INDIANAPOLIS -- Colorado State, Old Dominion, Richmond and Temple highlight the 32-team National Invitation Tournament field that was released on Sunday. The field features 23 teams with at least 20 wins, 12 automatic qualifiers and representation from 22 of the 32 Division I conferences.
First round play is scheduled for Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 18, with the second round running March 20-23. The quarterfinals will be held on March 24 and 25 and four teams will advance to New York City for the semifinals on Tuesday, March 31. The NIT will conclude with the Championship game on Thursday, April 2. The semifinal and championship games will be played at New York’s historic Madison Square Garden for the 78th year.
First round action, on campus sites, features number one seeds Colorado State, Old Dominion, Richmond, and Temple hosting South Dakota State, Charleston Southern, St. Francis Brooklyn (making its first NIT appearance since 1963) and Bucknell, respectively.
Other first round games include George Washington at Pittsburgh, Central Michigan at Louisiana Tech, Montana at Texas A&M, Arizona State at Connecticut, Illinois at Alabama, North Carolina Central at Miami (Fla.), Vanderbilt at St. Mary’s (Calif.), Iona at Rhode Island, UC Davis at Stanford, Green Bay at Illinois State, UTEP at Murray State, and William and Mary at Tulsa.
Temple is making its 18th appearance in the National Invitation Tournament, tying Manhattan and Saint Louis for the fifth-most appearances by any school. A total of five teams in the 2015 field appeared in the NIT in 2014.
“This was a very challenging selection process for a number of reasons,” said Reggie Minton, acting chair of the NIT Selection Committee. “In addition to the 12 institutions which automatically qualified for the NIT and the 20 that we selected with the at-large spots available, there were many others that were worthy of strong consideration into our field.
“We are excited about the field we have and are looking forward to an outstanding tournament beginning Tuesday.”
All 2015 NIT games will also include two experimental rules. Teams will compete using a 30-second shot clock instead of the current 35-second shot clock. The 31 games of the NIT will also have a four-foot restricted-area arc as opposed to the current three-foot arc.
NIT games are being televised by ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. Additional NIT information can also be found at ncaa.com/NIT.
