NCAA Friday Picks

Before making picks for today (Friday), I’d like to rundown the picks made for yesterday’s games, and highlight some intriguing occurrences.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON (7-1)

#5 West Virginia over #12 Clemson (East)
#8 Butler over #9 Old Dominion (Southeast)
#4 Louisville over #13 Morehead State (Southwest)
#7 Temple over #10 Penn State (West)
#4 Kentucky over #13 Princeton (East)
#1 Pittsburgh over #16 UNC-Asheville (Southeast)
#12 Richmond over #5 Vanderbilt (Southwest)
#2 San Diego State over #15 Northern Colorado (West)

Richmond gets love from the Vibe. Aside from justifying the Vibe’s only upset pick in the Thursday afternoon games, they kept the blogger in good position in the “charity” NCAA Capture Pool. Morehead State (home of Phil Simms) shocked most by downing Louisville, and the afternoon slate was highlighted by four “down-to-the-wire”  finishes. An exciting kickoff to the tournament.

THURSDAY EVENING (5-3)

#2 Florida over #15 UCSB (Southeast)
#3 BYU over #14 Wofford (Southeast)
#3 UConn over #14 Bucknell (West)
#13 Belmont over #4 Wisconsin (Southeast)
#10 Michigan State over #7 UCLA (Southeast)
#11 Gonzaga over #6 St. John's (Southeast)
#11 Missouri over #6 Cincinnati (West)
#5 Kansas State over #12 Utah State (Southeast)

Some bold picks were made for the evening games, and the results show accordingly. The Michigan State loss was frustrating, because they did not show up to play until midway through the 2^nd half. Belmont was a shot in the dark, based on the ineptitude of Wisconsin’s scoring of late, but was easily handled. There were not really any close finishes here, although some games were very competitive. St. John’s came out and laid an egg (as predicted)

THURSDAY overall (12-4) 2 upsets picked correctly, 3 upsets picked incorrectly.

Now, on to Friday’s picks. Upset picks highlighted in yellow.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

#4 Texas over #13 Oakland (West)

#9 Tennessee over #8 Michigan (West)

#2 Notre Dame over #15 Akron (Southwest)

#9 Villanova over #8 George Mason (East)

#5 Arizona over #12 Memphis (West)

#1 Duke over #16 Hampton (West)

#7 Texas A&M over #10 Florida State (Southwest)

#1 Ohio State over #16 UT-San Antonio (East)

Tennessee could be playing for Bruce Pearl's job today.

Not many “upsettable” teams here in the early slate (famous last words, right?). I took the 9’s over the 8’s, but not with great conviction. Memphis could hang with Arizona, and TAMU-FSU will be interesting. Texas, Notre Dame, Duke, and Ohio State will roll.

FRIDAY NIGHT

#1 Kansas over #16 Boston University (Southwest)

#2 North Carolina over #15 Long Island (East)

#3 Purdue over #14 St. Peter’s (Southwest)

#11 Marquette over #6 Xavier (East)

#9 Illinois over #8 UNLV (Southwest)

#7 Washington over #10 Georgia (East)

#6 Georgetown over #11 VCU (Southwest)

#3 Syracuse over #14 Indiana State (East)

Some local teams in this one, with LIU (Brooklyn) and St. Peters (Jersey City) entering the fray. Unfortunately, they won’t fare too well. The best games of the night slate are Marquette-Xavier, Illinois-UNLV, and Washington-Georgia.

Some of the best things around are from Long Island....but it won't help them much today versus the Tar Heels.