Regular-season convention champions who do not make the NCAA Tournament will not obtain an automatic bid to the NIT below new variety standards introduced Friday via the NCAA. Instead, the highest two groups within the NET scores from each and every of the foremost six conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC) that didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament will earn the first 12 NIT automatic bids and feature the best to host first-round video games.Â
The transfer places the squeeze on low- and mid-major methods who win their convention’s common season identify however fail to win their convention event and thus fail to see an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Under the former layout, such colleges had been nonetheless assured a countrywide exhibit alternative during the NIT.
“I was surprised and disappointed in the action announced today by the NIT Board of Managers, approximately one week prior to the start of the 2023-24 season,” mentioned MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher. “To make such a substantive change to the NIT structure without providing a satisfactory explanation or building the foundation for such a change is troubling and leaves student-athletes, coaches, and fans in a state of uncertainty. Today’s announcement is leading me to focus even more on the discussion around the possible expansion of the NCAA Tournament and I will marshal our membership’s attention to that issue.”
In its announcement of changes to the NIT for 2024, the NCAA mentioned that it is going to “select the 20 best teams available to complete the tournament’s 32-team field” after the 12 automatic bids are passed out to power convention colleges. The different 4 web hosting colleges would be the “best” of the 20 at-large groups.
“The postseason college basketball landscape is becoming more competitive for teams that don’t qualify for March Madness,” mentioned Dan Gavitt, NIT board chair and NCAA senior vp of basketball. “The change to the selection process for the 2024 NIT is a necessary effort to evolve this historic tournament in a dynamic event marketplace.”
Using the 2024 standards, listed below are the groups that will have earned the 12 automatic bids for remaining season’s NIT:
- ACC: Clemson, Virginia Tech (North Carolina declined a call for participation)Â
- Big 12: Oklahoma State, Texas TechÂ
- Big East: Villanova, Seton HallÂ
- Big Ten: Rutgers, Ohio StateÂ
- Pac-12: Oregon, ColoradoÂ
- SEC: Florida, Vanderbilt
Of that workforce, Texas Tech was once 16-16 (5-13 Big 12) and Ohio State was once 16-19 (5-15 Big Ten).
This is handiest the most recent exchange to the NIT, which has traditionally performed its semifinals and ultimate at Madison Square Garden in New York. Those video games will probably be performed at Hinkle Fieldhouse at the Butler campus in Indianapolis on April 2 and four this season after remaining 12 months’s semifinals and finals had been held in Las Vegas.