The NIT Tournament will change its qualifying structure and selection criteria for the 2024 tournament, the NCAA announced on Friday.
The NCAA’s statement said automatic bids will now be granted to the two highest-ranked available teams in the NET rankings from each of the biggest six conferences (the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC).
Each of these 12 automatic qualifiers will host their first-round matchup in the tournament.
In previous years, these automatic bids were awarded to any regular-season conference champions who did not win their conference tournament and otherwise failed to be selected for the NCAA Tournament.
“The change to the selection process for the 2024 NIT is a necessary effort to evolve this historic tournament in a dynamic event marketplace,” said Dan Gavitt, NIT board chair and NCAA senior vice president of basketball, in the NCAA release.
Once the 12 automatic selections outlined above are awarded, the NIT Committee will fill in the rest of the bracket with the 20 teams deemed the best available, starting with the first four not selected for March Madness.
The NIT will also widen the free-throw lane from 12 feet to 16 feet, consistent with current NBA regulations.
2024 NIT Tournament selections will be announced on March 17.