The LSU Tigers were one of four team invited to participate in the inaugural Greenbrier Tip-Off. The tournament begins on Friday afternoon when the Tigers face the Pitt Panthers at 1:30pm and concludes with the championship and third place games on Sunday.

The four-team field consists of No. 19 Wisconsin, Pitt, UCF and LSU. The name value might not be all the way there, but these are four really good teams who all rank inside the top-70 in KenPom. There will be opportunities for Quad 1 victories, which always look really good on your tournament resume.

Here's what LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon had to say about the field on Monday:

"It's an incredible field. Pitt just won by 30 over West Virginia, Wisconsin just scored 103 against Arizona, Central Florida already has a win over Texas A&M. I think those neutral site games are priceless and provide more Quad 1 opportunities."

With all that said, let's dive into the four teams who will be in West Virginia this weekend.

The Tigers have been an interesting case study through four games this season. They won by 35 over ULM, but then had to overcome a 10-point second half deficit to beat Alabama State in their second game. After that they traveled to Kansas State and beat the brakes off the Wildcats before coming back home and needing another second half comeback to beat a not-so-good Charleston Southern team. They've shown a ton of upside, but have also played down to their competition on more than one occasion.

As I'm sure you all know, this team is led by their elite guard trio they got out of the transfer portal. Cam Carter leads the way with 17.8 points per game while Jordan Sears and Dji Bailey add 13.8 and 10.8 respectively. Jalen Reed is the lone big man who averages more than six points per game with 10.3. After them, true freshman Vyctorius Miller has emerged as a legitimate scoring threat, scoring 34 points on 15-for-22 shooting over the last two games.

After their near-loss to Charleston Southern on Tuesday, LSU dropped from 40th to 48th in KenPom. They're currently sandwiched between Utah State and Oklahoma.

On Friday, the Tigers get who I think is the best team in the tournament in Pitt. They may not be ranked as high in the AP Poll as Wisconsin, but they've looked really good early on (more on them later). It's a tough game, but it will really tell us where this team is at, because that win against Kansas State might not be as good as we thought it was at the time.

Full KenPom rankings:

Rank: 48th

Offensive Rating: 48th

Defensive Rating: 56th

Non-conference SOS: 310th

The Wisconsin Badgers enter the Greenbrier Tip-Off with a 5-0 record and rank as the 19th best team in the country. About a week ago, they faced the then-9th ranked Arizona Wildcats and absolutely dominated them, 103-88. However, coming off the big win, the Bagers nearly fell to the University of Texas Rio Grade Valley on Monday, but escaped with a 87-84 win after a potential game-winner from UTGRV fell short with two seconds left.

John Tonje, a sixth-year senior who transferred from Missouri, leads the team in scoring with 22 points per game, which is a bit inflated because of a 41-point outing against Arizona. He's an elite scorer who is shooting 56% from the field and 50% from three on the season. Behind Tonje, the guard duo of John Blackwell and Max Klesmit have combined to score 30.6 points and dish out 4.5 assists per game. This elite guard trio has the talent to rival any back court in the country.

If there's one area this Badgers team struggles in it's rebounding the basketball. Despite beating Arizona by 15, they were out-rebounded 52-28, and on Monday night, they only out-rebounded a smaller UTRGV team by four.

The Badgers are probably the second best overall team in this tournament. They have three guards who can drop 20+ points per night, but also have a solid front court to compliment them inside.

Full KenPom rankings:

Rank: 39th

Offensive Rating: 19th

Defensive Rating: 80th

Non-conference SOS: 245th

The Pitt Panthers come into the Greenbrier Tip-Off with a 5-0 record and are coming off two massive wins over West Virginia and VMI. I'm a big proponent of using KenPom rankings over AP rankings because I feel they're more accurate, and they currently have Pitt as the 16th best team in the country (AP has them at 37).

In their second game of the season, Pitt took down a good Murray State team, 83-68. A couple games later they beat the brakes off West Virginia, 86-62 before knocking off VMI 93-48. Through five games, KenPom has them as the 23rd best offense and the 16th best defense. Their strength of schedule is 267th in the country, which isn't great, but they've done what they're supposed to do against subpar competition.

This year's Panthers team is very balanced. They have five players who average double digit points; three guards and two forwards. Ishmael Leggett leads them in scoring average (17.6) and is second on the team in rebounds per game (6.4). In the paint, 7-foot PF, Guillermo Diaz Graham, leads them with 7.8 rebounds while adding 10.0 points per game.

The Panthers are my pick to win the Greenbrier Tip-Off. They haven't played the toughest competition, but they've looked really good in every game.

Full KenPom rankings:

Rank: 16th

Offensive Rating: 23rd

Defensive Rating: 16th

Non-conference SOS: 267th

As for the UCF Knights, they might be the lowest ranked team in the tournament in KenPom, but they're a threat to knock off any of the three teams above them. The Knights opened the season against No. 13 Texas A&M and beat them, 64-61 thanks to some great defense that held the Aggies to 36% shooting from the field. Since then they've rallied off three more wins, including one over UAF, and enter the Greenbrier Tip-Off 4-0.

The Knights are led by a guard trio of Jordan Ivy-Curry, Keyshawn Hall and Darius Johnson, who combine to average 49.8 points and 11.1 assists per game. After them, their two starting forwards, JJ Taylor and Benny Williams, both score about eight per game.

UCF has won in a bunch of different ways this year. They beat Texas A&M in a defensive slugfest, but then went on to beat UAF (who went to the Final Four a couple years ago) in a shootout, 100-94.

They have a tough draw with Wisconsin in their first game, so they'll more likely to be playing in the third place game than the championship game come Sunday, but we've seen them pull a shocking upset already, so anything can happen.

Full KenPom rankings:

Rank: 68th

Offensive Rating: 72nd

Defensive Rating: 68th

Non-conference SOS: 163rd

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