An up-and-down year for St. Mary's resulted in an NIT bid. On the contrary, Western Kentucky was 2 minutes away from representing Conference USA in the NCAA Tournament. Look for motivation to be on the side of St. Mary’s, led by senior Tommy Kuhse.

Couple reasons why we will back No. 2 seed Saint Mary's over No. 3 Western Kentucky in this NIT matchup from Texas. First, KenPom ranks the Gaels at No. 75 overall and the Hilltoppers at No. 94. Second, WKU will be without power forward Carson Williams because he has an NFL pro day coming up. As far as I can tell, Williams didn't play football at WKU, but at 6-foot-5, 240 pounds maybe he thinks he has a future as an NFL tight end. Williams is averaging 7.5 points and 5.3 rebounds in 27 minutes per game and had started all of them.