NIT 2015: Schedule, Live Stream and Predictions for Wednesday's Quarterfinals

With two spots in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals already clinched, four teams will vie for the final two openings through a pair of exciting matchups Wednesday.

Miami earned its trip to New York City Tuesday with a come-from-behind effort to top Richmond. Stanford will join the Hurricanes in the next round after defeating Vanderbilt behind 26 points from Anthony Brown.

Before we can kick off the semifinals, though, two more games will decide the final participants. The good news is you can expect each one to be a true battle between squads giving it their best effort. While many consider this event a consolation to the NCAA tournament, the teams remaining are the ones that truly want to be here.

This is certain to create some exciting contests down the stretch. Here is a look at the remaining schedule for the NIT as well as predictions for the remaining quarterfinal games.

Date	Round	Matchup	Time (ET)	TV
March 25	Quarterfinal	Old Dominion vs. Murray State	7 p.m.	ESPN2
March 25	Quarterfinal	Temple vs. Louisiana Tech	9 p.m.	ESPN2
March 31	Semifinal	Miami (FL) vs. Temple/Louisiana Tech	7/9 p.m.	ESPN
March 31	Semifinal	Stanford vs. Old Dominion/Murray State	7/9 p.m.	ESPN
April 2	Final	Semifinal Winners	9 p.m.	ESPN

Note: You can view a complete updated bracket at NCAA.com. All games can be viewed online at Watch ESPN.

No. 1 Temple vs. No. 3 Louisiana Tech

Laurence Kesterson/Associated Press

This is a classic battle between offense and defense.

Louisiana Tech was one of the most exciting teams in the nation during the regular season with an offense led by point guard Kenneth "Speedy" Smith. The senior isn't someone who will light up the scoreboard, but he averages an impressive 7.5 assists per game to pair with his 1.9 steals per game.

His ability to distribute the ball helped Raheem Appleby and Alex Hamilton each average over 15 points per game, while Erik McCree and Xavian Stapleton have had solid seasons as well despite poor shooting numbers. 

The problem is that the Bulldogs will run into a defense that ranks 19th in the nation in efficiency, according to KenPom.com. 

Will Cummings was a steal machine during the regular season, while Jaylen Bond was one of the top on-ball defenders in the country. Adding in an anchor in the interior like Obi Enechionyia, and this group will make it tough for anyone to score.

This focus on defense helped the Owls create an impressive turnaround this year, as described by Chase Senior of TempleTV:

Although it likely won't be a pretty game, Temple should slow down Smith and company while Cummings and Quenton DeCosey take care of business on the offensive end to earn the win.

Prediction: Temple 66, Louisiana Tech 63

No. 1 Old Dominion vs. No. 3 Murray State

David Crenshaw/Associated Press

Both of these teams can argue they deserved a place in the NCAA tournament. Old Dominion had a great record in Conference USA but didn't have many notable wins outside of VCU. In the end, losing to Middle Tennessee in the conference tournament ended any chance of dancing.

Murray State was a much more interesting case as a squad that dominated the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers won 25 games in a row before losing in the tournament final to Belmont. In a passion-filled column directed at the selection committee, head coach Steve Prohm argued on behalf of his team, via Sporting News:

"

To win night-in and night-out, 25 games in a row, I hope people – especially on the committee – respect the level of excellence and commitment that takes. And hopefully these kids are rewarded for doing something special like that.

If you took some of the high-major teams that are fighting to get in like we are, could they take this schedule and go from Nov. 29 to March 7 and never lose a game? Night-in, night-out, on the road?

"

While his team didn't get into the tournament, people like Evan Daniels of Scout.com continued to argue on its behalf:

More importantly, the snub has created a mission to make everyone in its path pay. The Racers earned easy wins over quality opponents in UTEP and Tulsa thanks to some great play by Cameron Payne.

Adding in shooters all over the floor and great rebounders like Jarvis Williams and Jonathan Fairell, Murray State has what it takes to keep up the offensive effort and pull off one more upset to get to the semifinals.

Prediction: Murray State 72, Old Dominion 64

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