NIT Bracket 2013: Lower Seeds with Legitimate Shot at Title

Tournament season is upon us and the NIT is bound for the same twists and turns the regular season had.  

Kentucky is standing alone as the clear favorite to win the NIT because they are without a doubt the most talented team in the bracket. Though, there are some lower seeds who have a legitimate shot at the title.  

Here are three lower seeds of No. 4 or below who can make waves in the bracket and win this year's NIT.  

No. 4 Stanford Cardinal

Stanford hails from the up-and-down Pac-12, yet you never know what you are going to get with them. 

They finished the year with a record of 18-15 and four games back in the Pac-12 conference standings.  

The Cardinal has two strong players in junior forward Dwight Powell and sophomore guard Chasson Randle.  

Powell averages 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He has a powerful inside presence that can be menacing for opposing teams in the NIT.

Randle has impressive scoring abilities, though he really needs to shoot the ball well. In any given game, Randle can drop 20-plus points, but he needs to score with consistency in the tournament. His team cannot afford an off performance in any game. 

Powell and Randle need to be the playmakers for the Cardinal in every game and play their best basketball in each matchup. If Powell controls the inside and Randle knocks down shots, the Cardinal are a dangerous team at a No. 4 seed. 

No. 5 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks

I know what you are thinking.  How can both Stanford and Stephen F. Austin have a shot at the title? After all, they play each other in the first round.  

Both of these teams are solid teams in the NIT bracket regardless of the seed they each received. The winner of the opening-round battle between Stanford and Stephen F. Austin can go a long way and win the title.  

Stephen F. Austin finished the season with 27 wins, so this team can clearly win games. Yet, it did not make the NCAA tournament due to a loss in the Southland Conference championship game to Northwestern State.

The Lumberjacks are all about defense, and defense wins championships.  

Stephen F. Austin is first in the country in points allowed per game with an average of just 51.0. That is impressive no matter the competition.  

They also have an impressive player in senior forward Taylor Smith.  Smith shoots a whopping 69.2 percent from the floor.  He rarely misses shots.

The combination of stellar team defense and efficiency from Smith can lead Stephen F. Austin to an NIT title.   

No. 6 Detroit Titans

The Detroit Titans are all about offense.  

As the nation's ninth-highest scoring offense with an average of 78.1 points per game, the Titans try to bury teams with an explosive offense.

The Detroit offense revolves around junior guard Ray McCallum and senior forward Nick Minnerath.  

McCallum was a highly-recruited player out of high school but decided to play for his dad who coaches the Titans. He is tied for 24th in the country in points per game with an average of 18.8 and shoots with a high field-goal percentage of 49.6.

McCallum is such a pure scorer and can absolutely light it up against any opponent. He is as dangerous as any player in the nation when it comes to putting up points.

Minnerath teams up well with McCallum and is no scrub at scoring, either. He struggles a bit from three-point land but can score nonetheless. Minnerath is averaging 14.9 points per game this year on 46.9 percent shooting.  

This is one of the nation's better scoring duos and can drown opponents with their shooting.  

Detroit may be a long shot to win the NIT, but with a high-scoring offense led by McCallum and Minnerath, the Titans have a legitimate shot at winning the 2013 NIT.