NIT Announces Changes to Tournament Selection Format

The NIT Board of Managers has announced changes for the 2024 National Invitation Tournament that impact how teams qualify.

For the 2024 NIT, conference regular-season champions that do not win their conference tournament or are not otherwise selected to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship will not receive an automatic bid to the NIT.

Instead, the NIT will guarantee two teams (based on the NET rankings) from each of six conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern). The top two teams in the NET rankings not qualifying for the NCAA men's basketball tournament from each conference, regardless of win-loss record, will be selected. Additionally, the 12 teams automatically selected will be guaranteed the opportunity to host a game in the first round of the NIT.  

Once the 12 automatic qualifying schools have been selected, the NIT Committee will select the 20 best teams available to complete the tournament's 32-team field. Based on the NIT Committee's evaluation, the best four teams of the 20 at-large teams selected will complete the 16 first-round hosts, with deference given to the "first four teams out" of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship, as determined by the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. Additional teams from the six conferences with automatic qualifications are eligible to be selected as at-large teams and can be selected as hosts.

"The postseason college basketball landscape is becoming more competitive for teams that don't qualify for March Madness," said Dan Gavitt, NIT board chair and NCAA senior vice president of basketball. "The change to the selection process for the 2024 NIT is a necessary effort to evolve this historic tournament in a dynamic event marketplace."

In addition to the NIT's change in selections format, the NIT board and NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee have agreed to use experimental rules during the 2024 NIT. In each NIT game, the free-throw lane will be widened from 12 feet to 16 feet, consistent with the width used by the NBA and the International Basketball Federation, known as FIBA. 

NIT games also will continue to use the 2023 NIT modified timeout format for the second half of games, which eliminates the second-half floating media timeout by making it one of five media breaks. Second-half media timeouts will occur on the first stoppage of play after the 17-, 14-, eight- and four-minute marks.

The 2024 championship will be the 86th NIT. Selections, pairings and the bracket will be announced March 17, with games beginning Tuesday, March 19. The NIT semifinals and championship will be played April 2 and 4 at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler campus in Indianapolis. All NIT games can be found exclusively on ESPN platforms. For more information on the championship, visit nit.org