NIT 2023: Known Tournament Info, Format and Men's Championship Dates
Every men's college basketball team wants to end up in March Madness. The primary objective for each program is to be among the 68 teams in the NCAA tournament, where it's possible to capture a national championship.
For teams that just miss out, the National Invitation Tournament is a worthwhile consolation. The NIT is a 32-team, single-elimination tourney that annually features some of the best programs to miss out on the NCAA tournament.
The first three rounds of the NIT take place in the home arena of the higher-seeded team. The four teams left standing in the semifinals will then travel to Las Vegas, where the final three games of the event (including the championship) will take place at Orleans Arena.
Here's everything you need to know about the 2023 National Invitation Tournament, which begins next week.
2023 NIT Schedule
First-round games at campus sites, March 14-15
Second-round games at campus sites, March 18-19
Quarterfinal games at campus sites, March 21-22
Semifinals at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, March 28
Championship game at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, March 30
On Sunday, the 68-team bracket for the NCAA tournament will be released. At that point, it will become clear which teams will be ticketed for the NIT, which will also be announcing its field on Sunday evening.
However, we already know some of the teams that will be playing in this year's NIT. That's because regular-season conference champions that don't win their conference tournament and miss March Madness get an automatic bid.
The following teams are already in that group: Eastern Washington (Big Sky), Hofstra (CAA), Youngstown State (Horizon), Bradley (Missouri Valley), Morehead State (Ohio Valley) and Alcorn State (SWAC). And none of those programs are likely to receive at-large bids for the NCAA tournament, meaning they'll be appearing in the NIT instead.
More teams will have that same scenario unfold. The rest of the NIT field will be determined once the NCAA tournament selection committee sets the bracket for March Madness, and many of the bubble teams that get left out will be included.
One team in an interesting situation is NC State. On Thursday night, the Wolfpack lost to Clemson in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. So, is their resume strong enough to get them into March Madness.
NC State is 23-10 and owns quality wins over teams such as Duke, Miami and North Carolina. If the selection committee doesn't find room for the Wolfpack in the NCAA tourney, then they'd be heading to the NIT.
That'll be the case for quite a few of the teams sitting squarely on the bubble this weekend, when the top conference tournaments will be wrapping up. Those events come with automatic bids to the NCAA tourney, so if a surprise team wins one of those, it could push out a bubble team and send them to the NIT in the process.
Of the programs already known to be heading to the NIT, Bradley could be a team to watch in the tournament. The Braves had won 12 consecutive games before losing to Drake in the championship of the MVC tournament.
Bradley played formidable competition early in the season, such as SEC teams like Auburn and Arkansas, so that could have it well prepared for the NIT.
