The National Commissioners Invitational Tournament was an eight-team postseason men's

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

tournament run by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA). It was introduced in 1974 as the Collegiate Commissioners Association Tournament. Invitees were runner-up teams in major conferences. It was created because the NCAA wanted to "kill" the

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 ...

(NIT), which, at that time, it did not control . It only lasted two years before being discontinued after changes to the NCAA tournament which allowed more than one team per conference to participate.

Summary

The tournament was won in 1974 by

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

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USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

, 85–60, in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. The 1974 tournament featured a collection of teams that came in second in their conferences due to NCAA Tournament rules at the time which only invited conference champions. In 1975, the NCAA tournament expanded to include at-large teams, from a total of 25 to 32 teams and began inviting more than one team from some conferences rather than solely conference champions. However, the 1975 tournament, renamed the ''National Commissioners Invitational Tournament'', was still held and was won by

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

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Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, 83–76, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. The Commissioners Invitational Tournament was discontinued after the 1975 tournament. Knapp Center 2010 3

Championships

List of NCIT bids by school

This is a list of NCIT bids by school. The Big 8, Big 10, MAC, Missouri Valley, Pac-8, SEC and WAC sent teams to both tournaments. The Southwest only was invited to the 1974 tournament while the Southern Conference was only invited to the 1975 tournament.

References

External links

Article on Drake's NCIT Championship
{{NCAA men's college basketball tournament navbox College men's basketball competitions in the United States Postseason college basketball competitions in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1974 Recurring events disestablished in 1975 NCIT bids by school