2011 NIT Championship Game: Wichita State Vs. Alabama for the Title

The 2011 NIT Championship Game is hosted by New York City Thursday night. The game will be Wichita State vs. Alabama, with both teams trying to prove something with a victory. It has been a highly interesting NIT, and we now move from 32 teams down to the final two.

This year's brackets have yielded many great games so far, including the 62-61 win that Alabama squeezed out against Colorado in one of the Final Four games. That one went down to the very end between the No. 1 seeds from their respective brackets, and it was a game that could have gone either way. Alabama ended up on the right side of the outcome, and now they get to take on a No. 4 seed from the other side of the brackets.

Wichita State had to pull off a number of upsets in their path to the NIT Championship Game, and a win in the final would now also be considered an upset. After beating No. 5 Nebraska, WSU knocked off No. 1 seed Virginia Tech to get into the Elite Eight. A shooting match against College of Charleston came out in favor of the Shockers, sending them to the NIT Final Four. On Tuesday night, Wichita State really handed Washington State their lunch (75-44) and are now one step from an improbable ending to the tournament.

At this point in the year it is hard to predict which team is the favorite, especially when both schools proved that they belonged in the NCAA Tournament. Alabama won the SEC, and it was quite surprising to see them in the NIT. Wichita State had a great season of their own in the MVC, posting a 14-4 record in conference play. Now after four straight wins (each), they meet up for all the marbles in Madison Square Garden Thursday night.

Alabama has a 25-11 record and gets to play host to the 28-8 Wichita State Shockers because they are the highest seed left. The NIT Championship Game will tip off shortly after 4 p.m. PST / 7 p.m. EST Thursday, March 31, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN2. This should be a very evenly matched game, and it should prove to be a great one for fans tuning in. The tandem of JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell of the Crimson Tide should be tough for the Shockers to stop, but they proved against WSU that they are quite able to key in on the best players a team has to offer.