NIT Bracketology, March 13

We're getting down to the wire. There is not going to be an NIT Selection Show this season, which is sad. The bracket is expected to come out on Sunday night though. (The College Basketball Crown bracket is not expected until Monday.)

The Barking Crow did a great job of covering some things that we know about The College Basketball Crown and the selection for that tournament. Which hey, isn't much!

This NIT bracket assumes that the KPI/NET average to select the top teams for the College Basketball Crown is correct. It also assumes that those top teams will be unable to participate in the NIT. Also, Utah has explicitly made some statements about the CBC, so I'm assuming they're planning on playing there and not in the NIT.

I don't know what to do with LSU. The Tigers are 14-18, but look in line to receive an exempt bid to the NIT. Would they accept it? Honestly, I don't think LSU is that bad of a basketball team. They're just stuck in a historically good SEC, which is why they'd be getting an exempt bid in the first place.

One team I would expect to decline an NIT invite is Florida State.

Project NIT Bracket:

1. Texas

Northern Colorado (automatic bid)

4. Georgetown

George Mason

3. TCU

Grand Canyon

2. Iowa

Saint Joseph's

1. Boise St.

Santa Clara

4. Middle Tennessee

Chattanooga (automatic bid)

3. San Francisco

USC

2. UC Irvine

Nevada

1. SMU

Oregon St.

4. LSU

Arkansas St.

3. North Texas

UNLV

2. Wake Forest

Rutgers

1. Colorado St.

Stanford

4. Bradley

St. Bonaventure

3. Dayton

Troy

2. Pittsburgh

Penn St.

The one team seriously considered that is not in this bracket is Loyola IL. I ran out of spots and the bracketing got hard with so many Atlantic 10 teams below the seeded portion of the bracket. There is a chance the Ramblers still sneak in. Also, many of these teams are still playing. So we'll see how it all shakes out.