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The National Invitational Tournament has a tremendous tradition, but is now the secondary tournament alongside the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Once the field of 68 is determined on Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament, the NIT field gets to give another 32 teams some postseason basketball. These teams include from regular-season champions that didn’t make the field of the big tournament and other teams that had solid resumes, but maybe just didn’t do quite enough to crack the NCAA at-large field.
In 2021 for the first time ever, the semifinals and finals for the NIT were not held at Madison Square Garden. They had to make do with COVID-19 protocols and all rounds were played at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas or the UNT Coliseum in Denton, Texas. The Memphis Tigers were the winners of the 2021 tournament, defeating the Mississippi State Bulldogs 77-64 to win their second NIT championship.
Here is everything you need to know for the 2022 National Invitation Tournament.
When is the NIT?
The first round of the NIT tips Tuesday, March 15 with the first games tipping at 7:00 p.m. ET. The 2022 NIT Semifinals will take place on March 29, and the NIT Championship is set for March 31.
Where is the NIT?
The first three rounds of games will take place at the higher seed’s home arena. The semifinals and the championship game will return to the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City.
How can I watch the National Invitation Tournament?
The entire National Invitation Tournament will be broadcast on ESPN platforms, with the final scheduled for March 31 on ESPN. You can also live stream all games via the ESPN app with a cable or streaming service login. If you don’t have a cable login to access the ESPN app, you can get a free trial from YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, AT&T TV, FuboTV, or Sling TV to stream it.
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