The 2022 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I men's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2022 NCAA tournament. The tournament began on March 15 and ended on March 31. The first three rounds were played on campuses, with the semifinal and championship final played at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Participants Teams and pairings for the 2022 NIT were released by the NIT Committee at 9 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, March 13, on ESPNU. It returned to its previous 32-team field for the first time since 2019. In 2021, Memphis won the NIT Title.
Automatic qualifiers After the tournament's cancellation in 2020 and its reduction in 2021 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 tournament returned to the NIT's standard format of guaranteeing berths to teams which had the best regular season record in their conference, but failed to win their conference tournament.
TeamConferenceOverall recordAppearanceLast bidLong Beach StateBig West 20–12 9th 2016North TexasC-USA 24–6 1st TowsonCAA 25–8 1st Cleveland StateHorizon 20–10 6th 2012PrincetonIvy League 23–5 7th 2016IonaMAAC 25–7 7th 2015ToledoMAC 26–7 11th 2021Northern IowaMVC 19–11 2nd 2012NichollsSouthland 21–11 1st Alcorn StateSWAC 15–15 3rd 1985Texas StateSun Belt 21–7 1st
At-large bids The following teams were awarded at-large bids. TeamConferenceOverall recordAppearanceLast bidBelmontOhio Valley 25–7 5th 2017BYUWCC 22–10 15th 2018ColoradoPac-12 21–11 12th 2019DaytonAtlantic 10 23–10 27th 2021FloridaSEC 19–13 11th 2016Mississippi StateSEC 18–15 11th 2021Missouri StateMissouri Valley 23–10 10th 2011OklahomaBig 12 18–15 8th 2004OregonPac-12 19–14 12th 2018Saint LouisAtlantic 10 23–11 20th 2021Santa ClaraWCC 21–11 5th 1989SMUAmerican 23–8 5th 2021St. BonaventureAtlantic 10 20–9 17th 2016Texas A&MSEC 23–12 8th 2015Utah StateMountain West 18–15 10th 2008VanderbiltSEC 17–16 13th 2015VCUAtlantic 10 21–9 6th 2008VirginiaACC 19–13 14th 2013Wake ForestACC 23–9 7th 2006Washington StatePac-12 19–14 6th 2011XavierBig East 18–13 9th 2019
Schedule The 2022 National Invitation Tournament began on Tuesday, March 15 with the first round. First-round games were played both on Tuesday, and Wednesday, March 16. The semifinals were held on Tuesday, March 29, and the championship on Thursday, March 31.
Bracket The 32-team bracket was announced on March 13. It was released via the NIT Selection Show on ESPNU at 9 p.m. EDT on March 13.
^ Dayton's first-round game played at Toledo due to UD Arena hosting First Four 2022 NCAA tournament games ^ Dayton's second-round game played at Vanderbilt due to UD Arena hosting OHSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament games
^ Game played at Virginia due to construction work at Humphrey Coliseum
Media ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT games. It telecasted every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+. Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.
See also 2022 Women's National Invitation Tournament
References