NIT 2016: Schedule, Live Stream and Bracket Predictions for Semifinals

The NCAA tournament isn't the only slate of games in March when it comes to college basketball.

Over the course of the past two weeks, 32 teams that missed out on the sport's biggest stage were able to compete in a bracket-style NIT featuring teams seeded No. 1 through No. 8. The tournament is also down to its final four teams with two matchups scheduled Tuesday night to determine who will play for the NIT championship.

The four teams remaining—the Valparaiso Crusaders, BYU Cougars, San Diego State Aztecs and George Washington Colonials—all hail from non-Power Five conferences and could use a championship to help with offseason recruiting.

Here's a look at the schedule for the two semifinal games, TV and live stream information, plus a prediction for each matchup.

Date	Matchup	Time (ET)	TV	Live Stream
March 29	No. 1 Valparaiso vs. No. 2 BYU	7 p.m.	ESPN	WatchESPN
March 29	No. 2 San Diego State vs. No. 4 George Washington	9 p.m.*	ESPN	WatchESPN

Updated bracket can be found here, courtesy of NCAA.com.

Valparaiso vs. BYU

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The Crusaders and Cougars tip off first in a game between two teams with contrasting styles. Valparaiso leads the Horizon League in scoring defense at 62.2 points per game, while BYU has the most prolific offense in the West Coast Conference at 83.6 points per game.

With 29 victories, the Crusaders have a right to be confident, but according to Jarom Jordan of BYUtv, the school's media department may be a little too overconfident:

Junior forward Alec Peters leads Valparaiso, and he is fourth in the conference in scoring at 18.5 points per game to go along with 8.4 rebounds. The Crusaders are deep, and head coach Bryce Drew played eight players at least 15 minutes in their quarterfinal win over the St. Mary's Gaels.

Valpo beat writer Paul Oren noted the strength of the bench in a Jan. 14 victory over the Milwaukee Panthers:

The Cougars counter with a stronger starting five featuring four players averaging double-figure points, led by senior guard Chase Fischer and his 18.3 points per game.

Senior guard Kyle Collinsworth sports the best all-around game for BYU and arrives with averages of 15.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game.

Both teams are deserving of making it this far and are good enough to win the whole thing. In fact, both are good enough to win at least a game in the NCAA tournament, and the Crusaders have legitimate beef for being left out of the field.

Bracketologist Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com had Valpo as the fifth team out despite the fact it sported an RPI ranking of 49.

BYU can score at a high rate, but Valparaiso's 75.8 points per game aren't bad, and its defense is good enough to put it over the top in this case. It will be close, but not close enough for the Cougars.

Prediction: Valparaiso wins, 77-72.

San Diego State vs. George Washington

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The fourth-seeded Colonials have earned their berth to the semifinals with three wins over teams with a combined seed average of just 2.7. Their biggest win came in the second round over the No. 1 seed Monmouth Hawks, and they followed that victory with a win over the Florida Gators—a Power Five team seeded No. 2.

George Washington also earned wins in the regular season over three tournament teams: the VCU Rams, Seton Hall Pirates and No. 1 seed Virginia Cavaliers.

Head coach Mike Lonergan understands the importance of playing in the school's first NIT semifinal game at Madison Square Garden, per ESPN.com.

"I'm very happy for our guys," Lonergan said. "It's huge for us. It really is. I mean we were really disappointed—nobody more than me—that we didn't make the NCAA tournament. So I just felt like if we could get to New York, it would kind of make it OK. It's a good opportunity for our program—our university—to get exposure."

They have an excellent shot at winning this game, although it won't be easy against the Aztecs.

San Diego State piled up 23 regular-season wins, although just one came against an RPI top 50 team in the California Golden Bears. 

While that might not be an impressive list, the Aztecs also didn't have many bad losses. They dropped just one game to a team with an RPI worse than 101. However, the loss to the No. 302 San Diego Toreros is not a good look.

Even so, San Diego State won the Mountain West Conference with a balanced scoring effort—its top three scorers pour in between 11.4 and 12.7 points per game.

The Colonials played in a tougher conference that sent three teams to the NCAA tournament, and they are more battle-tested than the Aztecs, showing they can beat some of the best teams in the country.

Look for leading scorer Tyler Cavanaugh (16.8 PPG, 7.5 RPG) to have a big game and lead the Colonials to their first NIT championship game.

Prediction: George Washington wins, 68-61.