NIT 2017: Dates, Format, Schedule for Men and Women's Tournaments

These days, it seems like every team in men's college basketball and college football participates in some sort of postseason competition. Teams can make bowl games with an under-.500 record now, and there are five men's college basketball postseason tournaments (NCAA, NIT, College Basketball Invitational, Collegeinsider.com Postseason Tournament and the Vegas 16).

The NIT, believe it or not, was the first of those five tournaments to exist, coming to fruition in 1938, one year before the NCAA.

In the early stages of the NIT, it was considered on an even (or greater) plane of prestige than the NCAA tournament.

However, the NCAA grew in power over the years and became the pre-eminent college basketball postseason competition. The NCAA eventually bought the NIT in 2005.

Here's a look at the men's and women's NIT schedules, dates and formats for the 2017 season.

Men's NIT

Rounds	Dates	Cities	Locations
First	Tuesday, March 14 and Wednesday, March 15	Campus Sites	TBD
Second	Thursday, March 16 through Monday, March 20	Campus Sites	TBD
Quarterfinals	Tuesday, March 21 and Wednesday, March 22	Campus Sites	TBD
Semifinals	Tuesday, March 28	New York City	Madison Square Garden
Championship	Thursday, March 30	New York City	Madison Square Garden

Information via ncaa.com.

The men's NIT is a 32-team, single-elimination tournament. Every team that won a regular-season championship but did not win its conference tournament is placed in the field, should it accept an invitation. A selection committee decides the remaining participants as well as the seedings.

Like the NCAA tournament, the NIT is split into four regions of eight teams each. Unlike the NCAA tournament, the games are played on the campus sites of the higher seed throughout the quarterfinals, with the semifinals and final taking place in Madison Square Garden.

Last year, No. 4 seed George Washington beat No. 1 seed Valparaiso, 76-60, in the final.

Women's NIT

Rounds	Dates	Cities	Locations
First	Wednesday, March 15 through Friday, March 17	Campus Sites	TBD
Second	Saturday, March 18 through Tuesday, March 21	Campus Sites	TBD
Third	Wednesday, March 22 through Friday, March 24	Campus Sites	TBD
Quarterfinals	Saturday, March 25 through Monday, March 27	Campus Sites	TBD
Semifinals	Wednesday, March 29 and Thursday, March 30	Campus Sites	TBD
Championship	Saturday, April 1	Campus Sites	TBD

Information via womensnit.com.

The Women's NIT started as a 16-team tournament in 1998, as Penn State took down Baylor, 59-57 to become the first-ever champion.

Like the men's tournament, the women's field is a single-elimination competition. However, there are a few key differences.

First, the field consists of 64 teams, not 32. Second, all of the games take place on campus sites at the home of the higher seed.

Finally, the selection process is a bit different. The selection committee awards automatic berths to the best team in a conference's regular-season standings that did not make the NCAA tournament. Those teams make up half the field (32 teams). The selection committee then picks the other 32 squads from an at-large pool.

Last year, South Dakota took down Florida Gulf Coast, 71-65, to win the championship.