The 2016 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2016 NCAA tournament. The annual tournament was played on campus sites for the first three rounds, with the Final Four and championship game being held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tournament began on Tuesday, March 15 and ended on Thursday, March 31. An experimental rule allowing players six personal fouls instead of five was approved for use in all national postseason tournaments except for the NCAA Tournament. The NIT Selection Show aired at 8:30 PM EDT on Sunday, March 13, 2016, on ESPNU. George Washington were the champions over Valparaiso 76–60. The Colonials victory was their first-ever NIT title.
Participants
Automatic qualifiers The following 15 teams earned automatic berths into the 2016 NIT field by virtue of having won their respective conference's regular season championship but failing to win their conference tournaments or receive an at-large NCAA bid. TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bidAkronMAC26–84th2012BelmontOhio Valley20–113rd2014BucknellPatriot17–133rd2015High PointBig South21–102nd2014HofstraCAA24–95th2007IPFWSummit24–91stNeverMonmouthMAAC27–71stNeverNew Mexico StateWAC23–105th2000North FloridaAtlantic Sun22–111stNeverSaint Mary'sWCC27–55th2015San Diego StateMountain West25–96th2009Texas SouthernSWAC18–142nd2011UABC-USA26–612th2010ValparaisoHorizon26–63rd2012WagnerNEC22–103rd2002
At-large bids The following 17 teams were also awarded NIT berths. TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bidAlabamaSEC18–1414th2015BYUWest Coast23–1012th2013CreightonBig East18–1411th2011DavidsonAtlantic 1020–127th2014FloridaSEC19–1410th2009Florida StateACC19–1310th2014George WashingtonAtlantic 1023–106th2015GeorgiaSEC19–1313th2014Georgia TechACC19–148th2003HoustonAmerican22–910th2006Long Beach StateBig West20–148th2013Ohio StateBig Ten20–139th2008PrincetonIvy22–66th2002South CarolinaSEC24–812th2009St. BonaventureAtlantic 1022–816th2002Virginia TechACC19–1413th2011WashingtonPac-1218–148th2013
Seeds The first four teams left out of the NCAA tournament were the top seeds in the four regions, as in last year's tournament. They were St. Bonaventure, South Carolina, Monmouth and Valparaiso.
+St. Bonaventure BracketSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1St. BonaventureAtlantic 1022–8At-large2BYUWest Coast23–10At-large3Virginia TechACC19–14At-large4CreightonBig East18–14At-large5AlabamaSEC18–14At-large6PrincetonIvy22–6At-large7UABC-USA26–6Automatic8WagnerNortheast22–10Automatic+South Carolina BracketSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1South CarolinaSEC24–8At-large2San Diego StateMountain West25–9Automatic3WashingtonPac-1218–14At-large4Georgia TechACC 19–14At-large5HoustonAmerican22–9At-large6Long Beach StateBig West20–14At-large7IPFWSummit 24–9Automatic8High PointBig South21–10Automatic+Valparaiso BracketSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1ValparaisoHorizon26–6Automatic2Saint Mary'sWest Coast27–5Automatic3GeorgiaSEC19–13At-large4Florida StateACC19–13At-large5DavidsonAtlantic 1020–12At-large6BelmontOhio Valley20–11Automatic7New Mexico StateWAC23–10Automatic8Texas SouthernSWAC18–14Automatic+Monmouth BracketSeedSchoolConferenceRecordBerth type1MonmouthMAAC27–7Automatic2FloridaSEC19–14At-large3Ohio StateBig Ten20–13At-large4George WashingtonAtlantic 1023–10At-large5HofstraColonial24–9Automatic6AkronMAC26–8Automatic7North FloridaAtlantic Sun22–11Automatic8BucknellPatriot17–13Automatic
Schedule The NIT began on Tuesday March 15. The first three rounds were played on campus sites. The Final Four began on Tuesday, March 29 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and ended there with the championship game on Thursday, March 31.
Bracket ^Florida was not able to host home games at the O'Connell Center due to arena renovations.
* Denotes overtime period
Media ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all NIT games. It will telecast every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN3 (ESPNews was used for the Valparaiso–Florida State game). Since 2011, Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and championship. In 2016 Scott Graham and Kelly Tripucka provided the call.
See also 2016 Women's National Invitation Tournament 2016 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 2016 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament 2016 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament 2016 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament 2016 NCAA Division II women's basketball tournament 2016 NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament 2016 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament 2016 NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament 2016 NAIA Division II women's basketball tournament 2016 College Basketball Invitational 2016 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
References