NIT Bracket 2012: Battle-Tested Minnesota Will Blast Through Stanford

The Minnesota Golden Gophers may be a low seed in the NIT tournament, but they are coming from the Big Ten, and the Stanford Cardinal are coming from the Pac-12.

That's really all you need to know heading into Thursday's NIT final.

Playing in the Big Ten hasn't exactly been fun for a lot of teams this season. The conference boasts Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana. Despite this, the Golden Gophers headed into the NIT tournament with a 19-14 record.

During the regular season, Minnesota beat Indiana and lost to Michigan State, Wisconsin and Michigan by seven points or fewer. In the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals, the Golden Gophers took the Spartans into overtime.

That's why it wasn't a huge surprise that Minnesota has gotten to the NIT final. Did I expect the Golden Gophers to beat Washington? No. But the fact that they did means Stanford is in trouble.

Leading Minnesota is junior forward Rodney Williams, who has been on fire in the NIT tournament. Williams has averaged 21 points while shooting 61 percent from the floor (34-of-55) in the tournament.

Beyond Williams you have freshman guard Andre Hollins, who has also exploded in the tourney. Despite averaging 8.9 points this season, Hollins has averaged 17.7 points in four NIT tournament games.

Minnesota has also been known to create turnovers. The Golden Gophers forced 16 turnovers against Middle Tennessee in the quarterfinals and forced Washington into 19 turnovers in the semifinals.

Minnesota is rolling together, getting contributions from numerous players, and the defense has stepped up at just the right time.

Stanford doesn't have the firepower to keep up with Minnesota and hasn't been tested enough. That will be the difference come Thursday.

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