2022 National Invitation Tournament
Season2021–22
Teams32
Finals siteMadison Square Garden
New York City
ChampionsXavier Musketeers (2nd title)
Runner-upTexas A&M Aggies (1st title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachJonas Hayes (1st title)
MVPColby Jones (Xavier)
Attendance3,551 (championship game)
National Invitation Tournaments
«2021 2023»

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 in New York City.[1]

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, Memphis won the NIT Title.

Automatic qualifiers

After the tournament's cancellation in 2020 and its reduction in 2021 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.[1]

Team Conference Overall record Appearance Last bid
Long Beach State Big West 20–12 9th 2016
North Texas C-USA 24–6 1st Never
Towson CAA 25–8 1st Never
Cleveland State Horizon 20–10 6th 2012
Princeton Ivy League 23–5 7th 2016
Iona MAAC 25–7 7th 2015
Toledo MAC 26–7 11th 2021
Northern Iowa MVC 19–11 2nd 2012
Nicholls Southland 21–11 1st Never
Alcorn State SWAC 15–15 3rd 1985
Texas State Sun Belt 21–7 1st Never

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.

Team Conference Overall record Appearance Last bid
Belmont Ohio Valley 25–7 5th 2017
BYU WCC 22–10 15th 2018
Colorado Pac-12 21–11 12th 2019
Dayton Atlantic 10 23–10 27th 2021
Florida SEC 19–13 11th 2016
Mississippi State SEC 18–15 11th 2021
Missouri State Missouri Valley 23–10 10th 2011
Oklahoma Big 12 18–15 8th 2004
Oregon Pac-12 19–14 12th 2018
Saint Louis Atlantic 10 23–11 20th 2021
Santa Clara WCC 21–11 5th 1989
SMU American 23–8 5th 2021
St. Bonaventure Atlantic 10 20–9 17th 2016
Texas A&M SEC 23–12 8th 2015
Utah State Mountain West 18–15 10th 2008
Vanderbilt SEC 17–16 13th 2015
VCU Atlantic 10 21–9 6th 2008
Virginia ACC 19–13 14th 2013
Wake Forest ACC 23–9 7th 2006
Washington State Pac-12 19–14 6th 2011
Xavier Big East 18–13 9th 2019

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.[2]

Bracket

The 32-team bracket was announced on March 13. It was released via the NIT Selection Show on ESPNU at 9 p.m. EDT on March 13.

First round
March 15–16
Campus sites 		Second round
March 20
Campus sites 		Quarterfinal
March 22
Campus sites
         
1 Dayton^ 74
Toledo 55
1 Dayton^ 68
4 Vanderbilt 70OT
4 Vanderbilt 82
Belmont 71
4 Vanderbilt 73
2 Xavier 75
3 Florida 79
Iona 74
3 Florida 56
2 Xavier 72
2 Xavier 72
Cleveland State 68
^ 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.
First round
March 15–16
Campus sites 		Second round
March 20
Campus sites 		Quarterfinal
March 22
Campus sites
         
1 Oklahoma 89
Missouri State 72
1 Oklahoma 68
St. Bonaventure 70
4 Colorado 68
St. Bonaventure 76
St. Bonaventure 52
Virginia 51
3 Mississippi State^ 57
Virginia 60
Virginia 71OT
2 North Texas 69
2 North Texas 67OT
Texas State 63

^ Game played at Virginia due to construction work at Humphrey Coliseum.

First round
March 15–16
Campus sites 		Second round
March 19–20
Campus sites 		Quarterfinal
March 23
Campus sites
         
1 SMU 68
Nicholls 58
1 SMU 63
4 Washington State 75
4 Washington State 63
Santa Clara 50
4 Washington State 77
2 BYU 58
3 Saint Louis 68
Northern Iowa 80
Northern Iowa 71
2 BYU 90
2 BYU 93
Long Beach State 72
First round
March 15–16
Campus sites 		Second round
March 19
Campus sites 		Quarterfinal
March 23
Campus sites
         
1 Texas A&M 74
Alcorn State 62
1 Texas A&M 75
Oregon 60
4 Utah State 72
Oregon 83
1 Texas A&M 67
2 Wake Forest 52
3 VCU 90
Princeton 79
3 VCU 74
2 Wake Forest 80
2 Wake Forest 74
Towson 64
Semifinals
March 29
Madison Square Garden 		Final
March 31
Madison Square Garden
      
St. Bonaventure 77
2 Xavier 84
2 Xavier 73
1 Texas A&M 72
4 Washington State 56
1 Texas A&M 72

Media

ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT games. It telecasted every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+. Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "2022 NIT bracket". NCAA.com. February 25, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  2. ^ "2022 NIT bracket: Printable .PDF for the National Invitation Tournament". NCAA.com. NCAA. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
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