The 2014 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2014 NCAA tournament. The annual tournament started on campus sites for the first three rounds, with the Final 4 and championship game being held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tournament began on Tuesday, March 18 and ended on Thursday, April 3. Minnesota won this tournament after being the third Big Ten team in a row to make the NIT Finals (the two previous years a Big Ten team had lost the final game).
Participants
Automatic qualifiers The following teams earned automatic berths into the 2014 NIT field having won their respective conference's regular season championship, but failing to win their conference tournament.
Team Conference Record Appearance Last bidBelmontOhio Valley24–92nd2004Boston UniversityPatriot24–106th2005DavidsonSouthern20–126th2009Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun22–121stNeverGeorgia StateSun Belt25–82nd2002Green BayHorizon24–63rd1992High PointBig South16–141stNeverIonaMAAC22–105th1997Louisiana TechC-USA27–78th2013Robert MorrisNortheast21–133rd2013UC IrvineBig West23–115th2002Utah ValleyWAC20–111stNeverVermontAmerica East22–103rd2011
Southern from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) was the league regular-season champion and lost in their conference tournament but is ineligible for the NIT due to Academic Progress Rate (APR) sanctions. No team from the SWAC received an NIT autobid.
Arizona (Pac-12), Cincinnati (American), Kansas (Big 12), Michigan (Big Ten), Saint Louis (Atlantic 10), San Diego State (Mountain West) and Villanova (Big East) received automatic bids to the NIT, but did not accept them as they were selected as at-large teams in the 2014 NCAA tournament.
At-large bids The following 19 teams were also awarded NIT berths. TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bidArkansasSEC21–113rd1997CaliforniaPac-1219–138th2011ClemsonACC20–1215th2007Florida StateACC19–139th2013GeorgetownBig East17–1412th2009GeorgiaSEC19–1312th2007IllinoisBig Ten19–145th2010Indiana StateMissouri Valley23–104th2013LSUSEC19–137th2012MinnesotaBig Ten20–1315th2012MissouriSEC22–118th2005Saint Mary'sWest Coast22–113rd2011San FranciscoWest Coast21–116th2005SMUAmerican23–93rd2000Southern MissC-USA27–610th2013St. John'sBig East20–1230th2013ToledoMAC27–68th2007UtahPac-1221–1116th2001West VirginiaBig 1217–1516th2007
Seeds +SMU BracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1SMUAmerican23–9At-large2CaliforniaPac-1219–13At-large3ArkansasSEC21–11At-large4San FranciscoWest Coast21–11At-large5LSUSEC19–13At-large6Indiana StateMVC23–10At-large7Utah ValleyWAC20–11Automatic8UC IrvineBig West23–11Automatic+St. John's BracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1 St. John'sBig East20–12At-large2IllinoisBig Ten19–14At-large3ClemsonACC20–12At-large4Green BayHorizon24–6Automatic5BelmontOhio Valley24–9Automatic6Georgia StateSun Belt25–8Automatic7Boston UniversityPatriot24–10Automatic8Robert MorrisNortheast21–13Automatic+Florida State BracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1Florida StateACC19–13At-large2GeorgiaSEC19–13At-large3Louisiana TechC-USA27–7Automatic4GeorgetownBig East17–14At-large5West VirginiaBig 1217–15At-large6IonaMAAC22–10Automatic7VermontAmerica East22–10Automatic8Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun22–12Automatic+Minnesota BracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1MinnesotaBig Ten20–13At-large2 MissouriSEC22–11At-large3 Southern MissC-USA27–6At-large4 Saint Mary'sWest Coast22–11At-large5 UtahPac-1221–11At-large6 ToledoMAC27–6At-large7 DavidsonSouthern20–12Automatic8High PointBig South16–14Automatic
Bracket Games are played at higher seed unless noted.
*#2 Illinois played at #7 Boston University and at #3 Clemson due to State Farm Center renovations.
Media ESPN has exclusive television rights to all NIT games. They aired every single game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. Since 2011 Westwood One has held exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and championship. In 2014, John Tautges and Kelly Tripucka called these games for Westwood One.
See also 2014 Women's National Invitation Tournament 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 2014 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament 2014 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament 2014 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament 2014 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament 2014 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament 2014 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament 2014 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament 2014 NAIA Division I women's basketball tournament 2014 NAIA Division II women's basketball tournament 2014 College Basketball Invitational 2014 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
References