Tuesday NIT Preview
Oklahoma St vs Wichita St - Oklahoma St is seeded way too high for this tournament and should not have gotten a home game for the NIT. That being said, I still think they are a better team than Wichita St, even though they don't have a guy who can stop Xavier Bell. While Wichita St will struggle with the Oklahoma St size down low, I think Bell shoots them to a win in this one with Oklahoma St not wanting to be here.
Arkansas St vs Saint Louis - This will probably end up being the game of the day. Arkansas St has two very good non-conference wins against UAB, who is also in this tournament, and Akron, who is in the NCAA tournament. As well as a 9-point loss to 2-seed Alabama, this team is legit; they just play in a one-bid league. They are playing a kind of top-heavy St. Louis team that has three really good players who have to drag the roster with them. I think that is more than enough for them to compete in this game and in this tournament. I don't think you can go wrong either way, but we're gonna go with the home team to win this one with a St. Louis cover.
Georgia Tech vs Jacksonville St - Georgia Tech is, like Oklahoma St, a team that doesn't deserve to be in this tournament, but they got an invite because of their conference affiliation, not off of merit, which we should have no room for in sports. But money makes people do anything, as you can tell. For that reason alone, I will be rooting for Jacksonville St to walk into Atlanta, have Jaron Pierre Jr. drop a smooth 20+ points like he normally does, and get into the 2nd round.
Santa Clara vs UC Riverside - Another in-state game in the first round. These are two of the weaker teams in the field, if I'm being honest; they both finished 4th in their conference. They also played before, and Santa Clara won by 38, so there isn't too much analysis you need to do for this one. On top of that, UC Riverside declined the invite, which gave South Alabama a spot in the NIT, then at the last minute, they changed their mind, and now South Alabama doesn't have a postseason tournament to play in. I hope Santa Clara wins by 50 this time.
Middle Tennessee St vs Chattanooga - An in-state matchup in the first round of the NIT of two schools who actually want to be there. I expect the crowd to be engaged for this one. I think Chattanooga is the better team and also has the best player on the court. Huff is averaging 15 points while shooting over 40% from the field and the 3-point line. If he gets it going, it could be a long night for Middle Tennessee, who is a good team in their own right, with wins over UAB and Lipscomb in the non-conference schedule, but I don't think that will be enough in this matchup.
St. Bonaventure vs Kent St - A battle between two 22-11 teams. St. Bonaventure started the season very strong after going 12-1 in the non-conference, then followed it up with a lackluster in-conference campaign, going 9-9. Kent State is probably the opposite. They had a bad non-conference schedule, and then they followed it by doing great in the MAC. If either one of these teams can get to 70 points—or whoever gets there first—is the team that will end up winning this game.
