The 2019 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) was a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...

of 32

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

men's

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teams that were not selected to participate in the 2019 NCAA tournament. The tournament started on March 19, and concluded on April 4. The first three rounds were played on campus sites with the higher seeded team acting as host. The semifinals and championship game were held at

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Experimental rules

On February 22, 2019, the NCAA announced a set of experimental rules that were used in this edition of the NIT. The following rules were also used in the 2018 NIT: * The three-point line was moved to the

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

standard of . When the arc approaches the sideline, it changed to a line parallel to and from the sideline. * The free-throw lane was widened from the current college standard of 12 feet to the NBA standard of 16 feet. * After an offensive rebound, the shot clock was reset to 20 seconds instead of the current NCAA standard of 30. A set of rules relating to free throws that had been used in the 2017 NIT were used again in the 2019 edition, with one modification: * Team foul counts, for purposes of determining bonus free throws, were reset to zero at the 10-minute mark of each half, effectively dividing the game into quarters for that purpose. This mirrored the current practice in NCAA women's basketball, which has been played in quarters since the 2015–16 season. * The "one-and-one" was eliminated. All bonus free throw situations resulted in two free throws for the non-fouled team. * Teams entered the bonus upon the fifth team foul in each 10-minute segment. * The team foul count was reset to zero at the start of any overtime period. Teams entered the bonus upon the fourth team foul in an overtime period. * In a completely new feature, the NCAA adopted the NBA's bonus rule regarding team fouls in the last 2 minutes of any period. Teams entered the bonus on the second team foul in the last 2 minutes of a 10-minute segment or overtime period, regardless of the total team foul count at that point of the period. ;Notes

Participants

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams were guaranteed berths into the 2019 NIT field by having the best regular season record in their conference but failing to win their conference tournament. Such teams were eligible to receive an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament but did not.

At-large bids

The following teams were also awarded NIT berths.

Seeds

Bracket

* Denotes overtime period.

Media

ESPN, Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. For management and financial reporting purposes, the company is the main entity with ...

had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT Games. It telecast every game across

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

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, and

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had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

References

{{2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox National Invitation

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York Cit ...

2010s in Manhattan

Basketball in New York City College sports in New York City Madison Square Garden

National Invitation Tournament Sports competitions in New York City Sports in Manhattan