NIT 2012 Bracket: Middle Tennessee Will Be No Match for Minnesota

Minnesota might not have been good enough to get into the NCAA tournament, but unfortunately for Middle Tennessee, it's playing better right now than it has since December.

The No. 6 seed Gophers have had a couple of high points this season. One was starting off the year 12-1. The other was beating Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

However, in between those two things was everything that kept them from dancing in the NCAA tournament this year.

Minnesota struggled mightily in conference play this year, losing its first four matchups and then dropping six of seven in February. The Gophers finished 6-12 in the Big Ten and couldn't make a run in the tournament after taking care of Northwestern in the first round.

Now, they seem to have found their footing to some degree, starting off the NIT with wins over La Salle and Miami. Their offense seems to be improving along the way too. In 12 regulation games, Minnesota failed to score 70 points, but in four of their last five games, they've done exactly that.

The Blue Raiders, on the other hand, have far more wins than Minnesota, but their strength of schedule (.4882) is far weaker than Minnesota's (.5604). The Gophers went 1-8 against teams in the top 25, but looking at the other teams in their conference shows the stiff competition. The Blue Raiders didn't even face one ranked opponent this season.

The No. 4 seed Blue Raiders finished on top of the Sun Belt Conference and took down Marshall and top-seeded Tennessee en route to the NIT quarterfinals, closing out that game with a 15-0 run. In the process, they became the first Sun Belt team to advance to the NIT quarterfinals since UAB in 1989.

Still, the Gophers are playing like they did early in the season, when they were still fighting to win. Their offense is clicking with center Elliott Eliason in the lineup, and they're playing with more speed and athleticism than they've shown all year. 

Facing Middle Tennessee, it will be their turn to pull off the upset.