Last night had a lot of upset potential and some top teams went down to the wire. Purdue beat Northwestern in overtime after trailing for much of the game. Chris Collins got ejected after a bad no-call at the end of the game with the game in the balance. Alabama came back from 10 down late on the road at Georgia. UConn beat Providence after trailing in the second half. Baylor beat UCF in Florida after trailing most of the game.
Some ranked teams lost yesterday though. Kentucky was bitten by the top 10 curse as they lost in Rupp to Florida. Memphis has played their way out of the NCAA tournament field after losing their fourth straight game to Rice. Boise State beat New Mexico, Saint Mary’s stays undefeated in the WCC, and Penn State blew out Rutgers in New Jersey. Finally, Richmond won to stay undefeated in the Atlantic 10 conference.
Yesterday I went 28-16 in my picks. That gives me an 85 day total of 2,422-962 overall. There are not too many quality games today but there are games of huge importance across the board. There are huge games in the Big Ten, Pac 12, America East, and the CAA. Those games could determine some fates for the NCAA tournament and in the smaller conferences are going to determine seeding for the conference tournament. Picks for day 86 February 1, 2024, are below.
Green Bay over IUPUI
Binghamton over NJIT
UMass Lowell over Maine
SMU over Tulane
High Point over Longwood
Hofstra over Stony Brook
Towson over Northeastern
Charleston over UNC Wilmington
North Carolina A&T over Hampton
Drexel over Monmouth
William & Mary over Delaware
Elon over Campbell
Fairleigh Dickinson over Long Island
Wagner over Le Moyne
Sacred Heart over Stonehill
Central Connecticut over St Francis PA
Oakland over Robert Morris
Fort Wayne over Milwaukee
Cleveland State over Detroit Mercy
Marshall over Old Dominion
Troy over Georgia Southern
James Madison over Coastal Carolina
Appalachian State over Georgia State
Bryant over UMBC
Vermont over Albany
Louisiana Tech over FIU
Kennesaw State over Bellarmine
Stephen F. Austin over Utah Valley
Tennessee State over Morehead State
Texas State over South Alabama
St Thomas over Omaha
North Dakota over South Dakota
South Dakota State over North Dakota State
Denver over Kansas City
Eastern Kentucky over Queens
Abilene Christian over Tarleton
Northern Arizona over Weber State
Northern Colorado over Idaho State
Arizona over California
Wisconsin over Nebraska
Tennessee Tech over Southern Indiana
SIU Edwardsville over Little Rock
Western Illinois over Lindenwood
Eastern Illinois over UT Martin
Florida Gulf Coast over Central Arkansas
Southern Utah over UT Arlington
North Alabama over Stetson
Arizona State over Stanford
Wright State over Youngstown State
Utah Tech over UT Rio Grande Valley
Grand Canyon over Seattle
Western Kentucky over Sam Houston
Liberty over New Mexico State
UTEP over Jacksonville State
Montana over Idaho
Montana State over Eastern Washington
Portland over Pacific
UC Irvine over Cal Poly
Long Beach over Bakersfield
UC San Diego over Northridge
Fullerton over Hawaii
Oregon over USC
UCLA over Oregon State
San Francisco over San Diego
Santa Barbara over UC Davis
There are some very interesting games today. Green Bay looks to further their lead on the Horizon League with an early morning game against IUPUI. UMass Lowell and Bryant both have one loss in the America East and Vermont is undefeated. If the River Hawks and Bulldogs both win it would continue to put a ton of pressure on the Catamounts to keep winning. Eastern Kentucky is undefeated in the ASun but travel to Queens in a tough environment. Keep an eye on that one.
Then the game of the night is Wisconsin and Nebraska. Nebraska is coming off an embarrassing loss to Maryland, and coach Fred Hoiberg has been preaching toughness all week. The Huskers are in Lincoln, and they have looked like a much different team at home than away. They win by a lot at home. Wisconsin is the best team in the Big Ten and the best team Nebraska has played this year. The Badgers have Purdue at home on Saturday and they might be looking ahead. Nebraska knows it needs to win to bolster its NCAA tournament resume. The Badgers need to win to stay in first place in the league. That will be a great game. Can Grand Canyon avenge their only conference loss against Seattle?