Washington and UMass punched their tickets to the NIT semifinals on Tuesday, and the other two semifinalists will be determined on Wednesday. Fresh off their upset of Tennessee, the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders host the Minnesota Golden Gophers, while the Nevada Wolfpack travel away to face Stanford.
Middle Tennessee aren't really a surprise at this stage; they were expected to win the Sun Belt Tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament. A surprise upset loss has sent them here, and they're making the most of it. They have wins over UCLA, MAC regular-season champions Akron, Belmont and Ole Miss, as well as their NIT wins over Marshall and Tennessee, so it's fair to call them slight favorites against Tubby Smith's Gophers.
Nevada is in a similar situation, though they won't be at home on Wednesday. However, Stanford was pushed to overtime by an Illinois State team whose pedigree doesn't stack up to Nevada's in the last round of the tournament.
Schedule (Both games on ESPN2 and ESPN3)
No. 6 Minnesota vs. No. 4 Middle Tennessee - 7:00 p.m. ET
No. 5 Nevada vs. No. 3 Stanford - 9:00 p.m. ET
You can find a full NIT bracket here.
For more on the NIT, be sure to check out our NCAA basketball hub. A full bracket can be found here and be sure to check out our 2012 NCAA Tournament hub for more on the Big Dance.
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