2022 National Invitation Tournament

2022 National Invitation Tournament

Season	2021–22
Teams	32
Finals site	Madison Square Garden New York City
Champions	Xavier Musketeers (2nd title)
Runner-up	Texas A&M Aggies (1st title game)
Semifinalists	St. Bonaventure Bonnies (7th semifinal) Washington State Cougars (2nd semifinal)
Winning coach	Jonas Hayes (1st title)
MVP	Colby Jones (Xavier)
Attendance	3,551 (championship game)
National Invitation Tournaments « 2021 2023 »

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. ^[1]

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. ^[1]

Team	Conference	Overall record	Appearance	Last bid
Long Beach State	Big West	20–12	9th	2016
North Texas	C-USA	24–6	1st	Never
Towson	CAA	25–8	1st	Never
Cleveland State	Horizon	20–10	6th	2012
Princeton	Ivy League	23–5	7th	2016
Iona	MAAC	25–7	7th	2015
Toledo	MAC	26–7	11th	2021
Northern Iowa	MVC	19–11	2nd	2012
Nicholls	Southland	21–11	1st	Never
Alcorn State	SWAC	15–15	3rd	1985
Texas State	Sun Belt	21–7	1st	Never

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.

Team	Conference	Overall record	Appearance	Last bid
Belmont	Ohio Valley	25–7	5th	2017
BYU	WCC	22–10	15th	2018
Colorado	Pac-12	21–11	12th	2019
Dayton	Atlantic 10	23–10	27th	2021
Florida	SEC	19–13	11th	2016
Mississippi State	SEC	18–15	11th	2021
Missouri State	Missouri Valley	23–10	10th	2011
Oklahoma	Big 12	18–15	8th	2004
Oregon	Pac-12	19–14	12th	2018
Saint Louis	Atlantic 10	23–11	20th	2021
Santa Clara	WCC	21–11	5th	1989
SMU	American	23–8	5th	2021
St. Bonaventure	Atlantic 10	20–9	17th	2016
Texas A&M	SEC	23–12	8th	2015
Utah State	Mountain West	18–15	10th	2008
Vanderbilt	SEC	17–16	13th	2015
VCU	Atlantic 10	21–9	6th	2008
Virginia	ACC	19–13	14th	2013
Wake Forest	ACC	23–9	7th	2006
Washington State	Pac-12	19–14	6th	2011
Xavier	Big 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. ^[2]

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.

	First round March 15–16 Campus sites					Second round March 20 Campus sites					Quarterfinal March 22 Campus sites
	1	Dayton^	74
		Toledo	55
						1	Dayton^	68
						4	Vanderbilt	70OT
	4	Vanderbilt	82
		Belmont	71
											4	Vanderbilt	73
											2	Xavier	75
	3	Florida	79
		Iona	74
						3	Florida	56
						2	Xavier	72
	2	Xavier	72
		Cleveland State	68

^ 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

	First round March 15–16 Campus sites					Second round March 20 Campus sites					Quarterfinal March 22 Campus sites
	1	Oklahoma	89
		Missouri State	72
						1	Oklahoma	68
							St. Bonaventure	70
	4	Colorado	68
		St. Bonaventure	76
											St. Bonaventure		52
											Virginia		51
	3	Mississippi State^	57
		Virginia	60
							Virginia	71OT
						2	North Texas	69
	2	North Texas	67OT
		Texas State	63

^Game played at Virginia due to construction work at Humphrey Coliseum

	First round March 15–16 Campus sites					Second round March 19–20 Campus sites					Quarterfinal March 23 Campus sites
	1	SMU	68
		Nicholls	58
						1	SMU	63
						4	Washington State	75
	4	Washington State	63
		Santa Clara	50
											4	Washington State	77
											2	BYU	58
	3	Saint Louis	68
		Northern Iowa	80
							Northern Iowa	71
						2	BYU	90
	2	BYU	93
		Long Beach State	72

	First round March 15–16 Campus sites					Second round March 19 Campus sites					Quarterfinal March 23 Campus sites
	1	Texas A&M	74
		Alcorn State	62
						1	Texas A&M	75
							Oregon	60
	4	Utah State	72
		Oregon	83
											1	Texas A&M	67
											2	Wake Forest	52
	3	VCU	90
		Princeton	79
						3	VCU	74
						2	Wake Forest	80
	2	Wake Forest	74
		Towson	64

	Semifinals March 29 Madison Square Garden					Final March 31 Madison Square Garden
		St. Bonaventure	77
	2	Xavier	84
						2	Xavier	73
						1	Texas A&M	72
	4	Washington State	56
	1	Texas A&M	72

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

1. "2022 NIT bracket". NCAA.com. February 25, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
2. "2022 NIT bracket: Printable .PDF for the National Invitation Tournament". NCAA.com. Retrieved March 16, 2022.