The first Saturday of the college basketball season is in the books, and what a Saturday it was. It didn’t have the normal volume of games that many other Saturdays will, but that is always going to happen when competing with college football. It was an upset-free day, with Nebraska picking up its most impressive road win against Providence. The game was played at Mohegan Sun in CT, but Friars fans dominated the crowd. Providence is aggressive on the defensive end, but they couldn’t crack the Huskers’ elite defense. Nebraska, meanwhile, needed Pryce Sandfort and Cale Jacobson down the stretch to beat the Friars.

In some of the other games. San Diego State beat Colorado in an impressive showing for the Aztecs. Colorado doesn’t appear to be very good. Memphis and VCU were the game of the day. VCU jumped out early and had a halftime lead, but Memphis made all the plays down the stretch to win their home opener. Memphis is now 2-0 with two strong wins. Over the past 7 days, the moneyline picks have produced a record of 244-49. Picks for day 8, November 8th, 2026, are below.

• St. John’s over Iona
• Virginia over Arkansas
• Siena over Princeton
• South Carolina over SEMO
• UMass Lowell over Marist
• New Hampshire over Sacred Heart
• Maine over Manhattan
• Fairfield over Bryant
• Merrimack over Albany
• St. Thomas over Green Bay
• Western Michigan over Campbell
• Vermont over Quinnipiac
• Dartmouth over Central Connecticut
• Lehigh over Brown
• Boise State over Butler
• Drake over Southern
• Western Kentucky over Tennessee Tech
• Idaho State over Air Force
• NJIT over Saint Peter’s
• Binghamton over Rider
• Nevada over Saint Mary’s
• Temple over Richmond
• William & Mary over Norfolk State
• Bakersfield over North Dakota State
• UTEP over Incarnate Word
• Pitt over Penn State
• Houston over California
• USC over Wichita State
• Hawaii over UT Arlington

The first Sunday of the basketball season has some tremendous games, and it all starts in Washington, D.C., when Virginia and Arkansas play in the Capital Classic. Virginia is one of the best teams in the country. They can shoot, score inside, and play unbelievable defense. Arkansas has the best freshman in the country, Jordan Smith Jr., and they are extremely athletic. I don’t know if Arkansas has enough to beat Virginia right now, though.

Heading to Lake Tahoe where Houston plays California. This likely won’t be a very good game, as Houston is one of the best teams in the country and a National Title contender. California is well not any of those things. This game could get out of hand quickly in Houston’s favor. USC plays the next game against Wichita State. I have a lot of questions about the USC roster personally. They are extremely talented individually, but the pieces don’t fit together very well. The Shockers are the best team in the American and have one of the game’s best scorers. This game could be one of the best games of the entire week. Enjoy the Hoops.