NIT Tournament 2022: Bracket, Schedule and Semifinals Predictions
Considering that this could be the end of an era for the National Invitation Tournament at Madison Square Garden, fans should expect one heck of a last dance.
As St. Bonaventure, Texas A&M, Xavier and Washington State descend upon MSG for the semifinals and the right to play for the championship, all four teams come in knowing that the NIT, which has been hosted in the Mecca of Basketball since 1938, won't be held there for at least the next two years or maybe ever again.
Of the quadrumvirate of competitors, the Aggies are highest ranked at No. 1, with the Musketeers at No. 2, the Cougars at No. 4 and the Bonnies unranked.
Rankings aren't the end-all-be-all, though, as St. Bonaventure has been on a tear since narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament.
Although Xavier is the odds-on favorite to beat the Bonnies, they'll have to have an extensive game plan to stop them.
Texas A&M should beat Washington State, but as the lone No. 1 seed, any opponent they face has extra motivation to pull an upset.
Here's a quick look at the remaining bracket and schedule for the NIT semifinals and predictions.
Texas A&M's run through the SEC Tournament may not have been good enough to get them an invite to the Big Dance, but it was enough to propel them to this point: the Final Four of the NIT.
Fueled by that snub, the Aggies have been on a roll in the tourney thus far and believe they are more than ready to face Washington State.
Led by Wade Taylor IV and Quenton Jackson, who each had 12 points in their 67-52 win over Wake Forest in the quarterfinal Wednesday night, Texas A&M is primed to continue proving why they should have gotten into the NCAA Tournament.
"I feel like we just continue what we did every road game," Taylor IV told Tyler Shaw of KBTX3. "We say we’re always team bus one versus everybody. We have to bring our own energy. In Tampa we had fans but it wasn’t as big as what we have at home. Just going in there being resilient and doing all the things that we’ve been doing so far."
"It’s a neutral site. The SEC Tournament was a neutral site too," guard Tyrece Radford added. "I think we’re just going to handle it the same. Same prep. Playing the same style of basketball. Same mindset too. I don’t think too much is going to change except pretty much the state."
To thwart the Cougars' plan for an upset, the Aggies will have to find a way to contain Michael Flowers, who dropped a game-high 27 points in their 77-58 win over Brigham Young in the quarterfinals.
Washington State also got 14 points from Dishon Jackson and 11 points from Tyrell Roberts.
All three will be out to continue their offensive attack against A&M at MSG.
Prediction: Texas A&M 75, Washington State 69
Sometimes in big matchups, like the one between Xavier and St. Bonaventure in the semifinals at MSG, history can be a big part of it.
In 40 head-to-head meetings, the Musketeers lead 24-16 all time, including the last time these two met in 2013.
Those numbers are likely why Xavier is the odds-on favorite to win this one and move on to the championship game.
Xavier is in the very unique position of having a new head coach right in the middle of their run, as former coach Sean Miller retook the reigns this past Friday and will try to steer his team to the NIT title.
This kind of seismic change would normally shake up a team, but with Miller's history with the program, it shouldn't keep the Musketeers from doing what they've done up to this point.
As for the Bonnies, they are looking to capitalize off their 52-51 win over Virginia to advance to the Final Four.
Led by an all senior starting five, St. Bonaventure is excited about the opportunity and the chance to play in the most famous arena in the world.
"If you told me we were gonna be here going to Madison Square Garden, I would have thought you were a fool," St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said, per the Buffalo News. "But our guys played exceptionally well. We just beat three Power 5 teams on the road, and that says a lot about our guys."
Prediction: Xavier 67, St. Bonaventure 65
