I agree there are some solid teams in this tournament, with Weber State being one of those teams. Weber was NEVER in consideration for an NCAA at large bid, but I do think they could at least make an argument for being worthy of the NIT.
In my opinion, the best team in this tournament is Air Force. Then again, they are also the team I know the most about. Air Force plays in the MWC, which has the #1 Conference RPI. Air Force(17-13) RPI of 79 has wins over, UNLV, Boise State, San Diego State (ranked 22nd at the time) and New Mexico(ranked 12th at the time). All 4 teams are in the NCAA Tournament. New Mexico(now 10th in AP) won both the regular season and MWC Tournaments and is a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Air Force also beat Wyoming( (18-13), RPI 73) twice, and Wyoming is in the CBI. Air Force had an SOS ranked 56th in RPI. Went 4-10 against teams in Top 50, and 2-1 against teams 51-100.
These
Below are 4 more teams(along with Air Force) I think are the best of the field, and will likely have very good opportunity to win the tournament:
EKU(24-9) has an RPI of 69, which is the best of the 32 teams.
Northern Iowa(18-14), RPI 83
Weber State(26-6, RPI 85)
KENT(20-13), RPI 132
If YSU and KENT each win their first round games, would not be surprise to see a YSU-KSU 2nd round game. This tournament has no pre-set brackets, and they try to limit the travel distance of the road team. Kent hosts Fairfield in the 1st round.