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 semi-final and championship final played at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

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 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, Memphis won the NIT Title.

Automatic qualifiers

After the tournament's cancellation in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

and its reduction in

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.

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.

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 ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hears ...

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. * Denotes overtime period

Media

ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT games. It telecasted every game across ESPN, ESPN2,

, and

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 ...

. Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

References

{{2022 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 City ...

2020s in Manhattan

Basketball competitions in New York City College sports tournaments in New York City Madison Square Garden National Invitation Tournament Sports in Manhattan College basketball tournaments in New York (state)