NIT 2015: Predicting Winner and Final Score for Championship Game

No matter what tournament you are in, you always want to end your season with a win.

Stanford and Miami will each have that opportunity as they battle in the NIT finals at Madison Square Garden. Although it's not quite the same as the Final Four, bringing home a championship and adding a banner to the home arena is certainly something to remember.

For the young players, this is a great chance to build some momentum for the future. The seniors will have an opportunity to end their careers on a high note despite some obvious disappointment.

With two quality teams playing at a high level over the past few weeks, this is certain to be an exciting final.

National Invitation Tournament Final

When: Thursday, April 2

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York

Time: 9 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Miami showed plenty of potential throughout the season with wins over Duke and Illinois, as well as close losses to Virginia and Louisville. However, getting to this stage in the NIT is almost a miracle considering the players still left on the court.

The Hurricanes have been without starting point guard Angel Rodriguez for the past three games as he deals with a wrist injury. Starting center Tonye Jekiri will now miss the finals while dealing with a concussion.

No matter how you slice it, these are two of the team's best three players along with Sheldon McClellan.

Head coach Jim Larranaga gave a lot of credit to the mindset of the team for making it this far, via Andre C. Fernandez of the Miami Herald:

"

We had energy and we were ready to play. We could have gone into the NIT saying, ‘oh, we didn’t get invited to the NCAA Tournament,’ and cried over spilled milk. This team didn’t. We went in saying ‘let’s go play our best basketball now in March and let’s cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden.'

"

This is truly inspiring basketball, as the younger players stepped up to replace the veterans. Still, there comes a point where you simply can't overcome injuries any longer.

Without Jekiri, it will leave the door open for a big game from Stanford center Stefan Nastic. The senior is coming off a big game against Old Dominion where he finished with 17 points, six rebounds and three blocks in 38 minutes. 

Ivan Cruz Uceda will likely get his chance, but Miami will simply have no one capable of slowing down the 6'11" center.

Of course, the real strength of Stanford is its perimeter scoring of Chasson Randle and Anthony Brown. Randle put himself in the school's record books with his performance last game, via Janie McCauley of The Associated Press:

The senior has been one of the top scorers in the nation over the past two seasons and should be able to end his career on a high note by putting together another 20-point effort for the Cardinal.

With Brown capable of matching up with McClellan and few other Hurricanes really scaring a defense, an inconsistent Stanford defense should hold its own. Miami will hang around for a while, but the Pac-12 squad will pull away for a win.

Prediction: Stanford 71, Miami 62

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