NIT Tournament 2017: Bracket and Schedule for Semifinals in New York

The NCAA purchased the preseason and postseason National Invitation Tournaments in August 2005. The following year, the NCAA instituted some new changes to the postseason playoff, most notably a seeding process.

From 2006 through 2016, a top-three seed always made the NIT. Some years were funkier than others, with a few dark horses finding their way to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals, but chalk won out more often than not in the past decade.

You can throw all past precedent out the window this year, however, as no top-three seed made the semifinals and only two seeds higher than No. 6 (No. 4 seeds TCU and Central Florida) made it that far. No. 6 seed Georgia Tech and No. 8 seed CS Bakersfield will join them.

Here's a look at the latest bracket and semifinal schedule, as well as some predictions for Tuesday's games.

Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
No. 6 Georgia Tech 74
	No. 6 Georgia Tech
No. 5 Ole Miss 66
No. 8 CS Bakersfield 80
	No. 8 CS Bakersfield	Georgia Tech/CS Bakersfield winner
No. 6 Texas-Arlington 76
		vs.
No. 4 TCU 86
	No. 4 TCU	TCU/UCF winner
No. 6 Richmond 68
No. 4 UCF 68
	No. 4 UCF
No. 2 Illinois 58

Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	Television
No. 6 Georgia Tech vs. No. 8 CS Bakersfield	Tuesday, March 28	7 p.m.	ESPN
No. 4 UCF vs. No. 4 TCU	Tuesday, March 28	9 p.m.	ESPN

Predictions

No. 6 Georgia Tech vs. No. 8 CS Bakersfield

Georgia Tech junior Ben Lammers is third in Division I in blocks with 3.34 per game. The 6'10", 227-pound center has arguably been the NIT's Most Valuable Player thus far, as he has averaged 15 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 4.3 blocks and 3.3 steals per game.

The stat sheet-stuffing Lammers also produced the best individual performance of the tournament when he scored 20 points, blocked eight shots and made four steals in a 74-66 win at Ole Miss, who had just beaten Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.

He should be a problem for CS Bakersfield, although the Roadrunners' run to the NIT semifinals has been remarkable.

CS Bakersfield beat Cal in the first round, 73-66 after outscoring the Golden Bears 44-19 in the first half. While Cal's two best players, sophomore forward (and potential first-round NBA draft pick) Ivan Rabb and senior guard Jabari Bird, were absent from the game, it shouldn't take too much away from the Roadrunners' accomplishment, as they still beat a Pac-12 team on the road.

CS Bakersfield went on to defeat Mountain West championship finalist and 24-game winner Colorado State and 27-game winner and Sun Belt regular-season champion Texas-Arlington on the road.

In other words, CS Bakersfield hasn't lucked its way into the semifinals. No one outside Bakersfield thought the Roadrunners would advance out of the first round. A NIT championship certainly isn't out of the question for this team.

That being said, Georgia Tech will be CS Bakersfield's toughest test yet, and with Lammers playing as well as he is right now and causing chaos down low, it's hard to see the Roadrunners winning.

The Yellow Jackets will win a close game that goes down to the final minute.

Pick: Georgia Tech

No. 4 Central Florida vs. No. 4 TCU

The block party could continue in the next NIT semifinal as 7'6" UCF sophomore center Tacko Fall blocks 2.5 shots per game.

He leads a fantastic Knights defense that ranks 18th in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.com, and allows just 61.0 points per game, which ranks fourth in Division I.

TCU looked like it was on track for an NCAA tournament bid in early February, as the Horned Frogs were 6-5 in the tough Big 12. However, they proceeded to lose their next seven games, six of which were against conference teams that eventually made the NCAA tournament.

The Horned Frogs did beat future NCAA tournament No. 1 seed Kansas close to the Jayhawks' home, however, winning 85-82 in Kansas City's Sprint Center (albeit without KU freshman star Josh Jackson, who was suspended) behind 18 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals from junior guard and triple-double threat Kenrich Williams.

TCU is stout on offense and defense, ranking 38th and 58th in adjusted offensive efficiency and adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.com. Therefore, the key to this game is whether UCF will score enough to hang with TCU on Tuesday night.

Offense has been the Knights' Achilles' heel at times this season, as they only shoot 43.8 percent from the field and 66.1 percent from the free-throw line as a team.

Sophomore guard B.J. Taylor and senior guard Matt Williams will be tasked with carrying the Knights' offensive load. Thankfully for Knights fans, that hasn't been an issue in the NIT. Taylor is averaging 21.7 points per game in the tournament, while Williams has registered 16 points a game and made 13 of his 25 three-point attempts (52 percent).

Kenrich Williams will be hard to stop, but if Taylor and Matt Williams continue their scoring streaks, then it's hard seeing TCU coming out on top in the semifinals. The guess here is that the Knights win a close game and advance to face Georgia Tech in the finals.

Pick: UCF