welcome everybody to our nit quarterfinal preview yes we are previewing an nit game and I'm not going to lie it's because the Indiana State sycamores the school I went to battling the Cincinnati Bearcats a school that's just 30 minutes from where I live right now this is a matchup with a lot of intrigue homman Center Indiana State it's been a big party at the hman Center and there has been too many parties since 1979 when Larry Bird led the Indiana State sycamores to the national championship ga
me the Cinna Bearcats in the first year in the Big 12 Conference only went seven and 11 they did beat four tournament teams only one of those teams that's still left in the tournament right now but they played a tough schedule and that leads us to tonight's matchup against the Indiana State sycamores if you're going to bet this game the best place to bet is on BET MGM make sure you click on the link the Des description down below if you're watching on YouTube to bet on the game right now Indiana
state is sitting somewhere between two and a half and three and a half points as a favorite and these two teams both do I mean it's a contrast in Styles the Bearcats are one of the top 15 teams in the country on defense the Indiana state sycamores are the top two-point shooting team in the country number 11 three-point shooting this game has everything you could want in a basketball game and the Indiana State sycamores if you watch the first four and you watch the Virginia Cavaliers struggle to
even get the 50 which they couldn't the Indiana State Sycamore should be in the NCAA basketball tournament it's an absolute joke that they're not and the main reason they're not is they're from what they' like to call a mid- major even though we saw two mid- majors in Florida and Atlantic and San Diego State last year make it to the final four still no respect for the mid Majors Indiana State ended the season at 30 and6 they won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship they lo
st 84 to 80 to Drake in the MVC championship game that leads us tonight at the homman center and you got to think that the people that run the NIT whoever those people are have to be hoping Indiana State wins this game Indiana State playing at hle field house if you're an Indiana basketball fan whether it's Indiana State Purdue Ball State Butler Evansville no matter who it is hle Fieldhouse is special and you know we just passed the 70th anniversary of milin high school and Bobby upsetting M Cen
tral to win the state championship hle Fieldhouse used to be a dream for kids to play in the state of Indiana it's where the state championship was played and then once it moved to Market Square Arena it's where the semi-state was played if you were from the Indiana area or southeast of that so tonight the Cincinnati beads in the NIT have won over San Francisco and Bradley they beat Bradley on Saturday 74- 57 Bradley's a team that Indiana State played three times went two and one one against def
ense is no doubt the bearcat's calling card they rank 16th nationally in Kim Palm's defensive efficiency Cincinnati keeps twoo field goals at a minimum as opponent shotes 47% from inside the ark which is 27th nationally the Bearcats have no shortage of perimeter length and athleticism to make driving into the lane a trying task for Indiana State Cincinnati is not a good perimeter team not even close they connected on just 32.6% of three point shots and the barcat have found two explosive scoring
weapons and Dan skillings Jr and jizzel James but neither really shoots the ball well that's where simus lukosus steps in he hit the gamewinner charging off a screen in the first round against San Francisco and he shoots just thir he shoots 38% from downtown for the year meanwhile skillings is an explosive driver who post 17.6 points in his last five games jizzel James scored 25 in a starting rooll without Thomas in the last game and one advantage for the Bearcats is in the height department th
ey rank 37th at average height per Kim pom compared to Indiana State's 273rd four of West Miller's Five starter stand 65 or taller with James being the shortest at 6 foot2 when we look at Indiana State some teams did get screwed out an NCAA tournament bid show up to the NIT uninspired and disin and disinterested in playing extra basketball Josh schurz's group is not one of those teams Indiana state has put together two offensive masterpieces in wins over SMU in Minnesota it didn't let the disapp
ointment of missing the NCAA tournament affect his mentality actually they may be playing even harder the gingas SMU saw him down 16 in the second half they went on a huge scoring run ended up scoring 102 points and winning the game against Minnesota they dominated the big 10's Golden Gophers took a bail 36 to 64 the sycamore's posted an absurd 1.36 PPP against SMU and a fairly tame 1.0 1.10 PPP against Minnesota in the win over SMU Indiana State shot 65% from two-point range and an even more im
pressive 73% from inside the arc against the Gophers that's nothing new for The sycamores Who offense boasts the best two-point field goal percentage in college hoops the 12 best three-point shooting percentage while it's nothing new the NIT is trying out new rules with a wider Lane than regular college basketball games The Wider Lane makes the sycamore's five out offense more explosive creating deeper driving lanes for the guards they've taken advantage of it so far in this tournament stopping
the elite passing in a five out office is already tough but making the floor wider that makes it even more difficult Robbie aala is Indiana State's best player he has not shot the ball in the well in the NIT five of 20 for the field one of 10 from downtown aila's struggles aren't that noticeable because he is such a good player that he's tossed in 14 assists only three turnovers into the two wins aala is more than just an offensive player Indiana State offense is still exploding for absurd perfo
rmances while AA is in the midst of his worst shooting stretch all year if AA turns it around it's a huge difference maker for Indiana State Indiana State also has what I think is the best all-around player in this game and Jason Kent who's a rebounding and scoring machine at times you get you got the swopes kid at guard this is a team that could get it done the Indiana State sycamores I think will end up winning the NIT and I think tonight giving two and a half to three and a half points agains
t Cincinnati I think in the end Cincinnati has to slow down one of the most explosive offenses in the country not many teams have succeeded in that mission give me the sycamores I'll give to two and a half to three and a half points because I just don't think that simply put Cincinnati can score with Indiana State even if they slow Indiana State down Indiana State should be high 60s low 70s in a game like that cinnati he has a chance if they shoot the ball better than normal if they shoot the ba
ll the way they normally do they get beat if they they get in a game where this is scored into the 80s Indiana State runs away with it so I'm going to tell you guys the best bet for T night if you go to bet MGM it's to bet the Indiana State sycamores and this will not be the last nit show yes Robert Stewart his name is jizzel James hopefully it's 90's real name hopefully you never know nowadays Robert to tell you the truth jizel James may be his real name but we will actually have nit semi-final
previews and nit Championship previews at the Indiana State sycamores are there let's hope the rumors of Josh shz leaving are not true if he stays and this team comes back this team is a threat to go deep at an dcaa basketball tournament next year if they're allowed to unfortunately this year Indiana state was not allowed to I think theight they're going to show you why they should have been all right guys you can follow me on X gring truth make sure you follow the grueling truths on Facebook o
ver 159,000 followers already have like subscribe hit the Bell notification on YouTube where over 70,000 have and check out betmgm the top sports book for betting on tonight's game all right guys we're going to wrap it up I want to remind you tomorrow at noon myself and Steve rizley will be back for the first survive in advance and well over a year to talk about the nil to transfer portal and how it affects the level of play in NC CAA basketball tournament but for now I'm mik good pastor you've
been watching and listening to the grueling Truth where the Legends speak
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