The NCAA's stupidity is the NIT's gain. And honestly, compared to previous years, the NCAA was not as stupid their tournament selections as in past years.
But this year, a wide array of strong but not strong enough teams makes the NIT just as interesting and competitive as parts of the 'Big Dance.'
In one bracket, St. Mary's (THE NCAA SNUB) gets a two-seed! That shows you the NIT is more stacked than usual. In that bracket of eight, the first round should be boring, but second round matches of San Diego State (the top seed) and Illinois State and Davidson/St. Mary's are going to be outstanding. SDSU is gonna sneak by Osiris Eldridge and the crafy Illinois State team but even with Patrick (I refuse to call him Patty) Mills, I don't think St. Mary's can get by a Stephen Curry-driven Davidson team that has a huge chip on it's shoulder.
In the next eight, Virginia Tech should roll over Duquense, Baylor and Auburn to get to the NIT's final four teams. This bracket is pretty weak with Auburn as the top-seed and also featuring not-so-powerhouse teams like Northwestern.
On the other side of the overall bracket, Creighton has a pretty clear path but honestly teams should look out for UAB, who underachieved with Robert Vaden leading the way this year. The eight-team bracket below that features alot of parody but 5-seed Providence has a lot of talent and I have them in the finals of the bracket topping Penn State.
The final four teams will pit, in my demented mind, Creighton will cruise fairly easily over Providence with their hot shooting. And, as much as I really do like the gritty nature of Virginia Tech, Davidson is just not going to take this NIT lightly and that also spells bad news for Creighton in the finals. The good news: a NIT Title is not what Stephen Curry is in this for so after Davidson WINS the NIT this year, expect for the older Curry brother to return for one more run in 2009-2010.
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