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NCAA Basketball: 2021 NIT Season Tip-Off preview and predictions

By Jason Burgess

FRISCO, TEXAS - MARCH 28: The Memphis Tigers celebrate after defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the 2021 NIT Championship at Comerica Center on March 28, 2021 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
FRISCO, TEXAS - MARCH 28: The Memphis Tigers celebrate after defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the 2021 NIT Championship at Comerica Center on March 28, 2021 in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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Iowa State guard Caleb Grill
Iowa State guard Caleb Grill /

Who’s the favorite and darkhorse in this tournament?

Memphis should be the favorite here, they have the most talented roster in the field and Bates and Duren have been as good as advertised thus far. They get Iowa State in the semifinals and then the winner of the Virginia Tech and Xavier matchup. The Tigers who have deep March aspirations should win this tournament with relative ease, but there is a mighty big if, they’ll win if they can cut down drastically on the turnovers, having committed 50 over the last two games alone.

In a four-team field it’s hard to have a sleeper and a dark horse, so I’ll say, if Memphis doesn’t win, Xavier is the next best team and could take home the title. I really like what the Musketeers have done in the frontcourt and Scruggs has shown the ability to take over games in spurts especially with his ability to get to the rim.

The dark horse for me is the Hokies. Aluma and Mutts have had such a strong start to the season and Murphy brings that three-point element that Mike Young teams are known for. One of the biggest reasons I think they can be a dark horse is that Young’s teams have a way of hanging around and not getting blown out of games. The Virginia Tech-Xavier semifinal may end up being the best game in the tournament.

I think the team with the most pressure in the tournament is Memphis. It might seem weird to put the Tigers here, but none of the other three teams in the field lose all that much if they don’t win this tournament. Memphis on the other hand, if they get upset in Brooklyn especially due to not valuing the basketball, something that could cost them against Xavier or Virginia Tech, the questions of how high their ceiling really is could begin to arise. That’s why I think the favorite also has the most pressure on them.

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