How to Understand NIT Tournament Team Selections

The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) used to be even bigger in the college basketball world than the NCAA's. But as the NCAA tournament grew, the NIT lost prestige until it became known derisively as the Not Invited Tournament. After the NCAA bought it as part of a court settlement in 2005, the NIT and the teams selected to play will continue the tradition for many years.

Instructions

    • 1

      Know the history. When the NIT was struggling for respectability, teams were often selected and match-ups made with more an attention to potential game attendance than the strength of the field. Now that the NCAA is running the tournament, there are more guidelines for selecting participants. The bylaws explicitly state, "The committee shall select the best available teams to fill the NIT field," although as with the NCAA selection committee, there is still room for allegations of politics.

    • 2

      Follow the order. The NCAA gets first choice of teams to play in the post season, so they make their 65 selections first. The NIT Tournament makes its 32 choices from the remaining Division I basketball teams.

    • 3

      Check the records. The NIT Tournament selection committee can look at rankings from the various computer services, how teams did against each other, how they did against major colleges, their home and road records and how they've done in the last 10 days of the season.

    • 4

      Watch for winners. The NCAA takes the winners of the conference tournaments, but often leaves the regular season conference champions out of the field. The NIT Tournament gives an automatic bid to the regular season conference winners who do not get into the NCAA.

    • 5

      Peek behind closed doors. Although the NIT Tournament Selection Committee does its work in private, they have revealed the process they use. Selection committee members vote on up to 32 teams they believe should be in the field, without including NCAA tournament teams or conference champions that get an automatic bid to the NIT. A team is in if they get all but one of the eligible votes, and a school can be bumped if they don't get enough votes.