INDIANAPOLIS -- Monmouth, St. Bonaventure, South Carolina and Valparaiso highlight the 32-team National Invitation Tournament field released today. The field features 22 teams with at least 20 wins, a record 15 automatic qualifiers and representation from 24 of the 32 Division I conferences.
First round play is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15 and Wednesday, March 16, with the second round running March 17-21. Quarterfinals will be held on March 22 and 23 and four teams will advance to New York City for the semifinals on Tuesday, March 29. The NIT will conclude with the championship game on Thursday, March 31. The semifinal and championship games will be played at New York’s historic Madison Square Garden for the 79th year.
First round action, on campus sites, features number one seeds Monmouth, St. Bonaventure, South Carolina, and Valparaiso hosting Bucknell, Wagner, High Point and Texas Southern respectively.
Other first round games include UAB at Brigham Young, IPFW at San Diego State, Florida at North Florida, New Mexico State at St. Mary’s (California), Princeton at Virginia Tech, Long Beach State at Washington, Akron at Ohio State, Belmont at Georgia, Alabama at Creighton, Houston at Georgia Tech, Hofstra at George Washington and Davidson at Florida State.
St. Bonaventure is making its 16th appearance in the National Invitation Tournament, the most of any school in the 2016 field. A total of four teams in the 2016 field appeared in the NIT in 2015.
“This was a very challenging selection process for a number of reasons and may be the most challenging since I’ve been a part of this process,” said Reggie Minton, chair of the NIT Selection Committee. “The record number of institutions which automatically qualified for the NIT gave us only 17 spots to fill at-large and there were considerably more than 17 teams that were worthy of consideration.”
“We are excited about the field we have and are looking forward to an outstanding tournament beginning Tuesday.”
NIT games are being televised by ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. Additional NIT information can also be found on www.NCAA.com/NIT.
2016 NIT AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS
| Conference | School | Record | NIT App. | NIT Record | Last App. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Sun | North Florida | 22-11 | First Appearance | ||
| Big South | High Point | 21-10 | 2 | 0-1 | 2014 |
| Colonial | Hofstra | 24-9 | 5 | 2-4 | 2007 |
| Conference USA | UAB | 26-6 | 12 | 14-11 | 2010 |
| Horizon | Valparaiso | 26-6 | 3 | 0-2 | 2012 |
| Metro Atlantic | Monmouth | 27-7 | First Appearance | ||
| Mid-American | Akron | 26-8 | 6 | 2-5 | 2012 |
| Mountain West | San Diego St. | 25-9 | 6 | 5-5 | 2009 |
| Northeast | Wagner | 22-10 | 3 | 0-2 | 2002 |
| Ohio Valley | Belmont | 20-11 | 3 | 2-2 | 2014 |
| Patriot | Bucknell | 17-13 | 3 | 1-2 | 2015 |
| Southwestern | Texas Southern | 18-14 | 2 | 0-1 | 2011 |
| Summit | IPFW | 24-9 | First Appearance | ||
| West Coast | St. Mary’s (CA) | 27-5 | 5 | 3-4 | 2015 |
| Western Athletic | New Mexico St. | 23-10 | 5 | 2-4 | 2000 |
2016 NIT AT-LARGE BIDS
| School | Conference | 2016 | NIT App. | NIT History | Last App. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Southeastern | 18-14 | 14 | 24-16 | 2015 |
| BYU | West Coast | 23-10 | 13 | 15-9 | 2013 |
| Creighton | Big East | 18-14 | 11 | 5-10 | 2009 |
| Davidson | Atlantic 10 | 20-12 | 7 | 3-6 | 2014 |
| Florida | Southeastern | 19-14 | 10 | 11-11 | 2009 |
| Florida St. | Atlantic Coast | 19-13 | 10 | 13-9 | 2014 |
| George Washington | Atlantic 10 | 23-10 | 6 | 1-5 | 2015 |
| Georgia | Southeastern | 19-13 | 13 | 12-12 | 2015 |
| Georgia Tech | Atlantic Coast | 19-14 | 8 | 8-7 | 2003 |
| Houston | American | 22-9 | 10 | 5-9 | 2006 |
| Long Beach St. | Big West | 20-14 | 8 | 2-7 | 2013 |
| Ohio St. | Big Ten | 20-13 | 9 | 18-7 | 2008 |
| Princeton | Ivy | 22-6 | 6 | 7-4 | 2002 |
| South Carolina | Southeastern | 24-8 | 12 | 21-9 | 2009 |
| St. Bonaventure | Atlantic 10 | 22-8 | 16 | 17-16 | 2002 |
| Virginia Tech | Atlantic Coast | 19-14 | 13 | 24-10 | 2011 |
| Washington | Pac-12 | 18-14 | 8 | 3-7 | 2013 |
