College basketball daily-11/7/18

Not a whole lot on tap tonight as most teams played last night. But here's a few of interest to watch: (all times Eastern)

GAMES OF NATIONAL INTEREST

1. Ohio State at Cincinnati at 6 p.m. (ESPN2). Ohio State was a surprise team last year but loses a lot in year 2 of the Chris Holtmann era. Likewise, Cincy isn't expected to be quite as good as the last few years, but they are still being picked as a tourney team by most. Jarron Cumberland plus a newly renovated home court should energize the crowd and propel the Bearcats to a win in this one. Cincy is favored by 4.5 points but I like them to win by 10.

UPSET WATCH: (Bigger schools that could lose to mid-majors)

N. Florida at Dayton at 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

Bethune-Cookman at DePaul at 7:30 p.m. (FS1)

Other games that could/should be fun to watch:

Marshall at E. Kentucky at 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

Bucknell at St. Bonaventure at 7 p.m. (ESPN+)

High Point at William & Mary at 7 p.m. (CAA.tv)

I went 3-2 on my straight up picks last night. Not great when you aren't picking against the spread, but it's always difficult to gauge how good teams are without having any regular season games to go on. Plus, some teams come out flat (see UF and UK). As good as Duke and FSU looked, and as bad as UK and UF looked, reality is that one game still doesn't provide much data to know how good any of them will truly be over the long haul of the season. Also, some teams improve and some teams suffer injuries, suspensions, transfers, etc, so a lot can change. It's the journey that makes it fun. Cheers.