2025 National Invitation Tournament

2025 National Invitation Tournament

Season	2024–25
Teams	32
Finals site	Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, Indiana
National Invitation Tournaments « 2024 2026 »

The 2025 National Invitation Tournament is a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I men's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2025 NCAA tournament. The tournament will begin on March 18 and end on April 3. The first three rounds will be played on campuses, with the semifinal and championship final played at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. ^[1]

Six programs will be making their debut in the NIT: Cal State Northridge, Jacksonville State, North Alabama, Northern Colorado, Samford, and UC Riverside.

Participants

Teams and pairings for the 2025 NIT will be released by the NIT Committee on Sunday, March 16, 2025. 32 teams will qualify for the NIT, including exempt qualifiers, automatic qualifiers, and at-large selections. ^[2] In 2024, the Seton Hall Pirates won the NIT championship.

Exempt qualifiers

For the 2025 NIT, exempt bids were extended to two teams from each of the Atlantic Coast (ACC) and Southeastern (SEC) conferences, plus one team each from the top twelve conferences (other than the ACC and SEC) as rated by KenPom on March 16, 2025. All exempt qualifiers were given the opportunity to host first-round games. The 12 conferences that earned exempt bids based on their KenPom ratings ^[3] were

• The American
• Atlantic 10
• Big East
• Big Ten
• Big 12
• Big West
• Conference USA
• Ivy League
• Missouri Valley
• Mountain West
• West Coast
• WAC

The teams accepting exempt bids are shown in the table below. No schools from the Big East, Big Ten, Ivy, nor SEC accepted invitations into the tournament, creating five additional at-large berths.

Team	Conference	Overall Record	Appearance	Last Bid
SMU	ACC	23–10	7th	2024
Stanford	ACC	20–13	10th	2018
North Texas	American	24–8	4th	2024
George Mason	Atlantic 10	26–8	5th	2009
Oklahoma State	Big 12	15–17	14th	2024
UC Irvine	Big West	28–6	9th	2024
Middle Tennessee	Conference USA	22–11	5th	2018
Bradley	Missouri Valley	26–8	24th	2024
San Jose State	Mountain West	15–19	2nd	1981
San Francisco	West Coast	24–9	8th	2024
Utah Valley †	WAC	25–8	3rd	2023

† Utah Valley had to decline hosting a first-round game due to scheduling issues at the UCCU Center. ^[4]

The final KNIT 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 eligible for an automatic bid but declined.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
SMU	45	62	46	47	51	47	57	51
Wake Forest	62	59	69	71	44	70	48	60
Pittsburgh	50	92	61	61	79	72	85	71
Stanford	88	76	81	82	70	75	72	78
Florida State	86	123	90	89	93	93	111	98
Georgia Tech	94	122	109	94	94	90	112	102
Virginia	100	124	110	104	100	96	117	107
Notre Dame	89	146	103	96	117	97	138	112
Syracuse	97	147	133	117	123	107	152	125
California	104	154	125	112	140	121	158	131
NC State	93	179	132	125	148	115	177	138
Virginia Tech	122	166	167	161	147	144	182	156
Boston College	161	203	202	184	166	172	196	183
Miami (FL)	119	251	225	192	188	185	269	204

Southeastern Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
LSU	74	105	89	88	85	84	87	87
South Carolina	79	106	87	69	109	76	119	92

American Athletic Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
North Texas	80	73	65	72	63	73	66	70
UAB	99	100	106	103	115	101	124	107
Florida Atlantic	102	139	111	115	138	111	157	125
Wichita State	120	140	134	135	129	140	145	135
Tulane	127	174	145	138	154	138	174	150
Temple	142	181	164	171	165	157	191	167
East Carolina	159	162	176	176	156	182	178	170
South Florida	147	207	189	195	188	201	245	196
UTSA	186	227	201	191	188	181	250	203
Rice	194	281	204	189	188	179	280	216
Tulsa	235	262	271	268	188	240	287	250
Charlotte	219	276	267	257	188	262	319	255

Atlantic 10 Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
George Mason	69	47	68	78	53	71	55	63
Dayton	72	51	67	74	58	78	62	66
Saint Joseph's	71	64	76	79	92	82	106	81
St. Bonaventure	110	84	97	102	87	92	88	94
Loyola Chicago	101	78	107	108	95	98	101	98
Saint Louis	108	85	101	106	121	108	131	109
George Washington	116	119	124	113	126	116	134	121
Rhode Island	135	127	152	150	139	160	154	145
Davidson	130	157	153	148	163	142	181	153
Duquesne	118	145	149	132	188	123	251	158
La Salle	165	173	214	222	188	209	230	200
UMass	192	204	221	214	188	212	267	214
Fordham	213	209	239	229	188	216	278	225
Richmond	223	221	253	238	188	224	296	235

Big East Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
Villanova †	41	95	55	56	61	52	75	62
Butler	65	135	83	77	97	77	123	94
Georgetown ‡	84	129	88	87	82	94	103	95
Providence	83	149	100	97	131	104	169	119
DePaul	105	170	119	118	118	112	149	127
Seton Hall	150	240	211	206	188	217	259	210

† Top seeded Big East in the CBC.
‡ Second seeded Big East team in the CBC. The Big East committed to send two teams to the CBC.

Big Ten Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
Ohio State	37	53	41	39	56	41	59	47
Indiana	52	36	54	48	50	55	50	49
Nebraska †	55	55	59	54	60	62	61	58.0
Northwestern	47	65	53	45	71	54	73	58.3
Iowa	59	79	63	64	69	66	69	67
USC ‡	60	69	70	63	83	59	86	70
Penn State	58	86	66	60	80	64	84	71
Rutgers	76	83	77	75	77	68	83	77
Minnesota	90	67	96	90	89	86	97	88
Washington	107	109	117	109	105	118	118	112

† Top seeded Big Ten team in the CBC.
‡ Second seeded Big Ten team in the CBC. The Big Ten committed to send two teams to the CBC.

Big 12 Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
West Virginia	51	48	51	53	42	34	41	46
Cincinnati ‡	40	66	50	55	59	44	60	53
Kansas State †	63	74	75	67	72	57	71	68
UCF †, ††	64	75	71	68	65	69	67	68
TCU	67	70	78	86	68	74	63	72
Utah	61	96	73	76	75	67	76	74.9
Arizona State	77	82	74	70	81	65	78	75.3
Colorado	82	101	86	81	91	81	95	88
Oklahoma State	103	112	95	100	76	87	82	94

† Teams finished with identical KNIT scores.
‡ Top seeded Big 12 team in the CBC.
†† Second seeded Big 12 team in the CBC. The Big 12 committed to send two teams to the CBC.

Big West Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
UC Irvine	95	41	62	66	57	80	51	65
Cal State Northridge	133	117	104	107	120	128	108	117
UC Riverside	200	98	142	145	119	151	105	137
UC Santa Barbara	157	160	140	147	170	147	156	154
Cal Poly	236	177	180	181	188	178	225	195
Hawaii	256	200	223	224	188	231	216	220
UC Davis	259	205	237	246	188	244	220	228
Cal State Bakersfield	254	235	244	239	188	255	273	241
Long Beach State	324	324	326	303	188	309	336	301
Cal State Fullerton	355	329	348	351	188	354	341	324

Conference USA

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
Middle Tennessee	141	72	105	119	111	120	92	109
Jacksonville State	153	90	122	123	135	132	115	124
Louisiana Tech	140	103	126	126	150	134	129	130
Kennesaw State	185	102	137	130	158	124	141	140
New Mexico State	164	131	144	131	179	105	167	146
UTEP	196	128	157	158	175	143	165	160
Western Kentucky	198	132	159	159	174	159	163	163
Sam Houston	205	178	178	175	188	155	233	187
FIU	292	270	260	254	188	266	330	266

Ivy League

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
Cornell	117	141	120	128	134	125	142	130
Princeton	132	118	166	178	125	206	127	150
Brown	191	189	215	208	170	201	172	192
Dartmouth	187	219	209	205	188	176	208	199
Harvard	246	222	256	255	188	238	214	231
Columbia	241	268	272	277	188	299	222	252
Penn	271	279	304	291	188	303	276	273

Missouri Valley Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
Bradley	92	56	80	95	73	99	68	80
Northern Iowa	113	80	93	101	141	117	136	112
Belmont	162	93	129	129	116	130	116	125
Illinois State	124	121	121	140	155	131	162	136
Murray State	121	138	146	142	188	162	210	158
UIC	154	130	154	174	153	191	166	160
Southern Illinois	207	186	195	193	188	180	255	201
Indiana State	182	210	205	201	188	203	244	205
Valparaiso	203	199	206	212	188	219	256	212
Missouri State	237	269	245	245	188	207	328	246
Evansville	269	233	257	262	188	261	299	253

Mountain West Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
Boise State	48	50	44	50	55	50	52	50
UNLV	96	97	98	92	103	89	110	98
Nevada	78	126	79	80	128	88	128	101
San Jose State	181	194	175	165	179	152	203	178
Wyoming	199	217	197	185	188	189	212	198
Fresno State	274	287	278	256	188	258	317	265
Air Force	304	312	323	310	188	289	340	295

West Coast Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
San Francisco	75	58	64	65	54	61	54	62
Santa Clara	70	61	57	57	88	51	81	66
Oregon State	98	113	85	85	108	91	94	96
Washington State	114	116	112	124	106	106	107	112
Loyola Marymount	169	153	162	155	161	148	137	155
Pepperdine	238	254	227	216	188	198	243	223
Portland	310	265	288	269	188	251	249	260
Pacific	316	309	295	283	188	279	309	283
San Diego	322	341	324	296	188	292	344	301

Western Athletic Conference

Team	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
Utah Valley	126	120	108	114	86	110	79	106
Seattle	144	212	155	146	188	139	239	175
California Baptist	166	190	172	167	188	156	190	176
Abilene Christian	244	238	228	219	188	200	206	218
UT Arlington	210	271	231	226	188	239	252	231
Tarleton	294	278	302	286	188	285	263	271
Southern Utah	306	304	306	295	188	325	270	285
Utah Tech	318	335	309	301	188	298	346	299

Automatic qualifiers

Additionally, automatic bids will be given to regular-season conference champions with an average ranking (or "KNIT" score) ^[11] of 125 or better across the BPI, KPI, NET, KenPom, SOR, Torvik and WAB rankings. ^[12]

The final KNIT scores through the close of play on March 16, 2025 (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.

Team	Conference	BPI [5]	KPI [6]	NET [7]	KPR [8]	SOR [9]	TOR [10]	WAB [10]	KNIT
Bucknell	Patriot League	215	243	213	225	188	214	205	215
Central Connecticut	Northeast	167	183	168	183	113	194	104	159
Chattanooga	Southern	134	88	115	110	96	135	89	110
Northern Colorado	Big Sky	128	143	114	122	110	119	91	118
Quinnipiac	MAAC	202	195	191	213	179	210	187	197
South Alabama *	Sun Belt	138	158	123	121	136	136	135	135
Southeast Missouri State	Ohio Valley	243	198	188	204	188	197	175	199
Southern	SWAC	220	228	224	233	179	215	143	206
Towson	CAA	145	114	151	154	124	168	122	140

Teams qualifying for and acccepting automatic bids were as follows:

Team	Conference	Overall Record	Appearance	Last Bid
Chattanooga	Southern	24–9	5th	1987
Northern Colorado	Big Sky	25–9	1st	Never

* According to multiple reports, due to the volume of "high-major" programs declining NIT bids, the NCAA "assigned" (rather than "offered") some NIT bids without notifying the programs involved in advance ^[13] . UC Riverside, who didn't know about the NCAA inviting them to the NIT, confirmed their participation in the CBI. Thinking UC Riverside declined participation, the NIT called South Alabama to invite them to the tournament, just to take it back an hour later, while UC Riverside ultimately confirmed participation in the NIT and dropped out of the CBI ^[14] .

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.

Team	Conference	Overall Record	Appearance	Last Bid
Arkansas State	Sun Belt	24–10	5th	1991
Cal State Northridge	Big West	22–10	1st	Never
Dayton	Atlantic 10	22–10	28th	2022
Florida Atlantic	American	18–15	2nd	2011
Furman	Southern	25–9	3rd	2019
Georgia Tech	ACC	17–16	10th	2017
Jacksonville State	Conference USA	22–12	1st	Never
Kent State	Mid-American	22–11	10th	2011
Loyola Chicago	Atlantic 10	22–11	7th	2024
North Alabama	ASUN	24–10	1st	Never
Northern Iowa	Missouri Valley	20–12	3rd	2022
Saint Louis	Atlantic 10	19–14	21st	2022
Saint Joseph's	Atlantic 10	22–12	18th	2024
Samford	Southern	22–10	1st	Never
Santa Clara	West Coast	20–12	7th	2023
St. Bonaventure	Atlantic 10	22–11	18th	2022
UAB	American	22–12	14th	2023
UC Riverside	Big West	21–12	1st	Never
Wichita State	American	19–14	14th	2019

Declined bids

The following schools declined to play in the 2025 NIT:

• Boise State (accepted CBC instead)
• Butler (accepted CBC instead)
• Florida State
• Georgetown (accepted CBC instead)
• Indiana ^[15]
• LSU ^[16]
• Nevada ^[17]
• Northwestern ^[18]
• Pittsburgh ^[19]
• Providence
• Rutgers ^[20]
• South Carolina ^[21]
• UNLV
• Villanova (accepted CBC instead)
• Wake Forest ^[22]

Bracket

Dallas Region

First Round March 18–19 Campus Sites

Second Round March 22–23 Campus Sites

Quarterfinal March 26 Campus Site

1

SMU*

Northern Iowa

4

Oklahoma State*

Wichita State

2

North Texas*

Furman

3

Arkansas State*

Saint Louis

(*) Host institution

Dayton Region

First Round March 18–19 Campus Sites

Second Round March 22–23 Campus Sites

Quarterfinal March 25 Campus Site

1

Dayton

Florida Atlantic*

4

Middle Tennessee*

Chattanooga

2

George Mason*

Samford

3

Bradley*

North Alabama

(*) Host institution

San Francisco Region

First Round March 18–19 Campus Sites

Second Round March 22–23 Campus Sites

Quarterfinal March 26 Campus Site

1

San Francisco

Utah Valley

4

San Jose State

Loyola Chicago

2

Stanford

Cal State Northridge

3

St. Bonaventure

Kent State

Irvine Region

First Round March 18–19 Campus Sites

Second Round March 22–23 Campus Sites

Quarterfinal March 26 Campus Site

1

UC Irvine

Northern Colorado

4

Georgia Tech

Jacksonville State

2

Santa Clara

UC Riverside

3

Saint Joseph's

UAB

NIT semifinals and final

	Semifinals April 1 Hinkle Fieldhouse					Final April 3 Hinkle Fieldhouse
	Dallas Region winner
	Irvine Region winner
	Dayton Region winner
	San Francisco Region winner

Game summaries

All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

First round

March 18 7:00 p.m.

March 18 7:00 p.m.

March 18 7:00 p.m.

March 18 7:00 p.m.

March 18 9:00 p.m.

March 18 9:00 p.m.

March 18 9:00 p.m.

March 18 9:00 p.m.

March 18 11:00 p.m.

March 19 7:00 p.m.

March 19 7:00 p.m.

March 19 7:00 p.m.

March 19 8:00 p.m.

March 19 8:00 p.m.

March 19 9:00 p.m.

March 19 9:00 p.m.

Second round

March 22 11:30 a.m.

March 22 2:00 p.m.

March 22 7:00 p.m.

March 23 2:00 p.m.

March 23 4:00 p.m.

March 23 7:30 p.m.

March 23 9:00 p.m.

March 23 9:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals

March 25 7:00 p.m.

March 25 9:00 p.m.

March 27 7:00 p.m.

March 26 9:00 p.m.

Semifinals

April 1 7:00 p.m.

April 1 9:30 p.m.

Final

April 3 7:00 p.m.

Media

ESPN, Inc. has exclusive rights to all of the NIT games. It telecasts every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPN+. ^[23] Westwood One has exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

See also

• 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2025 College Basketball Crown
• 2025 College Basketball Invitational
• 2025 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
• 2025 Women's National Invitation Tournament

References

1. "2025 NIT bracket: Schedule, TV channels for the men's tournament". NCAA.com. March 5, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
2. Silverman, Blake (November 16, 2024). "Explaining the New NIT Rules & How to Qualify in 2025". SI.com . Retrieved March 11, 2025.
3. "Bracketology". DRatings. March 15, 2025. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
4. Dunn, Nathan (March 16, 2025). "Utah Valley Accepts NIT Invite; Will Travel to No. 1 Seed San Francisco". KSL Broadcasting. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
5. "Men's College Basketball Power Index 2024–25 | BPI". ESPN. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
6. "KPI Rankings NCAA D-I Men's Basketball 2024–2025". Faktor Sports. March 16, 2025. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
7. "2024–25 D-I Men's Basketball NET Ranking thru Games 03/16/2025". NCAA Statistics. March 16, 2025. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
8. "2025 Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings". The Forecast Factory LLC. March 16, 2025. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
9. "Men's College Basketball Power Index 2024–25 | Resume". ESPN. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
10. "2025 T-Rank and Tempo-Free Stats". Bart Torvik. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
11. "NIT 101" (PDF). NCAA.com. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
12. "NIT Announces New Team Selection Protocol and New Committee Members". NCAA.com. October 22, 2024. Retrieved February 27, 2025.
13. Wadleigh, Matt (March 17, 2025). "Fans Are Confused as College Basketball Team Lands in Two Postseason Tournaments". AthlonSports.com. Athlon Sports. Retrieved March 18, 2025.
14. "Update: UC Riverside to Compete in the 2025 NIT". GoHighlanders.com. California Riverside Highlanders. March 16, 2025. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
15. James, Donovan (March 16, 2025). "Indiana basketball declines to play in NIT, College Basketball Crown". hoosierstateofmind.com. Fansided. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
16. Stenger, Ethan (March 16, 2025). "LSU men's basketball declines 2025 NIT invitation". The Reveille. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
17. Murray, Chris (March 16, 2025). "Nevada basketball passes on postseason bid, ends year at 17-16". Nevada Sportsnet. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
18. Kronenberg, Eli; Pachuta, Audrey (March 13, 2025). "Men's Basketball: Northwestern's season ends with 70-63 loss to No. 18 Wisconsin". Daily Northwestern. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
19. Thompson, Steven (March 14, 2025). "Pitt men's basketball will decline invitations to any postseason tournaments". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
20. Polacek, Scott (March 16, 2025). "Rutgers Declines NIT After Missing March Madness as Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper Eye Draft". Bleacher Report. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
21. Cole, Alan (March 16, 2025). "South Carolina men's basketball declines NIT invitation". Rivals.com. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
22. Porter, Chanel (March 16, 2025). "Wake Forest Men's Basketball declines invitation to NIT". WXII-TV . Retrieved March 16, 2025.
23. "Broadcast Info". NCAA.com. Retrieved March 11, 2025.