The 2011 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA tournament. The 74th annual tournament began March 15 on campus sites ended on March 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Wichita State defeated Alabama, 66–57, to win its first NIT title.
Participants
Automatic qualifiers The following teams are automatic qualifiers for the 2011 NIT field; by virtue of winning their conferences' regular season championship and not qualifying for the NCAA tournament as an "at-large" bid.
TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bidBethune–CookmanMEAC21–121stNeverCoastal CarolinaBig South28–52nd2010College of CharlestonSouthern24–104th2003FairfieldMAAC24–76th2003Florida AtlanticSun Belt21–101stNeverKent StateMAC23–119th2010Long Beach StateBig West22–116th2000McNeese StateSouthland21–113rd2001MilwaukeeHorizon19–132nd2004Missouri StateMissouri Valley25–89th2007Murray StateOhio Valley23–87th1996Saint Mary'sWest Coast25–82nd2009Texas SouthernSWAC19–121stNeverVermontAmerica East23–82nd2007
At-large bids The following 18 teams were also awarded NIT berths. TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bidAlabamaSEC21–1111th2007Boston CollegeACC20–1211th2003CaliforniaPac-1017–147th2008Cleveland StateHorizon26–84th2008ColoradoBig 1221–139th2006Colorado StateMountain West19–127th1999DaytonAtlantic 1022–1323rd2010HarvardIvy23–61stNeverMiami (FL)ACC19–1410th2009NebraskaBig 1219–1217th2009New MexicoMountain West21–1219th2009NorthwesternBig Ten18–136th2010Oklahoma StateBig 1219–1311th2008Ole MissSEC20–1310th2010UTEPC-USA25–99th2006Virginia TechACC21–1112th2010Washington StatePac-1019–125th2009Wichita StateMissouri Valley24–812th2010
Seeds + Alabama BracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1AlabamaSEC21–11At-large2Miami (FL)ACC19–14At-large3Missouri StateMissouri Valley25–8Automatic4New MexicoMountain West21–12At-large5UTEPC-USA25–9At-large6Murray StateOhio Valley23–8Automatic7Florida AtlanticSun Belt21–10Automatic8Coastal CarolinaBig South28–5Automatic+ Colorado BracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1 ColoradoBig 1221–13At-large2Saint Mary'sWest Coast25–8Automatic3Colorado StateMountain West19–12At-large4CaliforniaPac-1017–14At-large5Ole MissSEC20–13At-large6FairfieldMAAC24–7Automatic7Kent StateMAC23–11Automatic8Texas SouthernSWAC19–12Automatic+ Boston College BracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1Boston CollegeACC20–12At-large2Washington StatePac-1019–12At-large3Oklahoma StateBig 1219–13At-large4NorthwesternBig Ten18–13At-large5MilwaukeeHorizon19–13Automatic6HarvardIvy23–6At-large7Long Beach StateBig West22–11Automatic8McNeese StateSouthland21–11Automatic+ Virginia Tech BracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1Virginia TechACC21–11At-large2 Cleveland StateHorizon26–8At-large3 DaytonAtlantic 1022–13At-large4 Wichita StateMissouri Valley24–8At-large5 NebraskaBig 1219–12At-large6 College of CharlestonSoCon24–10Automatic7 VermontAmerica East23–8Automatic8Bethune–CookmanMEAC21–12Automatic
Bracket Played on the home court of the higher-seeded team (except #1 Boston College & #3 Dayton in the first round) * – Denotes overtime
Alabama bracket
Colorado bracket
Boston College bracket
Virginia Tech bracket
NIT Final Four Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City
See also 2011 Women's National Invitation Tournament 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 2011 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament 2011 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament 2011 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament 2011 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament 2011 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament 2011 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament 2011 College Basketball Invitational 2011 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
References