NIT 2016: Complete Bracket, 1st-Round Schedule and Teams to Watch

Shortly after the NCAA tournament deciphered its 68-team field, the NIT set its bracket Sunday night.

The bracket includes the best teams that didn't make the Big Dance, including a number of teams that won their respective conference's regular-season title but not its postseason championship.

Here is the complete NIT bracket:

REGION 1								REGION 4
REGION 2								REGION 3
1st Rd.	Rd. 2	QF	SF	Final	SF	QF	Rd. 2	1st Rd.
1 St. Bonaventure								1 Monmouth
8 Wagner								8 Bucknell
4 Creighton								4 G. Washington
5 Alabama								5 Hofstra
3 Virginia Tech								3 Ohio State
6 Princeton								6 Akron
2 BYU								2 Florida
7 UAB								7 North Florida
1st Rd.	Rd. 2	QF	SF	Final	SF	QF	Rd. 2	1st Rd.
1 Valparaiso								1 South Carolina
8 Texas Southern								8 High Point
4 Florida State								4 Georgia Tech
5 Davidson								5 Houston
3 Georgia								3 Washington
6 Belmont								6 Long Beach St.
2 Saint Mary's								2 San Diego St.
7 New Mexico State								7 IPFW

Below is the first-round schedule:

Date	Time (ET)	Team	Team
Region 1
Wednesday, Mar. 16	7 p.m.	No. 1 St. Bonaventure	No. 8 Wagner
Tuesday, Mar. 15	9 p.m.	No. 4 Creighton	No. 5 Alabama
Wednesday, Mar. 16	8 p.m.	No. 3 Virginia Tech	No. 6 Princeton
Wednesday, Mar. 16	10 p.m.	No. 2 BYU	No. 7 UAB
Region 2
Tuesday, Mar. 15	9:15 p.m.	No. 1 Valparaiso	No. 8 Texas Southern
Tuesday, Mar. 15	7 p.m.	No. 4 Florida State	No. 5 Davidson
Wednesday, Mar. 16	7 p.m.	No. 3 Georgia	No. 6 Belmont
Tuesday, Mar. 15	11 p.m.	No. 2 Saint Mary's	No. 7 New Mexico St.
Region 3
Tuesday, Mar. 15	7 p.m.	No. 1 South Carolina	No. 8 High Point
Wednesday, Mar. 16	9 p.m.	No. 4 Georgia Tech	No. 5 Houston
Tuesday, Mar. 15	9 p.m.	No. 3 Washington	No. 6 Long Beach St.
Tuesday, Mar. 15	10 p.m.	No. 2 San Diego State	No. 7 IPFW
Region 4
Wednesday, Mar. 16	7:30 p.m.	No. 1 Monmouth	No. 8 Bucknell
Wednesday, Mar. 16	8 p.m.	No. 4 George Washington	No. 5 Hofstra
Tuesday, Mar. 15	7 p.m.	No. 3 Ohio State	No. 6 Akron
Tuesday, Mar. 15	9 p.m.	No. 2 Florida	No. 7 North Florida

While there are some teams from the Power Five conferences that will be participating in the NIT, let's focus on a pair of mid-major teams to watch out for this tournament.

Monmouth Hawks

Conference: MAAC

Record: 27-7

RPI: 52

SOS: 166

NIT Seed: No. 1

For some reason, the Monmouth bench made as many headlines as the product that was actually on the court winning games.

OK, I understand, via ESPN College Bball:

"

Monmouth bench was definitely into the 19-5 run to end the 1st half. https://t.co/fBg10O2qKv

— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) March 8, 2016"

Monmouth exploded onto the national scene with wins against Southern California, UCLA, Notre Dame and Georgetown early in the season. USC and Notre Dame are in the NCAA tournament this year, as is Iona, who Monmouth went 1-2 against this year.

The Hawks are a team that can flat-out score. In 17 of their games this year, they've scored at least 80 points. Justin Robinson leads them with an average of 19.5 points per game.

Regardless of its mid-major standing, Monmouth simply found ways to win this season. Only Saint Mary's had as many victories as Monmouth and didn't make the NCAA tournament. The Gaels are a No. 2 seed in this tournament after losing the West Coast Conference championship game to Gonzaga.

Monmouth has proved throughout the year it can beat the big programs and provide some flair as well. It might not win the whole thing, but it will be one of the most entertaining teams to watch.

Hofstra Pride

Conference: CAA

Record: 24-9

RPI: 54

SOS: 108

NIT Seed: No. 5

If you want to talk about entertainment value, it might not get much better than Hofstra at the NIT. Under head coach Joe Mihalich, this is a team that likes to run and run fast.

It's what helped it win the CAA regular-season title, a conference that was ranked ninth in the NCAA this season.

The Pride boasted some quality wins this season over fellow NIT participants Florida State and St. Bonaventure, both of them coming away from home. It was a game away from the NCAA tournament but lost to North Carolina Wilmington in overtime at the CAA championship game.

Its performance this season had CBS Sports' Seth Davis bringing them up in conversations of an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament anyway:

With that kind of resume, having to play a road game as a No. 5 seed is a tough break for the Pride.

Hofstra is a team that contains some deceptively good talent, headed by point guard Juan'ya Green, who ranks seventh in the nation with 7.1 assists per game.

He comes up big in some pretty big situations, as CAA Basketball showed his assist on Denton Koon's game-winning layup in the conference semifinal game:

Not to mention he is the team's leading scorer with 17.6 points per game, as he's created a solid scoring trio along with Ameen Tanksley (16.0 PPG) and Rokas Gustys (13.5 PPG). His ability to stay offensively aggressive while facilitating the offense is going to be tough for NIT teams to stop.

Where Green provides the flashy play, Gustys provides the muscle down low, as he averages a double-double with those 13.5 points and 13.0 rebounds per game. The sophomore ranks second in the nation in boards per game.

One problem Hofstra has is that it isn't a deep team. Outside of its starting five, only one healthy player is averaging more than 10 minutes per game.

But if Hofstra can dictate the pace of its game and Green can continue to dissect the opposition, depth won't be a problem, as teams won't be able to keep up.

RPI figures courtesy of RealTimeRPI.com. Stats courtesy of NCAA.com.