Last night was a fantastic primer for one of the best days of College Basketball we have ever had. Butler is now back in the NCAA tournament field after a win at Creighton. Dayton survived a scare from Saint Bonaventure. Iowa barely squeaked by Ohio State. There were some huge mid-major results as well. Yale beat Princeton. That is the Tigers second straight loss and their at-large hopes are dead. Akron took over first place in the MAC and the Zips remain undefeated in conference play after a big win over Toledo at the JAR. Nevada blew out San Jose State to keep their tournament hopes alive.
Yesterday I went 11-4 in my picks that brings my 87 day total to 2,473-991 total. Welcome everyone to the biggest Saturday of the year. There is no football on TV and there are a ton of games that are going to have a huge impact on the NCAA tournament and tons of games between top five teams. There are games to watch in every time slot and almost every game will have an impact on seeding in the NCAA tournament. Picks for day 88 February 3, 2024, are below.
UConn over St. John’s
Miami over Virginia Tech
Indiana over Penn State
Colgate over Navy
LSU over Arkansas
UMass over George Mason
La Salle over Saint Joseph’s
Duquesne over Rhode Island
Memphis over Wichita State
Boston University over Lehigh
South Carolina over Georgia
Western Michigan over Ball State
Robert Morris over Detroit Mercy
Oakland over Cleveland State
Jackson State over Grambling
Marquette over Georgetown
TCU over Texas
Clemson over Virginia
Kansas State over Oklahoma State
Charlotte over East Carolina
Southern Illinois over Illinois-Chicago
Northern Iowa over Murray State
Missouri State over Belmont
Bradley over Illinois State
UNC Asheville over Winthrop
Longwood over Charleston Southern
Delaware over Monmouth
Charleston over William & Mary
Northwestern over Minnesota
Sacred Heart over Le Moyne
Wagner over Stonehill
Ohio over Miami Ohio
Mercer over VMI
Vermont over Binghamton
Sam Houston over FIU
Saint Louis over Fordham
Arizona State over California
UTSA over Rice
Merrimack over Central Connecticut
Appalachian State over Georgia Southern
Bryant over Maine
San Diego State over Utah State
Missouri over Vanderbilt
Arkansas State over Louisiana Monroe
Alabama State over Bethune
Kansas over Houston
UCF over Oklahoma
Howard over Hampton
South Carolina State over Morgan State
Southern over Alcorn State
Evansville over Valpo
Radford over South Carolina Upstate
North Carolina A&T over Elon
Michigan over Rutgers
Texas A&M over Florida
VCU over Richmond
American over Bucknell
Boise State over Air Force
Norfolk State over Delaware State
North Carolina Central over Coppin State
Eastern Michigan over Northern Illinois
Wofford over Western Carolina
ETSU over The Citadel
Morehead State over Tennessee Tech
James Madison over Old Dominion
Troy over Georgia State
Marshall over Coastal Carolina
Northwestern State over Texas A&M Commerce
Nicholls over Houston Christian
Queens over Bellarmine
Grand Canyon over Utah Valley
Northern Arizona over Idaho State
Chattanooga over Samford
Tennessee State over Southern Indiana
UT Martin over SIU Edwardsville
Eastern Illinois over Little Rock
Texas A&M Corpus Christi over Lamar
North Dakota over North Dakota State
McNeese over Southeastern Louisiana
Stetson over Central Arkansas
Western Illinois over Southeast Missouri
Utah over Colorado
Alabama A&M over Florida A&M
Loyola MD over Holy Cross
Lipscomb over Jacksonville
Bowling Green over Central Michigan
UMass Lowell over New Hampshire
New Orleans over Incarnate Word
Eastern Kentucky over Kennesaw State
Tarleton State over Stephen F. Austin
Utah Tech over UT Arlington
Southern Mississippi over Texas State
Austin Peay over North Florida
NC State over Georgia Tech
Michigan State over Maryland
Texas Tech over Cincinnati
Auburn over Ole Miss
Florida Atlantic over Tulsa
BYU over West Virginia
Lafayette over Army
Pittsburgh over Notre Dame
North Texas over South Florida
Indiana State over Drake
Towson over Hofstra
Dartmouth over Columbia
Princeton over Brown
UC Davis over Cal Poly
North Carolina over Duke
Stony Brook over Northeastern
Prairie View over Texas Southern
USC over Oregon State
Pine Bluff over Mississippi Valley State
High Point over Presbyterian
UNC Wilmington over Campbell
Santa Clara over San Diego
Long Island over St Francis PA
Yale over Penn
Harvard over Cornell
Albany over UMBC
UC San Diego over Long Beach
Portland State over Sacramento State
Wake Forest over Syracuse
Baylor over Iowa State
Florida State over Louisville
UNLV over Wyoming
Portland over Pepperdine
Louisiana over South Alabama
St Thomas over Kansas City
Oral Roberts over Denver
Cal Baptist over Seattle
Western Kentucky over Middle Tennessee
Northridge over Riverside
Northern Colorado over Weber State
Montana State over Idaho
North Alabama over Florida Gulf Coast
Tennessee over Kentucky
Alabama over Mississippi State
Southern Utah over UT Rio Grande Valley
Washington over Washington State
New Mexico State over Jacksonville State
Liberty over UTEP
Montana over Eastern Washington
Xavier over DePaul
UCLA over Oregon
Colorado State over Fresno State
San Francisco over Pacific
Bakersfield over Santa Barbara
UC Irvine over Hawaii
Gonzaga over Saint Mary’s
What a schedule there is too much to highlight here so let's do this in bunches. Here are the games against top ten opponents. Houston visits Lawrence Kansas and the Jayhawks, Tennessee goes to Rupp Arena to play Kentucky. North Carolina hosts Duke in Chapel Hill. Iowa State and Baylor is a top 20 matchup. UConn is the top team in the country and Auburn is in the top 10. They both play unranked bubble teams tomorrow on the road who could desperately use a win.
Finally, Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s is the nightcap. That game is always a ton of fun to watch and the Bulldogs get an undefeated Gaels team in Spokane first. That will be the game of the year in the West Coast conference. Tomorrow is one of the better slates I can remember this late into the season and it is going to be hard to catch your breath tomorrow. I am most looking forward to Duke and North Carolina and Kansas and Houston. Should be a fantastic day of hoops tomorrow.