NCAA Basketball: Arizona, Kentucky, Memphis and Fresno State headline Sunday Mailbag

Who do I predict are the best candidates to make the NIT Final Four? – Rocco Miller (@RoccoMiller8)

With so much left in the season this is a really tough question to answer but always count on Rocco, who is one of the best College Basketball follows, to get me thinking. Teams that I am going to assume are out of the tournament right now as at-large contenders, but have a team to make a huge run in the NIT are as follows. I have no idea where these teams will be seeded but the teams listed all have some players who can make a lot of noise in the NIT.

Saint Bonaventure was a team everyone had ranked in the preseason and started out the season full go and looked like a legitimate second-weekend contender but some key injuries to their key players, they faded quickly.

The Bonnies are one of the most confusing teams in the country as they have the talent to beat most anyone in the league, but they have some very head-scratching losses. Saint Bonaventure only plays five guys for most of the game so their health is of the utmost importance and hopefully, they don’t fade fast. The Bonnies are not an at-large team now.

Fresno State Bulldogs are a team who should make the NIT, but will likely be a middle seed. The Bulldogs are going to finish in the middle of the pack in the Mountain West this year, and that is a feat given how well that conference has performed this year. The Bulldogs were never able to beat the top four teams in the league but they are still a very good team.

Fresno State is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country and they have a big man in Orlando Robinson who is on the Kenpom list for the national player of the year. If a team has never seen Robinson before he can be a huge handful and can do massive damage as he can score inside and outside and from the free throw line.

There are also going to be two or three power conference schools who make the NIT that is going to make some noise in the NIT those teams do every year. Rutgers is a team with a very intriguing resume who has an outside chance to get into the NCAA tournament, but if they don’t should easily make the NIT and they have the full package of two guards who can score a ton of points and a great defense which is going to be tough to navigate for any mid-major school.

The Scarlet Knights are playing much better now than they were in November. Rutgers also shines the brightest when the teams are the best. Rutgers could also lose in the first round but they have the talent to win the NIT.

The last team who potentially could make some noise in the NIT is the Memphis Tigers. This is assuming Memphis doesn’t completely falter down the stretch and still makes the NIT. I have been very public about how much I think Penny Hardaway is a bad coach, and that all still rings true, especially since he is yet again going to miss the NCAA tournament. Memphis did just get a huge win over Houston, which is going to drastically improve their resume. However, talent has to win out at some point right? The Tigers have immense talent they are just coached very poorly.

Obviously, a lot still needs to be ironed out before we ever know the NIT field but these are all teams who likely won’t make the NCAA tournament and are all good enough to find their way into the NIT field.