2012 NIT Semifinals Bracket Picks
By Mike Vamosi
Tonight the NIT moves to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals in New York. Here are my semifinal picks which hopefully are better than my quarterfinal picks. The match-ups both have the lower seeds not playing a home game and the higher seeds not playing a road game, should be fun at MSG tonight and Thursday with the finals.
5 Massachusetts Minutemen v. 3 Stanford Cardinal, Tonight at 4 pm (PDT) on ESPN2
How did they get here? UMass won in double-OT at Mississippi State, at Seton Hall and at Drexel. For the Cardinal they’ll be playing away from Maples for the first time in the NIT having beat Cleveland State, Illinois State and Nevada. Both teams have made the most of this tournament so who am I to pick? The Pick: Stanford
6 Minnesota Golden Gophers at 1 Washington Huskies, Tonight at 6 pm (PDT) on ESPN2
Washington is the only one seed to make it to New York after three home games in Seattle beating the likes of UTA, Northwestern and Oregon. Minnesota won at La Salle, Miami (FL) and Middle Tennessee State. I expect a good ole Pac12-Big Ten tilt here which should be excellent to watch both teams are on a mission. The Pick: Washington
12-4 First Round (missed Akron over Northwestern, Arizona over Bucknell, Oral Roberts over Nevada, Mississippi over Illinois State)
4-4 Second Round (I had Miami (FL) beating Minnesota, Seton Hall beating Massachusetts, and not having the other team correct at all I gave myself losses having picked Arizona, Ole Miss and Oral Roberts winning in round one). I did hit on 11 of the 16 second round teams for what it’s worth. Overall through the second round I’m 16-8. Thanks for reading.
1-3 Quarterfinals (Only got Minnesota right) so overall it looks like I’m 17-11 heading into the NIT Final Four.