Sunday was our first true day back with college basketball in full swing! With that, there were several notable results and some really fun WCC action!

Team of the day: The Northern Colorado Bears. they took down in-state rival Colorado to secure their first victory over the Buffs since 1936!

Texas Tech blows out Winthrop in an extremely impressive performance.

Kansas State holds off UL Monroe to win by 0.

Boston College surges late to beat Le Moyne

Harvard upsets Colgate on the road!

SMU’s backcourt (led by BJ Edwards’ triple double), dominate Cal State. Fullerton 110-63.

Charleston Southern goes into Richmond and upsets the Spiders 77-72!

George Mason holds off a tough test from Penn to avoid a terrible loss.

Santa Clara dominates Oregon State, San Diego beats Pacific, Washington State gets a road win over Portland, San Francisco beats Seattle on the road, and Gonzaga dominates Pepperdine, pulling away in the first half and never looking back to open a fun night in WCC Play!

Saint Mary’s and Loyola Marymount continue their trend of playing amazing games, this time Saint Mary’s winning off a 3 with 3.5 seconds left!

METHODOLOGY

Each game is assigned a Power Rating (1–5):

5️⃣ Must-Watch
National-impact game; typically Q1 vs. Q1.

4️⃣ High-Level Matchup
Strong game with postseason or résumé relevance.

3️⃣ Notable/Competitive
High quality mid-major matchup and/or decent high-major game

2️⃣ Worth Monitoring
Intrigue, rivalry angle, or stylistic fun; Typically the solid mid-major matchups will go here.

1️⃣ Minimal Impact
Not a major bracket game, but includes a fun storyline or a mid/low major game of interest

Monday’s Games to Watch:

3️⃣ Today is one of the final days of heavy buy-games for the year as most conferences are about to start really diving into conference play. However, Illinois, Iowa, Florida, Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Rutgers, Iowa State, Houston, Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Arizona, Minnesota, and Auburn are all playing buy games tonight. (Reminder, if playing non-D1 opponents, they do not get included here)

2️⃣ Missouri State @ Delaware | 2:00, ESPN+

A CUSA Matinee?! Yes please! A 2:00 tip between evenly matched teams means this will be very fun to watch!

1️⃣ Merrimack @ Sacred Heart | 2:00, ESPN+

MAAC giving us a tight matinee today as well? No shot I’m gonna be able to focus on work. Should be a close one!

1️⃣ Marist @ Quinnipiac | 4:00, ESPN+

MAAC continues their hot start to the day, with 2 undefeated conference foes facing off. Both are 2-0 to start the conference slate. The winner of this one is in a very good spot in the conference overall!

2️⃣ Towson @ William & Mary | 5:00, FloSports

CAA action kicks off for both. W&M favored by 1.5 right now. Both teams like to score, so this should be a high scoring affair!

2️⃣ Southern Illinois @ Murray State | 7:00, ESPN+

Murray State is a wagon right now at 10-3 and 2-0 in MVC play. This one will feature a ton of points, should be really fun to watch!

2️⃣ Belmont @ Indiana State | 7:00, ESPN+

Belmont is 12-1 this year and favored by 8.5 here. I think we might be seeing a key contender for the MVC crown, however, going into Terre Haute is never easy!

2️⃣ Northern Kentucky @ Robert Morris | 7:00, ESPN+

The Norse head to Pittsburgh and are likely a little desperate to get a win here to stay afloat in the Horizon League! RMU has been hot to start the year, and will look for their 3rd Horizon victory on the year!

3️⃣ Oakland @ Wright State | 7:00, ESPN+

Another key Horizon League battle. If Oakland pulls this one off they will be 3-0 with wins AT NKU and Wright State. Kampe and co. look to firmly take their place in the drivers seat!

2️⃣ Lipscomb @ Cincinnati | 7:00, ESPN+

This should be a buy-game, however, Cincinnati has been disappointing this year. Lipscomb will look to capitalize and pull an upset in Cincinnati on Monday.

1️⃣ IU Indy @ Cleveland State | 7:00, ESPN+

Over/Under is 175.5, ALL THE POINTS

2️⃣ Southern Miss @ LSU | 8:00, SECN+

While I do expect to see LSU win here, this is a sneaky trap game here for the Tigers and Southern Miss could challenge them some.

2️⃣ Purdue Fort Wayne @ Milwaukee | 8:00, ESPN+

Yet another really important Horizon League matchup tonight. Winner gets their 3rd conference win early in the year!

2️⃣ Cal Baptist @ Utah Valley | 8:00, ESPN+

This is a battle of two of the top WAC teams this year. UVU is favored for now, but it should be a competitive one!

4️⃣ Utah @ Washington | 11:00, FS1

This is a huge matchup for both of these teams. Washington is looking to get fully back on track after an 8-4 start to the year. Utah is also 8-4, but very under the radar. Will be a fun one with a lot of points!

As always, if there are any suggestions or comments, feel free to drop them in the comments here! Also, please like/subscribe and follow me @bracketnky on socials!