NIT Bracket 2012: Why Minnesota Should Be Favored to Cut Down the Nets

The NIT Final Four has four teams with different seeds and all of them have at least 22 wins.

But the team with the fewest amount of wins is going to end up hoisting the trophy.

The No. 6 seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers suffered a brutal six-game losing streak in the middle of Big 10 play to seal their fate, but this team is talented.

After struggling for the vast majority of the season, Rodney Williams has scored at least 20 points a game in all three NIT wins and is doing so at a remarkably efficient rate. He has shot 26 of 38 from the floor for a whopping 68-percent clip.  He has become the “man” for the team and has been by far the best player in the tournament. Credit coach Tubby Smith for sticking with him and allowing his incredible talent to be utilized.  

He’s not the only star on this team.

Point guard Andre Hollins has displayed outstanding maturity for a sophomore in the tournament. He’s handling the ball with ease while staying very aggressive, Hollins is making smart decisions with the ball and is playing defense at a very high level. His 24 points against Middle Tennessee St. were the big difference in the six-point win.

While the status of Ralph Sampson III is very much in the air, this Gopher team is peaking at the perfect time and can survive his absence.

First up is No. 1 seeded Washington.

While they certainly are a better team on offense and on the boards, the Gophers can limit the effectiveness of the trio of Terrence Ross, Tony Wroten and C.J. Wilcox. Minnesota is playing incredibly effective defense of late and is fresh off holding the fourth best shooting team in the nation to 30 percent from the three-point line. This happened a game after holding the Miami Hurricanes to 18 percent from behind the arc.

Once they skate past the Huskies, then only No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 UMass stand in the way.

Both teams are weak on the perimeter and would really struggle against the suffocating Golden Gophers' defense. Besides, they needed OT to beat Mississippi State and snuck by Drexel by two. Stanford has point guard issues that are going to ultimately doom them offensively. Defensively they are mediocre at best.

The Gophers are the team to beat, and expect them to be taking chunks out of the Madison Square Garden nets on Thursday night.  

Click here for the updated NIT bracket. 

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