The 2025 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was a single-elimination tournament of thirty-two NCAA Division I men's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2025 NCAA tournament. The tournament commenced on March 18th and concluded on April 3rd. The first three rounds were played on campus sites, with the semifinal and final rounds played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Six programs made their debut in the NIT: Cal State Northridge, Jacksonville State, North Alabama, Northern Colorado, Samford, and UC Riverside.
The University of Tennessee–Chattanooga Mocs defeated the University of California–Irvine Anteaters 85–84 in overtime to claim the championship. The All-Tournament Team was composed of Trey Bonham (Chattanooga), Justin Hohn (UC Irvine), Honor Huff (Chattanooga), Devin Tillis (UC Irvine) and Atin Wright (North Texas); Bonham was also selected Most Outstanding Player.
Participants Teams and pairings for the 2025 NIT were released by the NIT Committee on March 16, 2025. Thirty-two teams qualified for the NIT, including exempt qualifiers, automatic qualifiers, and at-large selections. In 2024, the Seton Hall Pirates won the NIT championship.
Non-NCAA tournament teams from the Big East, Big Ten and Big 12 conferences were contractually prohibited from playing in any other postseason tournament, including the NIT, if they declined an invitation or removed themselves from consideration for a bid to the College Basketball Crown.
Exempt qualifiers For the 2025 NIT, exempt bids were extended to two teams from the Atlantic Coast (ACC) and Southeastern (SEC) conferences, plus one team each from the top twelve conferences (potentially excluding the ACC and SEC) as rated by the Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings (KenPom) on March 16, 2025. The twelve conferences that earned exempt bids based on their KenPom ratings were
American Athletic (AAC, The American) Atlantic 10 (A–10) Big East Big Ten Big 12 Big West Conference USA (CUSA) Ivy Missouri Valley (MVC) Mountain West (MWC) West Coast (WCC) Western Athletic (WAC)
Whether the twelve exempt-bid conferences excluded or included the ACC and SEC is unclear. Multiple sources indicated that there would be sixteen exempt bids extended. This would be possible only if four exempt bids were extended collectively to the ACC and SEC, and twelve other exempt bids were extended. Nevertheless, two days before NIT selections were to be made, a tweet from the NIT's account included a graphic purporting to show the twelve conferences that were then leading in the KenPom ratings, and those twelve conferences included the ACC and SEC. This would result in only fourteen exempt bids if the ACC and SEC could not receive a third exempt bid by being in the top twelve conferences. A CBS Sports article in which the tweet was embedded maintained there would be sixteen exempt bids. The two conferences listed above that were excluded from the graphic were the Ivy and the WAC. Because the tweet is the only source indicating the ACC and SEC were taken into account when ranking the top twelve conferences, it may have been erroneous. Had the SEC been eligible for a third exempt bid, it would not have been able to receive it, as only two of its members failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
Further, it appears that Utah Valley, the team entitled to the WAC's exempt bid, could not host due to scheduling issues with their arena, which would mean the WAC did earn an exempt bid. However, local media reporting Utah Valley's NIT bid merely speculated and did not express certainty regarding why they were playing on the road. The Utah Valley athletics website offered no explanation for the team opening the NIT away from home. Without a definitive statement from the NCAA, the status of teams participating in the tournament as either exempt or at large remains unclear. If the WAC did not have an exempt bid, Utah Valley earned an automatic bid, because they were the WAC regular-season champion, did not win the conference tournament, and had a KNIT score better than 125.
The teams accepting exempt bids are shown below. No schools from the Big East, Big Ten, Ivy, or SEC accepted invitations, creating five additional at-large berths. TeamConferenceOverallrecordAppearanceLastbidNorth TexasAAC4th2024SMUACC7th2024StanfordACC10th2018George MasonA–105th2009Oklahoma StateBig 1214th2023UC IrvineBig West9th2024Middle TennesseeCUSA5th2018BradleyMVC24th2024San Jose StateMWC2nd1981San FranciscoWCC8th2024Utah Valley WAC3rd2023 Utah Valley declined hosting a first-round game due to scheduling issues at the UCCU Center.As described above, whether Utah Valley's inclusion in the field was as an automatic versus exempt qualifier is uncertain.
The final KNIT (average of Bart Torvik "T-Rank" Ranking (BTR), ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI), Ken Pomeroy Rating (KPR), Kevin Pauga Index (KPI), NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), Strength of Record (SOR) ranking, and Wins Above Bubble (WAB) ranking) scores of non-NCAA tournament teams from conferences that earned exempt bids through the close of play on March 16, 2025 (Selection Sunday) are summarized in the tables below. Teams in bold accepted a bid; teams in italics were extended an automatic bid but rejected it. Some Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12 teams were contractually obligated to decline.
+Atlantic Coast ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITSMU4745476246515751Wake Forest7062715969444860Pittsburgh7250619261798571Stanford7588827681707278Florida State938689123909311198Georgia Tech90949412210994112102Virginia96100104124110100117107Notre Dame978996146103117138112Syracuse10797117147133123152125California121104112154125140158131NC State11593125179132148177138Virginia Tech144122161166167147182156Boston College172161184203202166196183Miami (FL)185119192251225188269204 +Southeastern ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITLSU84748810589858787South Carolina7679691068710911992 +American Athletic ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITNorth Texas7380727365636670UAB10199103100106115124107Florida Atlantic111102115139111138157125Wichita State140120135140134129145135Tulane138127138174145154174150Temple157142171181164165191167East Carolina182159176162176156178170South Florida201147195207189188245196UTSA181186191227201188250203Rice179194189281204188280216Tulsa240235268262271188287250Charlotte262219257276267188319255 +Atlantic 10 ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITGeorge Mason7169784768535563Dayton7872745167586266Saint Joseph's82717964769210681St. Bonaventure921101028497878894Loyola Chicago98101108781079510198Saint Louis10810810685101121131109George Washington116116113119124126134121Rhode Island160135150127152139154145Davidson142130148157153163181153Duquesne123118132145149188251158La Salle209165222173214188230200UMass212192214204221188267214Fordham216213229209239188278225Richmond224223238221253188296235 +Big East ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITVillanova5241569555617562Butler776577135839712394Georgetown948487129888210395Providence1048397149100131169119DePaul112105118170119118149127Seton Hall217150206240211188259210 Offered a bid or preemptively declined the opportunity to play in the CBC and was thereby contractually forbidden from playing in the NIT. +Big Ten ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITOhio State4137395341565947Indiana5552483654505049Nebraska6255545559606158.0Northwestern5447456553717358.3Iowa6659647963696967USC5960636970838670Penn State6458608666808471Rutgers6876758377778377Minnesota8690906796899788Washington118107109109117105118112 Offered a bid or preemptively declined the opportunity to play in the CBC and was thereby contractually forbidden from playing in the NIT. +Big 12 ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITWest Virginia3451534851424146Cincinnati4440556650596053Kansas State, 5763677475727168UCF, 6964687571656768TCU7467867078686372Utah6761769673757674.9Arizona State6577708274817875.3Colorado81828110186919588Oklahoma State8710310011295768294 Teams finished with identical KNIT scores. Offered a bid or preemptively declined the opportunity to play in the CBC and was thereby contractually forbidden from playing in the NIT. +Big West ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITUC Irvine8095664162575165Cal State Northridge128133107117104120108117UC Riverside15120014598142119105137UC Santa Barbara147157147160140170156154Cal Poly178236181177180188225195Hawaii231256224200223188216220UC Davis244259246205237188220228Cal State Bakersfield255254239235244188273241Long Beach State309324303324326188336301Cal State Fullerton354355351329348188341324 +Conference USATeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITMiddle Tennessee1201411197210511192109Jacksonville State13215312390122135115124Louisiana Tech134140126103126150129130Kennesaw State124185130102137158141140New Mexico State105164131131144179167146UTEP143196158128157175165160Western Kentucky159198159132159174163163Sam Houston155205175178178188233187FIU266292254270260188330266 +Ivy LeagueTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITCornell125117128141120134142130Princeton206132178118166125127150Brown201191208189215170172192Dartmouth176187205219209188208199Harvard238246255222256188214231Columbia299241277268272188222252Penn303271291279304188276273As described above, the Ivy League's status as an exempt-bid conference is uncertain. +Missouri Valley ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITBradley9992955680736880Northern Iowa1171131018093141136112Belmont13016212993129116116125Illinois State131124140121121155162136Murray State162121142138146188210158UIC191154174130154153166160Southern Illinois180207193186195188255201Indiana State203182201210205188244205Valparaiso219203212199206188256212Missouri State207237245269245188328246Evansville261269262233257188299253 +Mountain West ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITBoise State5048505044555250UNLV899692979810311098Nevada88788012679128128101San Jose State152181165194175179203178Wyoming189199185217197188212198Fresno State258274256287278188317265Air Force289304310312323188340295 +West Coast ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITSan Francisco6175655864545462Santa Clara5170576157888166Oregon State919885113851089496Washington State106114124116112106107112Loyola Marymount148169155153162161137155Pepperdine198238216254227188243223Portland251310269265288188249260Pacific279316283309295188309283San Diego292322296341324188344301 +Western Athletic ConferenceTeamBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITUtah Valley1101261141201088679106Seattle139144146212155188239175California Baptist156166167190172188190176Abilene Christian200244219238228188206218UT Arlington239210226271231188252231Tarleton285294286278302188263271Southern Utah325306295304306188270285Utah Tech298318301335309188346299As described above, the Western Athletic Conference's status as an exempt-bid conference is uncertain. All exempt qualifiers were given the opportunity to host first-round games.
Automatic qualifiers Additionally, automatic bids were given to regular-season conference champions with an average ranking (or "KNIT" score) of 125 or better across the BTR, BPI, KPR, KPI, NET, SOR and WAB rankings.
The final KNIT scores through the close of play on March 15, 2025 (the morning of Selection Sunday), of teams that were conference regular-season champions, failed to win their conference tournament and are not from conferences receiving an exempt bid are summarized in the table below.
TeamConferenceBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABKNITBucknellPatriot214215225243213188205215Central ConnecticutNortheast194167183183168113104159ChattanoogaSouthern135134110881159689110Northern ColoradoBig Sky11912812214311411091118QuinnipiacMetro Atlantic Athletic210202213195191179187197South AlabamaSun Belt136138121158123136135135Southeast Missouri StateOhio Valley197243204198188188175199SouthernSouthwestern Athletic215220233228224179143206TowsonCoastal Athletic168145154114151124122140
Teams qualifying for and accepting automatic bids were as follows: