NIT 2012: Stanford Cardinal, Minnesota Gophers Playing in Championship Game

In an unforgiving season for the Pac-12, Stanford now has a chance to bring some sort of redemption to the conference in the 2012 NIT Championship Game on March 29 (on ESPN at 4 p.m. Pacific).

Stanford (25-11) beat Massachusetts 74-64 in the semifinals at Madison Square Garden for a spot in the title game against Minnesota (23-14). The Minnesota Golden Gophers ended the Pac-12 regular-season champion Huskies' postseason with a 68-67 overtime win in the semifinals.

For the Huskies, their season can be summed up much like the rest of the conference's: littered with missed opportunities. 

There were Washington's losses to then-No. 11 Marquette, 79-77, and then-No. 7 Duke, 86-80.  There was the Huskies' three-point loss in Seattle to Cal (the highest Pac-12 RPI-ranked team), and Washington's final regular-season game ending in a 75-69 loss at UCLA.

All of those losses seemed to be past events when Washington won the Pac-12 regular-season title outright after Cal fell to Stanford. It marked the fourth consecutive year in which the Huskies won a regular or conference tournament title.

Then came Washington’s 86-84 loss to Oregon State in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament. After being the first power conference regular-season champion to not receive an NCAA bid, the Huskies entered the NIT.

Washington made it to the semifinals, but despite a second-half comeback, ultimately fell to Minnesota in overtime. The NIT tournament title would have been the ultimate counterargument to the Huskies' NCAA tournament snub, but now serves as another example of Washington’s missed opportunities. 

There were some questionable teams in the NCAA tournament this year.

Connecticut was 8-10 in the Big East this season, and lost nine of its last 13 regular-season games. Connecticut was still given a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament. Connecticut lost its first game in the Big Dance to No. 8 seed Iowa State, 77-64.

West Virginia was 9-9 in the Big East, and lost seven of its last 11 regular-season games. West Virginia also lost its first game in the Big East tournament. West Virginia was given a No. 10 seed, and lost in its first game of the NCAA tournament to No. 7 seed Gonzaga, 77-54.

The Mountain West and WCC respectively had four and three spots in the NCAA tournament, compared to the Pac-12's two. Both the Mountain West and the WCC only had one team in the round of 32 and dropped out of the tournament after that point.

Those two conferences earned the same number of NCAA tournament wins as the Pac-12 this year. The Pac-12 conference tournament champion, No. 11 seed Colorado, beat No. 6 seed and AP No. 23 UNLV from the Mountain West. Colorado lost to Baylor in the round of 32. Cal was the other Pac-12 team in the 2012 NCAA tournament. The Bears lost in the first round to South Florida, a team that went on to upset No. 5 seed Temple. 

Stanford now stands as the only Pac-12 team remaining in the postseason NIT, after Arizona, Oregon and Washington all lost. The Stanford Cardinal finished the regular season seventh in the Pac-12 after their season started off with five wins before losing by two possessions to then-No. 5 Syracuse.

The Cardinal failed to pull off many wins in conference play, with notable exceptions like sweeping Colorado and beating Cal in the final game of the regular season. That win gave Washington the lead in the Pac-12, and the regular-season title. 

Stanford beat Arizona State before losing to Cal in the Pac-12 tournament.

In the NIT, Stanford beat Cleveland State, Illinois State, Nevada and Massachusetts.  Nevada was one of the teams named by the NCAA tournament selection committee as being the last six out. 

The NIT championship game pits No. 3 seed Stanford against No. 6 seed Minnesota. Minnesota played nine AP Top 25 games this season with a win-loss record of 1-8 in those games, the lone win coming against then-No. 7 Indiana. Minnesota's ranked losses were all to Big Ten teams, a conference in which the Gophers finished ninth. 

In the NIT, Minnesota beat La Salle, Miami (another team on the last six out list), Middle Tennessee State and Washington.

Stanford has the chance to pull off something No. 1 seeds Washington and Arizona and fellow No. 3 seed Oregon missed out on: winning the NIT 2012 title. It’s a chance for the Cardinal to end the Pac-12's season on a high note instead of yet another missed opportunity for the conference. 

For an online 2012 NIT bracket click here.