The 1987

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 ...

was the 1987 edition of the annual

NCAA 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 ...

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 ...

competition. The tournament began on Wednesday, March 11, and ended when the

Southern Miss Golden Eagles The Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles (also known as Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Lady Eagles) are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), located in Hattiesburg, Missi ...

defeated the

La Salle Explorers The La Salle Explorers are the varsity sports teams from La Salle University in Philadelphia. The Explorers compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. The men's and women's basketball teams are also participate in the P ...

in the NIT championship game on Thursday, March 26, 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 ...

Selected teams

Below is a list of the 32 teams selected for the tournament."NIT Results (1980's)."
''www.ncaa.com.'' Retrieved February 9, 2016.

Louisville declines invitation

Louisville 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. ...

turned down an invitation to the 1987 NIT, the first team in history to decline an NIT bid. No team would do so again until Georgetown in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

.Associated Press, "Georgetown Declines NIT Bid," ''The Daily Utah Chronicle'', March 12, 2002.

Bracket

Below are the four first round brackets, along with the four-team championship bracket.

Semifinals & finals

References

{{1987 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox National Invitation

1980s 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

Selected teams

Louisville declines invitation

Bracket

Semifinals & finals

See also

References