The 2013 NIT Bracket was just released here on Selection Sunday, and here at Bankroll Sports, we are going to be taking a quick look at the teams that are going to be playing in the NIT this year and what they need to do to beat the odds to win the NIT and make it to Madison Square Garden for the NIT Final Four!

We’re going to start over in the Kentucky region, where the Wildcats are actually going to have to go on the road for the opening game of this tournament. The top seed in the tourney is going to have to hit the road to go to Pittsburgh to face Robert Morris, the automatic qualifiers from the Northeast Conference. After taking on the Colonials, either Providence or Charlotte will be on deck in games that really shouldn’t prove to be all that difficult if the Wildcats are going to really play this tournament full out. Arizona State and Baylor are the highlight teams in the bottom of the bracket, but Detroit (arguably the last team that made it to the NIT) and Long Beach State, an automatic qualifier from the Big West are also in the bracket.

The winner of the Kentucky bracket will face the winner of the Southern Miss bracket at Madison Square Garden. Things really don’t setup all that well for the Golden Eagles, knowing that they didn’t beat a single RPI Top 50 team all season long. They don’t have many great RPI teams in this bracket, but Florida State and Louisiana Tech could be ready to pounce in Hattiesburg. BYU seems to be a bit of a paper tiger of a No. 3 seed, but the Cougars were clearly picked here due to the fact that they will fill up the Marriott Center on Tuesday against Washington. The Huskies are a great team that deserved to be in better shape than this for the NIT. The winner has to likely head East to Knoxville, where the Volunteers are going to hope to continue their solid play in the second season.

The opposite side of the 2013 NIT Bracket is going to be insane, as it is chock full of teams that have a ton to prove. The Alabama bracket is going to feature some teams that have to travel quite a long ways to get to each of their games. If the chalk holds up on Tuesday, Alabama will get to host Stanford, which has a tough draw in its own right against Stephen F. Austin. Ohio was probably one of the last teams that made it into the NIT, and it will take on a Denver team that many thought would have little chance to get into the tournament at all, let alone host a game. Maryland and Niagara should make for some exciting basketball as well. The Terrapins really hit their stride at the end of the season, and they have a couple major wins over Duke to their credit as well.

It might be a bit surprising to see Virginia as a No. 1 seed here in the NIT, but that’s bad news for the rest of the teams in its bracket. The Hoos were dominating at home at John Paul Jones Arena this year, and as long as they are over the disappointing of having to play in the NIT instead of the NCAAs, there is a good shot that they can win this tournament. Their first victim is a Norfolk State team that made some history last year when it came out of the No. 15 slot and beat No. 2 Missouri in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. St. Joe’s and St. John’s are going to face off in a regional game that should be a thrilled. Iowa and Indiana State both have to be really disappointed that they are so low on the NIT bracket. The Hawkeyes really could have been a top seed in our eyes, but they were relegated to a No. 3 and will likely only get one game at Carver Hawkeye Arena as a result. UMass is the No. 2 seed that will host the first two games in this region as long as it keeps winning, and it gets Stony Brook in its opening soiree.