#1 West Virginia vs #1 Mississippi State
One of these days West Virginia is going to be bitten by a formidable frontcourt. They've survived one of the best forward duos there is in UMass' Stephane Lasme and Rashaun Freeman and barely escaped N.C. State's Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley. Mississippi State poses another problem with forward Charles Rhodes and huge guards Jamont Gordon, Dietric Slater, and the Delk brothers ( Reginald and Richard ). I thought N.C. State would do a formidable job on West Virginia's star guard Frank Young, but they allowed him to get scorching hot down the stretch. Mississippi State really should have the guards to defend him. I keep picking West Virginia to lose and one of these days I'm going to be right.
Mississippi State 74 West Virginia 66
#1 Clemson vs #1 Air Force
Once again in an Air Force game, it's going to be a major clash of styles. The Falcons really haven't seen an up and down quick tempo attack so far in the NIT and could have some problems with Clemson's athleticism. As I cited in the Clemson - Ole Miss game preview, Clemson is a terrible free throw shooting team and it will cost them at some point in a close game. Of course, they ended up blowing the Rebs out, but their failures from the line almost lost the Syracuse game last week. I really don't see Air Force getting blown out and in what should actually be a close game this time, free throws will probably matter. Air Force holds a healthy advantage in that department as they're fifth in the nation in free throw shooting.
Air Force 62 Clemson 58
