National Invitation Tournament

Men's National Invitation Tournament
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2016 National Invitation Tournament

National Invitation Tournament
Sport Basketball
Founded 1938
Founder Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association
No. of teams 32
Most recent
champion(s)		 George Washington
Most titles St. John's (5)
TV partner(s) ESPN
Related
competitions		 NIT Season Tip-Off
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
College Basketball Invitational
CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
Vegas 16
Official website http://www.ncaa.com/championships/basketball-men/nit

The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the NIT Season Tip-Off (formerly the Preseason NIT), was founded in 1985. The second, the original NIT, is a post-season tournament played in March and April that is now called the NIT — it was founded in 1938. In both cases, the final rounds of the tournament are played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In both common and official use, "NIT" or "National Invitation Tournament" refers to the post-season tournament unless otherwise qualified. Both the pre- and post-season tournaments were operated by the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA) until 2005, when they were purchased by the NCAA.[1]

History

The post-season NIT, started in 1938, pre-dates the NCAA Tournament by one year and is second in age only to the NAIA Tournament founded by James Naismith in 1937. The first National Invitation Tournament was won by the Temple University Owls over the Colorado Buffaloes.

The NIT was originated by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association in 1938. Responsibility for its administration was transferred two years later to local colleges, first known as the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Committee and in 1948, as the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA), which comprised representatives from five New York City schools: Fordham University, Manhattan College, New York University, St. John's University, and Wagner College. Originally all of the teams qualifying for the tournament were invited to New York City, and all games were played at Madison Square Garden.

The tournament originally consisted of only 6 teams, which later expanded to 8 teams in 1941, 12 teams in 1949, 14 teams in 1965, 16 teams in 1968, 24 teams in 1979, 32 teams in 1980, and 40 teams from 2002 through 2006. In 2007, the tournament reverted to the current 32-team format.[2][3]

“ In the 1940's, when the NCAA tournament was less than 10 years old, the National Invitation Tournament, a saturnalia held in New York at Madison Square Garden by the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association, was the most glamorous of the post-season tournaments and generally had the better teams. The winner of the National Invitation Tournament was regarded as more of a national champion than the actual, titular, national champion, or winner of the NCAA tournament. ”
— A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton[4]

In the early years of the tournament, some teams played in the NIT instead of the NCAA tournament for several reasons:

Several teams played in both the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same year, with Colorado and Duquesne being the first to do so in 1940. Colorado won the NIT in 1940 but subsequently finished fourth in the NCAA West Region.[7] In 1944, Utah lost its first game in the NIT but then proceeded to win not only the NCAA tournament, but also the subsequent Red Cross War Charities benefit game in which they defeated NIT champion St. Johns at Madison Square Garden. In 1949, some Kentucky players were bribed by gamblers to lose their first round game in the NIT.[8] This same Kentucky team went on to win the NCAA.[9] In 1950, City College of New York won both the NIT and the NCAA tournaments in the same season, coincidentally defeating Bradley University in the championship game of both tournaments, and remains the only school to accomplish that feat because of a rule change in the early 1950s prohibiting a team from competing in both tournaments.

The champions of both the NCAA and NIT tournaments played each other for a few years during World War II. From 1943 to 1945, the American Red Cross sponsored a postseason charity game between each year's tournament champions to raise money for the war effort.[10] The series was described by Ray Meyer as not just benefit games, but as "really the games for the national championship".[11] The NCAA champion prevailed in all three games.[12]

The Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively selected the NIT champion as its national champion for 1938 (Temple), and chose the NIT champion over the NCAA champion once, in 1939 (Long Island).[13] More recently, the mathematically based Premo-Porretta Power Poll published in the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia retroactively ranked teams for each season prior to 1949, with the NIT champion finishing ahead of the NCAA champion in 1939 and 1941.[14] Between 1939 and 1970, when teams could compete in either tournament, only DePaul (1945),[15] Utah (1947),[16] and San Francisco (1949)[17] claim or celebrate national championships for their teams based solely on an NIT championship,[18][19][20][21] although Long Island recognizes its selection as the 1939 national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation,[22] made in 1943.[23][24]

In 1943 the NCAA tournament moved to share Madison Square Garden with the NIT in an effort to increase the credibility of the NCAA Tournament.[11] In 1945, The New York Times indicated that many teams could get bids to enter either tournament, which was not uncommon in that day.[25] In any case, since the mid-1950s, the NCAA tournament has been popularly regarded by most individuals as the major post season tourney, with conference champions and the majority of the top-ranked teams participating in it.[4][11]

Nevertheless, the NIT continued to be regarded highly into the 1950s,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] with BYU claiming a national championship based on their 1951 NIT title.[36] As late as 1970, Coach Al McGuire of Marquette, the 8th-ranked team in the final AP poll of the season, spurned an NCAA at-large invitation because the Warriors were going to be placed in the NCAA Midwest Regional (Fort Worth, Texas) instead of closer to home in the Mideast Regional (Dayton, Ohio).[37] The team played in the NIT instead, which it won. This led the NCAA to decree in 1971 that any school to which it offered a bid must accept it or be prohibited from participating in postseason competition, reducing the pool of teams that could accept an NIT invitation.[38]

As the NCAA over time expanded its field to include more teams, the reputation of the NIT suffered. In 1973, NBC moved televised coverage of the NCAA championship from Saturday afternoon to Monday evening,[38] providing the NCAA Tournament with prime-time television exposure the NIT could not match. When the NCAA eliminated the one-team-per-conference rule in 1975, the National Invitation Tournament became merely a post-season showcase for good teams that did not make the NCAA grade.

In a cost-cutting move, the NIT moved its early rounds out of Madison Square Garden in 1977, playing games at home sites until the later rounds. This also harmed the NIT's prestige, both regionalizing interest in it and marginalizing it by reducing its association with Madison Square Garden.[38] By the mid-1980s, its transition to a secondary tournament for lesser teams was complete.[38]

NCAA takes control

In 2005, the NCAA purchased 10-year rights to the NIT from the MIBA for $56.5 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit, which had gone to trial and was being argued until very shortly before the settlement was announced. The MIBA alleged that compelling teams to accept invitations to the NCAA tournament even if they preferred to play in the NIT was an illegal use of the NCAA's powers. In addition, it argued that the NCAA's expansion of its tournament to 65 teams (68 since 2011) was designed specifically to bankrupt the NIT. Faced with the very real possibility of being found in violation of federal antitrust law for the third time in its history, the NCAA chose to settle. (The first two violations were related to restrictions on televising college football and capping assistant coach salaries.) As part of the purchase of the NIT by the NCAA, the MIBA disbanded.

The reputation of the NIT

The status of the post-season National Invitation Tournament as a "consolation" fixture has led to somewhat of a stigma in the minds of many fans. When teams with tenuous hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth lose away from home late in the season, opposing fans may taunt the players in the closing seconds with chants of "NIT! NIT!". This is done regardless of whether the home team is headed for the NCAA Tournament or not. Irv Moss, a journalist for the Denver Post, once wrote of such a taunt to a defeated team, "The three-letter word... was far more cutting than any four-letter word they could have hollered." [39]

Because the post-season NIT consists of teams that failed to receive a berth in the NCAA Tournament, the NIT has been nicknamed the "Not Invited Tournament", "Never Important Tournament", "Nobody's Interested Tournament", "Needs Improvement Tournament", "No Important Team", "National Insignificant Tournament," or simply "Not In Tournament".[40] It has also been called a tournament to see who the "69th best team" in the country is (since there are now 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament).

David Thompson, an All-American player from North Carolina State, called the NIT "a loser's tournament" in 1975. NC State, which had been the previous year's NCAA champion, refused to play in the tournament that year, following the precedent set by ACC rival Maryland the previous season after losing the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game to the top-ranked Wolfpack. In succeeding years, other teams such as Oklahoma State, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, and LSU[41][42] have declined to play in the NIT when they did not make the NCAA tournament. One such team was Maryland; after being rejected by the NCAA selection committee in 2006, head coach Gary Williams announced that 19-11 Maryland would not go to the NIT, only to be told that the university had previously agreed to use Comcast Center as a venue for the NIT. The Terrapins were eliminated in the first round by the Manhattan College Jaspers. In 2008, however, Williams announced that if invited, the Terps would play, because it would serve as a chance to further develop six freshman players on his squad and to give senior forward James Gist more exposure.[43] At UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, there are individual championship banners for all 11 NCAA titles, various other banners touting many other NCAA and other tournament championships for other sports, but no mention of UCLA's 1985 NIT championship.

For other teams, however, the NIT is perceived as a step up in a program climbing from mediocrity or obscurity, and the response is more enthusiastic. For example, at the University of Tulsa, which won the NIT in 1981 and 2001, the Golden Hurricane's NIT "championship tradition" is viewed with pride and as a "lure" for players to join the program.[44] The University of Connecticut also regards the NIT as the beginning of its success.[45] The NIT is also held in generally higher regard than the three newer tournaments that have debuted since 2008 (the Vegas 16, College Basketball Invitational and CollegeInsider.com Tournament); Saint Bonaventure, a school that has a policy of refusing to play in those three tournaments (the school, tiny by Division I standards, is unwilling to spare the expense of participating in those tournaments), still accepts bids to the NIT if it is invited.[46]

The NIT Season Tip-Off carries none of the postseason tournament's stigma, and is one of many popular season-opening tournaments held every year around the country (alongside events such as the Maui Invitational and the Great Alaska Shootout).

Selection process

In the past, NIT teams were selected in consultation with ESPN, the television home of the NIT.[47] The goal of the NIT was to sustain the MIBA financially. Therefore, schools selected to play in the NIT were often major conference teams with records near .500 that had large television fan bases and would likely have a respectable attendance for tournament games on their home court. The latter is one reason why New Mexico was invited virtually every year — the Lobos often had a winning season but failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament.[48] Seeding considerations and home court advantage included the number of fans willing to show up to each game. In an effort to maintain some quality, a rule saying that a team must have a .500 or better record to qualify for the NIT was imposed. This prevented ESPN from suggesting major conference teams that finished at or very near the bottom of their conference standings but would likely nonetheless garner good fan interest.

The NCAA announced a revamped selection process starting with the 2006 tournament. The main highlights are:

In addition, the selection process was made transparent. ESPN no longer had a hand in the selection of the teams. Instead, a committee of former NCAA head coaches, chaired by Newton, and including Gene Keady (Purdue), Don DeVoe (Tennessee), Rudy Davalos, Les Robinson (NC State), Reggie Minton (Air Force), John Powers, and Carroll Williams among others, prepared a list of potential teams in advance.[49]

Beginning with the 2016 NIT restructured the committee makeup; Committee members will serve a maximum four-year term, and the committee will feature a mix of current athletics administrators who are actively working at NCAA schools or conferences and former head college basketball coaches. Previously, the NIT Committee had eight members, all of whom had been former head college basketball coaches or athletics directors. The previous structure had no term limits or succession plan.[50]

ESPN continues to provide television coverage of the tournament. In 2011 the NCAA and ESPN agreed to a $500 million agreement through 2023–24 for rights to cover championships in several sports, including the NIT;[51] this compares with the 11-year, $6.2 billion TV contract with CBS for the NCAA tournament.

These changes are intended to encourage participation by good college teams that would rather stay home than play in the NIT – to make it the "Little Dance" instead of the "loser's tournament". Former NIT Committee chair and former Alabama and Vanderbilt head coach C. M. Newton stated, "What we want to have is a true basketball event, a real tournament, one where there's no preconceived ideas of who gets to New York. We'd love to have great crowds, but this is not a financial consideration. We want good television coverage, but we're not going to play this thing for television and move games around." [52] Another consideration is that a number one-seeded team that goes to the semifinals will have three home games, which helps ticket sales.

Since the 2007 tournament, the 32-team field used from 1980 through 2001 is the same, eliminating the eight-game "play-in" opening round where teams played to qualify for second round games against the top eight seeds used 2002–2006. The tournament features four eight-team regions. The format did not affect the NIT's automatic bid to any regular-season conference champion that does not make the NCAA's field of 65 (since 2011, 68). Seven teams earned an NIT bid that way in 2006.

A new attendance record for a NIT game was set at Syracuse University's Carrier Dome on March 19, 2007 at the Syracuse-San Diego State game. Syracuse won the game 80–64 with the attendance total of 26,752. The old record of 23,522 was set by Kentucky in 1979.

Women's tournaments

From 1969 to 1996, a National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT) existed; the tournament was resurrected under the same name in 1998, and has been known as the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) since 1999. The original NWIT was an eight-team tournament held in Amarillo, Texas throughout its history. The revived tournament began with 16 teams, expanded to 32 in its second season, and has since expanded further to 40, 48, and (since 2010) 64 teams. However, the WNIT is affiliated with the NIT in name only. Neither the NWIT nor WNIT was connected with MIBA, and the WNIT was not purchased by the NCAA.

Men's postseason NIT champions

California's 1999 NIT trophy
Year Champion Runner-up MVP
2016 George Washington Valparaiso Tyler Cavanaugh, George Washington
2015 Stanford Miami (FL) Chasson Randle, Stanford
2014Minnesota SMU Austin Hollins, Minnesota
2013 Baylor Iowa Pierre Jackson, Baylor
2012 Stanford Minnesota Aaron Bright, Stanford [53]
2011 Wichita State Alabama Graham Hatch, Wichita State
2010 Dayton North Carolina Chris Johnson, Dayton
2009 Penn State Baylor Jamelle Cornley, Penn State
2008 Ohio State Massachusetts Kosta Koufos, Ohio State
2007 West Virginia Clemson Frank Young, West Virginia
2006 South Carolina Michigan Renaldo Balkman, South Carolina
2005 South Carolina Saint Joseph's Carlos Powell, South Carolina
2004 Michigan Rutgers Daniel Horton, Michigan
2003 Vacated [note 1] Georgetown Vacated [note 2]
2002 Memphis South Carolina Dajuan Wagner, Memphis
2001 Tulsa Alabama Marcus Hill, Tulsa
2000 Wake Forest Notre Dame Robert O'Kelley, Wake Forest
1999 California Clemson Sean Lampley, California
1998 Vacated [note 3] Penn State Vacated [note 4]
1997 Vacated [note 5] Florida State Vacated [note 6]
1996 Nebraska Saint Joseph's Erick Strickland, Nebraska
1995 Virginia Tech Marquette Shawn Smith, Virginia Tech
1994 Villanova Vanderbilt Doremus Bennerman, Siena
1993 Minnesota Georgetown Voshon Lenard, Minnesota
1992 Virginia Notre Dame Bryant Stith, Virginia
1991 Stanford Oklahoma Adam Keefe, Stanford
1990 Vanderbilt Saint Louis Scott Draud, Vanderbilt
1989 St. John's Saint Louis Jayson Williams, St. John's
1988 Connecticut Ohio State Phil Gamble, Connecticut
1987 Southern Miss La Salle Randolph Keys, Southern Miss
1986 Ohio State Wyoming Brad Sellers, Ohio State
1985 UCLA Indiana Reggie Miller, UCLA
1984 Michigan Notre Dame Tim McCormick, Michigan
1983 Fresno State DePaul Ron Anderson, Fresno State
1982 Bradley Purdue Mitchell Anderson, Bradley
1981 Tulsa Syracuse Greg Stewart, Tulsa
1980 Virginia Minnesota Ralph Sampson, Virginia
1979 Indiana Purdue Butch Carter and Ray Tolbert, Indiana
1978 Texas North Carolina State Jim Krivacs and Ron Baxter, Texas
1977 St. Bonaventure Houston Greg Sanders, St. Bonaventure
1976 Kentucky Charlotte Cedric Maxwell, Charlotte
1975 Princeton Providence Ron Lee, Oregon
1974 Purdue Utah Mike Sojourner, Utah
1973 Virginia Tech Notre Dame John Shumate, Notre Dame
1972 Maryland Niagara Tom McMillen, Maryland
1971 North Carolina Georgia Tech Bill Chamberlain, North Carolina
1970 Marquette St. John's Dean Meminger, Marquette
1969 Temple Boston College Terry Driscoll, Boston College
1968 Dayton Kansas Don May, Dayton
1967 Southern Illinois Marquette Walt Frazier, Southern Illinois
1966 Brigham Young NYU Bill Melchionni, Villanova
1965 St. John's Villanova Ken McIntyre, St. John's
1964 Bradley New Mexico Levern Tart, Bradley
1963 Providence Canisius Ray Flynn, Providence
1962 Dayton St. John's Bill Chmielewski, Dayton
1961 Providence Saint Louis Vin Ernst, Providence
1960 Bradley Providence Lenny Wilkens, Providence
1959 St. John's Bradley Tony Jackson, St. John's
1958 Xavier Dayton Hank Stein, Xavier
1957 Bradley Memphis State Win Wilfong, Memphis State
1956 Louisville Dayton Charlie Tyra, Louisville
1955 Duquesne Dayton Maurice Stokes, St. Francis (Pa.)
1954 Holy Cross Duquesne Togo Palazzi, Holy Cross
1953 Seton Hall St. John's Walter Dukes, Seton Hall
1952 La Salle Dayton Tom Gola and Norm Grekin, La Salle
1951 Brigham Young Dayton Roland Minson, Brigham Young
1950 CCNY Bradley Ed Warner, CCNY
1949 San Francisco Loyola Don Lofgran, San Francisco
1948 Saint Louis NYU Ed Macauley, Saint Louis
1947 Utah Kentucky Vern Gardner, Utah
1946 Kentucky Rhode Island Ernie Calverley, Rhode Island
1945 DePaul Bowling Green George Mikan, DePaul
1944 St. John's DePaul Bill Kotsores, St. John's
1943 St. John's Toledo Harry Boykoff, St. John's
1942 West Virginia Western Kentucky Rudy Baric, West Virginia
1941 Long Island Ohio Frankie Baumholtz, Ohio
1940 Colorado Duquesne Bob Doll, Colorado
1939 Long Island Loyola Bill Lloyd, St. John's
1938 Temple Colorado Don Shields, Temple
  1. ↑ St. John's won the 2003 NIT title, but later vacated the title due to an ineligible player.
  2. ↑ Marcus Hatten of St. John's was the MVP of the 2003 tournament, but vacated the award with St. John's title.
  3. ↑ Minnesota won the 1998 NIT title, but later vacated the title due to academic fraud.
  4. ↑ Kevin Clark of Minnesota was the MVP of the 1998 tournament, but vacated the award with Minnesota's title.
  5. ↑ Michigan won the 1997 NIT title, but later vacated the title and forfeited its entire 1996-97 schedule due to ineligible players.
  6. ↑ Robert Traylor of Michigan was the MVP of the 1997 tournament, but was later declared ineligible and his award vacated.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NCAA buys tournaments, ends NIT litigation". ESPN.com.
  2. ↑ "USATODAY.com - NIT's postseason field cut to 32 teams".
  3. ↑ "NIT Tournament Home". NCAA.com.
  4. 1 2 McPhee, John (1999). A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, NY. pp. 114–115. ISBN 0374526893.
  5. ↑ "NCAA Selection Group Named". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, WA. Associated Press. February 24, 1949. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
  6. ↑ Fraley, Oscar (March 5, 1951). "Scandal Brings More Prestige to NCAA". The Times-News. Hendersonville, NC. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  7. ↑ Green, Andrew R. (2012). 2012-13 Colorado Basketball Men's Basketball Information Guide and Record Book (PDF). University of Colorado Sports Information Office. p. 74. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  8. ↑ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
  9. ↑ "NCAA Tournament History". Retrieved 2010-04-12.
  10. ↑ ESPN Books, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 564. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  11. 1 2 3 Carlson, Chad (2012). "A Tale of Two Tournaments: The Red Cross Games and the Early NCAA-NIT Relationship". Journal of Intercollegiate Sport. 5: 270–271. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
  12. ↑ "2008 NCAA Basketball Records Book" (PDF). NCAA. p. 256. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
  13. ↑ "Rauzulu's Street: Helms Foundation NCAA Division I Champions". Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  14. ↑ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. pp. 549–586. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
  15. ↑ Greenwell, Greg (2012). 2012-13 DePaul Basketball. DePaul Athletics Communication Department. p. 99. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  16. ↑ Harris, Kyle (2012). 2012-13 Utah Basketball Media Guide (PDF). University of Utah Athletic Communications Office. p. 87. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  17. ↑ "National Championships". University of San Francisco. August 8, 2012. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  18. ↑ Swan, Joe; Messerly, Bryan, eds. (2012). 2012-13 WVU Men's Basketball Guide. West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  19. ↑ Fratto, Mark (2010). 2010-11 St. John's Men's Basketball Media Guide (PDF). St. John's Athletic Communications. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  20. ↑ Caldwell, Janiece; Combs, Alex; Hayden, John; Moore, Deb (2012). 2012-13 Kentucky Basketball Fact Book (PDF). University of Kentucky Athletics Department. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  21. ↑ Saint Louis University Men's Basketball History & Records Book (PDF). Saint Louis University Athletics. 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  22. ↑ Lobacz, Dan (2012). LIU Brooklyn Basketball 2012-13 Records Book (PDF). LIU Athletics Media Relations. p. 38. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  23. ↑ Scott, Jon (Nov 9, 2010). "The truth behind the Helms Committee". Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  24. ↑ "Helms Athletic Foundation Collegiate Basketball Record (preface)". Helms Athletic Foundation. Feb 1, 1943. Retrieved 2015-12-14.
  25. ↑ "Tennessee Becomes Third Quintet to Enter National Invitational Tournament at Garden". The New York Times. March 4, 1945. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
  26. ↑ Harrison, Don (2011). Hoops in Connecticut: The Nutmeg State's Passion for Basketball. The History Press, Charleston, SC. p. 54. ISBN 1609490835. "[John] Egan was the Providence College Friars' first "name" recruit, the player who arrived with the most acclaim. And he delivered as a sophomore [in 1959], averaging a team-high 20.9 points en route to propelling the Friars to a fourth-place finish in the then-prestigious National Invitation Tournament at Madison Square Garden."
  27. ↑ Hurley, Bob (2013). Chasing Perfect: The Will to Win in Basketball and Life. Crown Archetype, New York, NY. p. 26. ISBN 030798687X. "That [1968] St. Peter's team was the best team the school ever had. That team would go on to beat Duke in the National Invitation Tournament, back when the NIT was a big-time tournament."
  28. ↑ "NCAA Tournament History". Retrieved 2013-02-12. The tournament now determines the national champion, but that wasn't always the case. Until the 1950's, the NIT was just as big a tournament as the NCAA, and teams often chose to enter the NIT and bypass the NCAA tourney
  29. ↑ Miller, Ralph (1990). "Ralph Miller: Spanning the Game." Sagamore Publishing LLC. p. 56. ISBN 0915611384. "Had the Aggies lost one, we would have been forced to have a playoff, and that was the problem. We had already accepted a bid to play in the [1954] National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The tournament picture was much different then. There was no announcement of NIT teams following the selection of the NCAA field as exists today. The reason was that the NIT was still considered a premier tournament."
  30. ↑ Davies, Richard O. (2007). "Sports in American Life: A History." Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. p. 155. ISBN 9781405106474. "In 1938, [Ned] Irish invited 16 [sic] teams to compete in a new tournament that he called the National Invitation Tournament (Temple defeated Colorado 60-36 in the final), and it would be the premiere college basketball event for more than a decade. The following year, the NCAA responded by creating its own tournament, but it did not surpass the NIT as the premier postseason tournament until the 1950s."
  31. ↑ Peeler, Timothy M. (2010). "NC State Basketball: 100 Years of Innovation." University of North Carolina Press, The. p. 66. ISBN 9780807899700. "Despite winning the crown, the Red Terrors did not have a chance to play in the 1947 NCAA Tournament. Before the league's event began, NC State's newly named athletic director Jon Von Glahn was offered the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament, contingent on [Everett] Case's team winning the league tournament. Instead he chose a spot in the more prestigious National Invitation Tournament. So the NCAA District 3 selection committee gave the area's bid to Carnevale's team from Navy."
  32. ↑ Chansky, Art (2006). "Blue Blood: Duke-Carolina: Inside the Most Storied Rivalry in College Hoops" Macmillan. p. 113. ISBN 0312327889. "The NCAA Tournament field had fluctuated between 22 and 25 teams since 1953, during which time the National Invitation Tournament remained prominent and, in the Northeast, actually bigger. ... The ACC, however, had an unwritten rule stemming from the point-shaving scandals of the last two decades that it would not send teams to the NIT. [Coach Victor] Bubas requested that the policy be changed in 1967, and it was. Duke accepted the ACC's first ever bid to the NIT, ..."
  33. ↑ Augustyn, Adam, ed. (2011). "The Britannica Guide to Basketball." Rosen Education Service. p. 17. ISBN 1615305289. "New York City basketball writers organized the first National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1938, but a year later the New York City colleges took control of the event. Until the early 1950s, the NIT was considered the most prestigious U.S. tournament ..."
  34. ↑ Roth, John (2006). "The Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball." Duke University Press. p. 272. "During its early years the [NCAA] tourney was overshadowed by the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in New York."
  35. ↑ Glickman, Marty (1999). "The Fastest Kid on the Block: The Marty Glickman Story." Syracuse University Press. p. 75. ISBN 0815605749. "The first big tournament I covered was the 1946 National Invitation Tournament, the NIT, at Madison Square Garden. It, not the NCAA, was the big college basketball tournament in those days. Later the NCAA flexed its muscles to dominate college basketball, and the NIT became little more than an also-ran tourney. In its time, though, the NIT was enormous."
  36. ↑ Pannell, Blaine; Chilton, Kyle (2013). "Winning: A BYU Tradition". BYU Basketball Twenty Thirteen Twenty Fourteen Almanac (PDF). Brigham Young University. p. 54. Retrieved 2013-11-20.
  37. ↑ Douchant, Mike (March 11, 2003). "MARCH MADNESS: Growth of NCAA Tournament. Final Four Hasn't Always Been What it is Today". The Official Website of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
  38. 1 2 3 4 John Feinstein (1 February 2016). "Kryzyzewski, Knight coached at Army. It still lacks an NCAA tournament appearance.". Washington Post.
  39. ↑ ."Cowboys in shocker", Denver Post, March 10, 2006.
  40. ↑ Pascoe, Bruce (March 14, 2010). "Cats hold breath: Is it NIT or not?". Arizona Daily Star. p. C1.
  41. ↑ Scott Polacek. "LSU Basketball Elects Not to Participate in Postseason". Bleacher Report.
  42. ↑ "Basketball Elects Not to Participate in Postseason". LSUsports.net.
  43. ↑ Prisbell, Eric. "Terps Can't Help Themselves", Washington Post, March 14, 2008, page E01.
  44. ↑ Eric Bailey, "Long and happy history: Two NIT titles precede Tulsa's appearance", Tulsa World, March 18, 2009.
  45. ↑ Don Amore, "Years ago, UConn, Jim Calhoun Sat On Top Of A Different World", Hartford Courant, March 28, 2013.
  46. ↑ Butler, J. P. (March 16, 2015). No tournament for Bonnies. Olean Times Herald. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  47. ↑ Mark Alesia, Jack Carey (August 17, 2005). "Supporters of buyout expect improved NIT". USA Today. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  48. ↑ "Lobos put right foot in NIT with Utah win", Albuquerque Tribune, March 4, 2006.
  49. ↑ "Supporters of buyout expect improved NIT", USA Today, August 17, 2005.
  50. ↑ "College basketball: NIT announces committee restructure, new members". NCAA. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
  51. ↑ "ESPN extends deal through 2023-24". NCAA.com. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  52. ↑ "March Madness Swells as NCAA Pumps Up NIT Tournament" Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine., Bloomberg.com, March 14, 2006.
  53. ↑ Peter Chen. "Stanford Exterminates Gophers to Win 2012 NIT, Can't Wait Till Next Year". Bleacher Report.
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