NCAA snubs, the reigning National Champions and a few automatic qualifiers make up the 2015 NIT field.
Once again, the NIT is upon us, and for 32 teams that just missed out on NCAA Tournament dreams, that means that chance to compete for a championship at the World's Most Famous Arena.
Former NCAA bubble teams like Temple, Colorado State, Miami and Murray State will set their sites on Madison Square Garden, home of the tournament's final two rounds, while teams like Connecticut, Tulsa, Pittsburgh and Illinois try to disrupt the favorites.
The NIT field is made up of more than the traditional heavyweights and major conference contenders, however. Schools like Bucknell and South Dakota State, who won their conference regular season championships but faltered in their league tournaments, were also rewarded with bids. St. Francis-Brooklyn and William & Mary are two more of those schools, and are also part of the unfortunate group of original Division I teams to have never been invited to the Big Dance.
But however they got there, teams often treat the NIT as an opportunity: first to prove to the NCAA Selection Committee that it was worthy of playing in the NCAA Tournament, and secondly to use as a springboard to a bigger run next year. We saw that happen with SMU, which advanced to the NIT final last year and earned a 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament this season.
The format
The NIT is a 32-team single-elimination tournament that plays its first three rounds on campus sites. The field is split into four regions of teams seeded 1-8. In most cases, the lower seed hosts each game until the semifinals. The only first-round exception this year is No. 3 Illinois, which will travel to No. 6 Alabama due to a scheduling conflict in its home arena. As mentioned above, the semifinals and finals will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The teams
Upper Left Region
1. Temple Owls
2. Texas A&M Aggies
3. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
4. Pittsburgh Panthers
5. George Washington Colonials
6. Central Michigan Chippewas
7. Montana Grizzlies
8. Bucknell Bison
Lower Left Region
1. Richmond Spiders
2. Miami (FL.) Hurricanes
3. Illinois Fighting Illini
4. Connecticut Huskies
5. Arizona State Sun Devls
6. Alabama Crimson Tide
7. North Carolina Central Eagles
8. St. Francis-Brooklyn Terriers
Upper Right Region
1. Colorado State Rams
2. Stanford Cardinal
3. Rhode Island Rams
4. St. Mary's Gaels
5. Vanderbilt Commodores
6. Iona Gaels
7. UC Davis Aggies
8. South Dakota State Jackrabbits
Lower Right Region
1. Old Dominion Monarchs
2. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
3. Murray State Racers
4. Illinois State Redbirds
5. Green Bay Phoenix
6. UTEP Miners
7. William & Mary Tribe
8. Charleston Southern Buccaneers
Bracket
Schedule and results (all times Eastern):
Tuesday, March 17
No. 6 Iona at No. 3 Rhode Island, 7 p.m., ESPNU
No. 7 North Carolina Central at No. 2 Miami (FL), 7 p.m., ESPN2
No. 5 George Washington at No. 4 Pittsburgh, 7 p.m., ESPN
No. 6 Central Michigan at No. 3 Louisiana Tech, 7:30 p.m., ESPN3
No. 7 William & Mary at No. 2 Tulsa, 8:30 p.m., ESPN3
No. 3 Illinois at No. 6 Alabama, 9 p.m., ESPN
No. 6 UTEP at No. 3 Murray State, 9 p.m., ESPN2
No. 7 Montana at No. 2 Texas A&M, 9 p.m., ESPNU
No. 7 UC Davis at No. 2 Stanford, 11 p.m., ESPN2
Wednesday, March 18
No. 5 Arizona State at No. 4 Connecticut, 7 p.m., ESPN2
No. 8 Bucknell at No. 1 Temple, 7 p.m., ESPN3
No. 8 Charleston Southern at No. 1 Old Dominion, 7:15 p.m., ESPN3
No. 8 St. Francis-Brooklyn at No. 1 Richmond, 7:30 p.m., ESPN3
No. 5 Green Bay at No. 4 Illinois State, 8 p.m., ESPNU
No. 5 Vanderbilt at No. 4 St. Mary's, 9 p.m., ESPN2
No. 8 South Dakota State at No. 1 Colorado State, 10 p.m., ESPNU
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