NIT North Region Breakdown

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#1 Mississippi State vs #8 Mississippi Valley State

Talk about a mismatch. Mississippi State, though young, is very deep and arguably one of the more talented SEC teams. MVSU, on the other hand, does nothing particularly well offensively as evidenced by them ranking 260th or lower in every major offensive category. Even though their defensive statistics are very impressive, it's largely due to them playing 18 games against the worst shooting conference in the country - also known as the SWAC. The Delta Devils don't have enough bodies to stop all of the offensive firepower of MSU. Do it all "point-forward/linebacker" Jamont Gordon ( 16 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.3 spg ) for the Bulldogs should really go off.

Mississippi State 80 Mississippi Valley State 58

#2 Florida State vs #7 Toledo

Florida State thought they had a tournament berth locked up after their February 4th win at Duke. Three point specialist and starting 2 guard Toney Douglas then proceeded to go down with a hand injury which resulted in four losses in five games. Douglas returned and helped lead them to an improbable comeback OT win at Miami and a key victory against Clemson. Though that wasn't enough to secure a tournament bid, they're still a very dangerous team that could reach the NIT Finals. They shouldn't sleep on Toledo though. They're a senior led, guard heavy team that has hung very well with some really good teams earlier in the season ( 5 point L at Drexel, 5 point OT L at Vanderbilt, 10 point L at Kansas, 3 point L vs Old Dominion ). The difference should be All-American Al Thornton. The Rockets really don't have anybody that can guard him.

Florida State 71 Toledo 63

#3 Michigan vs #6 Utah State

It's becoming pretty routine for Michigan to end up in the NIT having appeared in three of the last four. Utah State came within a desperation three at the buzzer of beating New Mexico State and heading to their third straight tournament appearance. The Aggies certainly won't be fearful of playing at Michigan with all but one of their key players having tournament experience. Utah State isn't a deep team going with only 7 players usually, but those 7 are quite talented. The question that must be answered though is how will they stop Courtney Sims and Brent Petway for Michigan on the interior? USU has some bulk, but do they have enough to beat a Michigan team whose starting lineup averages about 6'6 tall away from Logan, Utah? I think they do. Junior guard Jaycee Carroll ( 21.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.8 apg ) will be the difference in the first upset of the NIT.

Utah State 63 Michigan 61

#4 Bradley vs #5 Providence

Bradley suffered a heart-breaking loss in the MVC semifinals to Southern Illinois and now find themselves in another tough matchup against Providence. The Friars are the mirror opposite of Bradley in their team strength with their huge low post duo of Herbert Hill ( 18 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 3 bpg ) and Geoff McDermott ( 9.7 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 5.3 apg ) while the Braves absolutely bomb away from deep. In fact, they lead the country in 3PT FG% at 42.8% with guard Jeremy Crouch shooting an incredible 51% from downtown. Really, the only person Bradley puts on the court who doesn't shoot 3s is their big man Zach Andrews ( 11.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg ). As he's their only true low post player, he's going to have to avoid foul trouble for Bradley to be in good shape. Unfortunately for the Braves, staying out of foul trouble isn't exactly something he's keen on doing with him having fouled out of 9 games so far this season. The Braves do have something going for them though, and that's Providence being a fairly poor 3 point defending team ( 176th in the country which ranks them 12th in the Big East ). That will be the difference in a close back and forth game. Unlike most other arenas come NIT time, I think Bradley fans will really come out and support their team tomorrow night which is another huge boost.

Bradley 68 Providence 64