NIT 2017: Updated Bracket, Schedule and Predictions Heading into Semifinals

As wild as the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament has been, with No. 11 Xavier reaching the Elite Eight and No. 1 overall seed and defending champion Villanova losing in the second round, it has nothing on the National Invitation Tournament.

The NIT has a 32-team field and splits the teams into groups of eight, seeding them No. 1 through No. 8 in each quarter of the bracket.

Keeping that in mind, you'll note how unbelievable it is to see two No. 4 seeds, a No. 6 seed and a No. 8 seed in the NIT semifinals. No No. 1 (or No. 3) seed even made the quarterfinals, and Illinois was the only No. 2 seed to get that far.

As unpredictable as the NIT seems this year, we're going to give picking the semifinal games a shot.

Here's a look at some predictions, alongside an updated bracket (from the quarterfinals through the finals) as well as a schedule for next week's games.

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

Matchup	Date	Time	Television
No. 6 Georgia Tech vs. No. 8 CS Bakersfield	Tuesday, March 28	7 p.m. ET	ESPN
No. 4 TCU vs. No. 4 Central Florida	Tuesday, March 28	9 p.m. ET	ESPN
GT-CSUB winner vs. TCU-UCF winner	Thursday, March 30	8 p.m. ET	ESPN

Semifinal Predictions

Georgia Tech vs. CS Bakersfield

CS Bakersfield has outscored its three NIT opponents 141-80 in the first half, which means that the Roadrunners' average lead at halftime has been 20.3 points, a impressive feat made even more remarkable by the fact that all three of CS Bakersfield's NIT games have been on the road.

The reason for CS Bakersfield's success? Its tremendous depth. CS Bakersfield's bench has produced 108 points in three games, compared to 49 total for its opposition. Junior guard Shon Briggs has led that charge, averaging 17 points per game for the Roadrunners in the NIT.

In other words, he's outscored all three teams' reserves by himself, 51-49.

CS Bakersfield's depth is in stark contrast to Georgia Tech's rotation, as the Yellow Jackets are only giving six players significant minutes at this point. In fact, only seven players even saw court time in the quarterfinals against Ole Miss.

We can look at this disparity in one of two ways.

On CS Bakersfield's side, the Roadrunners off the bench can play with the starters and not miss a beat.

But the edge goes to Georgia Tech's side. The Yellow Jackets will have a full seven days of rest before playing again, so their short six-man rotation should be fresh and ready to roll against CS Bakersfield. That extra energy should prove beneficial to Georgia Tech.

The Roadrunners have this team of destiny feel about them, but Georgia Tech is the pick. The Yellow Jackets were on the NCAA tournament bubble until late in the year and beat stiff competition, including North Carolina, Notre Dame, Florida State and VCU. They should be able to beat CS Bakersfield on a neutral floor, but expect this one to stay close.

Pick: Georgia Tech 70, CS Bakersfield 66

TCU vs. Central Florida

TCU is currently a 2.5-point favorite over Central Florida, per OddsShark.

That isn't much of a surprise. The Horned Frogs are the highest-rated team left in the NIT field per the Ken Pomeroy ratings (36th) and the Sagarin ratings (38th).

Also, TCU junior guard Kenrich Williams is playing fantastic basketball right now. He's registered a double-double in each of his three NIT games and even put up a triple-double (11 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists) against Richmond in the quarterfinals. For the tournament, Williams is averaging 13 points, 11.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game.

He's going to be tough for UCF to stop, but the Knights may be up for the task. UCF is one of the best defensive teams in Division I, allowing just 61.0 points per game (fourth in the country).

Tacko Fall, UCF's 7'6" center, leads that effort, swatting 2.5 blocks per game and playing strong defense down low. If he isn't blocking shots, then he's altering their trajectory, leading to misses. The Knights also allow a Division I-low 36.3 percent field-goal percentage.

The key is whether UCF will be able to make its shots, though. The Knights only hit on 43.8 percent of their field goals, which is 210th in Division I. This is despite Fall's field-goal percentage of 71.7 percent.

The guess is that both teams struggle from the field, but UCF's superior defense is enough to slow down Williams and win a game in which neither team hits 60 points.

Pick: UCF 59, TCU 57