsets last night. Tonight there is a lot of games with some upset potential that could hurt a teams tournament resume.

Jan 27, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; UCF Knights forward Marchelus Avery (13) reacts to making a
Jan 27, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; UCF Knights forward Marchelus Avery (13) reacts to making a | Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Upsets were the theme of the night last night. Two top 5 teams went down last night. Tennessee came into the night ranked number 5 and they lost to South Carolina. That win pretty much gets the Gamecocks into the tournament. Georgia Tech beat North Carolina in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets are a long way from the tournament, but they have beaten Duke and North Carolina this season. Dayton had a huge bounce back against George Washington. Indiana beat Iowa at Assembly Hall but may have lost Xavier Johnson for the season.

Boston College beat Syracuse, Marquette beat Villanova, and Oklahoma blew out Kansas State. In the final games of the night Michigan State blew out Michigan and Gonzaga blew out LMU. Colorado State picked up a huge win against San Diego State. All those results were huge for the tournament prospects of each team.

Yesterday I went 22-8 in my picks. That brings my 84 day total to 2,394-946 overall. There are a lot of huge games on the bubble today and some top teams are in action. There are a ton of power conference games today to satisfy everyone and some of the top mid majors are in action tonight as well. Picks for day 85 January 31,2024, are below.

UNC Greensboro over VMI

Purdue over Northwestern

Alabama over Georgia

Xavier over St. John’s

UCF over Baylor

Virginia over Notre Dame

Pitt over Wake Forest

Cincinnati over West Virginia

Tulsa over Wichita State

East Carolina over South Florida

Presbyterian over South Carolina Upstate

UNC Asheville over Gardner-Webb

Radford over Charleston Southern

Colgate over Army

Lehigh over Navy

Duquesne over Chicago State

Lafayette over American

Rhode Island over La Salle

Richmond over Fordham

Saint Joseph’s over George Mason

Bucknell over Loyola MD

ETSU over Mercer

Furman over The Citadel

Western Carolina over Chattanooga

Lipscomb over North Florida

Jacksonville over Austin Peay

Indiana State over Belmont

Samford over Wofford

Kentucky over Florida

Memphis over Rice

Southern Illinois over Missouri State

Evansville over Illinois Chicago

Drake over Valpo

Bradley over Northern Iowa

Louisiana over Louisiana Monroe

Texas A&M Commerce over Incarnate Word

UConn over Providence

Rutgers over Penn State

Missouri over Arkansas

Southern Mississippi over Arkansas State

Auburn over Vanderbilt

North Texas over UAB

New Mexico over Boise State

Saint Mary’s over Santa Clara

There are a lot of great games today with NCAA tournament implications on the line. Can Purdue avenge their earlier loss to Northwestern?  Providence is a bubble team and a win over UConn would go a long way towards securing their bid into the NCAA tournament.

Memphis is currently on a three-game losing streak they may have a bit of a get right game with Rice. Can the Tigers get back to winning? Baylor has a very tough game on the road at UCF. The Knights have already beaten Kansas at home. UCF poses quite a challenge in the Big 12 when they are at home. The schedule today is loaded and it's going to be a lot of fun.