The National Invitational Tournament isn’t the NCAA Tournament. It’s a consolation bracket meant to reward teams that showed improvement over the course of a hard-fought year and low-key mock the ones who fell from the rankings and into the dregs of Division I.
That doesn’t mean it’s not a backdrop for great basketball. The NIT often boils down to senior-led teams battling to end their careers on a high note. This year should provide plenty of David vs. Goliath moments as a handful of big name programs drop into the tournament to face the small schools who’ll have to downgrade their Cinderella dreams to a softer spotlight.
The 32-team bracket includes a handful of automatic bids in addition to the at-large teams announced Sunday night. Any team that won its conference’s regular season championship but not its conference tournament has a spot waiting for it in the NIT if the NCAA Tournament opts not to award an at-large invitation. This year’s crop of automatic bids went to:
Big West: Long Beach State
CAA: Towson
Conference USA: North Texas
Ivy: Princeton
Missouri Valley: Northern Iowa
Sun Belt: Texas State
Horizon League: Cleveland State
MAAC: Iona
MAC: Toledo
Southland: Nicholls
SWAC: Alcorn State
Those 11 teams were joined by 21 invitees to fill out the five-round bracket. Here’s a look at the full field, courtesy of ESPNU’s Selection Special.
Top Left Bracket
No. 1 Dayton vs. Toledo
No. 4 Vanderbilt vs. Belmont
No. 3 Florida vs. Iona
No. 2 Xavier vs. Cleveland State
Bottom Left Bracket
No. 1 Oklahoma vs. Missouri State
No. 4 Colorado vs. St. Bonaventure
No. 3 Mississippi State vs. Virginia
No. 2 North Texas vs. Texas State
Top Right Bracket
No. 1 SMU vs. Nicholls
No. 4 Washington State vs. Santa Clara
No. 3 Saint Louis vs. Northern Iowa
No. 2 BYU vs. Long Beach State
Bottom Right Bracket
No. 1 Texas A&M vs. Alcorn State
No. 4 Utah State vs. Oregon
No. 3 VCU vs. Princeton
No. 2 Wake Forest vs. Towson