The 2018 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I college men's basketball teams that were not selected to participate in the 2018 NCAA tournament. The first three rounds of the annual tournament were played on campus sites (the host team being the higher-seeded team). The semifinals and championship game were held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Experimental rules In February 2018, the NCAA approved a number of experimental rule changes for use in this tournament: Games were played in 10-minute quarters instead of 20-minute halves. The NCAA has used this timing convention for women's basketball since the 2015–16 season. As in NCAA women's basketball, as well as the 2017 NIT, there were no "one-and-one" foul shots. Starting with the fifth foul in each quarter, non-shooting fouls by the defense resulted in two free throws, with the exception of administrative technical fouls (for which only one shot is awarded). The 2018 NIT, however, returned to the standard NCAA procedure of treating overtime periods as extensions of the final period of regulation for purposes of team foul accumulation. The three-point line changed to the current FIBA distance of from the center of the basket, except along the sidelines. Once the arc reaches a distance of from the sideline, it becomes a straight line parallel to the sideline. The free-throw lane was wide, the same width as in (W)NBA and FIBA rules, instead of the in the current NCAA rules. The shot clock was reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound.

Notes

Participants

Automatic qualifiers The following teams were guaranteed berths into the 2018 NIT field by having the best regular-season record in their conference but failing to either win their conference tournament or earn an at-large berth in the 2018 NCAA tournament.

TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bidFlorida Gulf CoastASUN23–112nd2014HamptonMEAC19–151stHarvardIvy18–132nd2011LouisianaSun Belt27–66th2003Middle TennesseeC-USA24–74th2012Northern KentuckyHorizon22–91stRiderMetro Atlantic22–92nd1998Southeastern LouisianaSouthland22–111stUC DavisBig West22–102nd2015UNC AshevilleBig South21–122nd2008VermontAmerica East27–74th2014WagnerNortheast23–94th2016

Grambling State won the SWAC regular-season title but was banned from the postseason due to low graduation rates and did not participate in the conference tournament. There was thus no automatic qualifier from the SWAC.

At-large bids The following 20 teams were also awarded NIT berths. TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bid Baylor Big 1218–146th2013 Boise StateMountain West23–86th2017 Boston College ACC19–1512th2011 BYUWCC24–1014th2017 Louisville ACC20–1315th2006LSU SEC17–148th2014 Marquette Big East19–1316th2005 Mississippi State SEC22–119th2012 Nebraska Big Ten22–1018th2011Notre DameACC20–1412th2009 Oklahoma State Big 1219–1412th2011 Oregon Pac-1222–1211th2012 Penn State Big Ten21–1311th2009 Stanford Pac-1218–159th2015 Saint Mary's WCC28–55th2016 Temple American17–1519th2015 USC Pac-1223–115th1999 UtahPac-1219–1114th2017 Washington Pac-1220–129th2016 Western Kentucky C-USA24–1014th2006

Bids by conference ConferenceBids Pac-12 5 ACC 3 Big 12, Big Ten, C-USA, SEC, West Coast 2 America East, American, ASUN, Big East, Big South, Big West, Horizon,Ivy, MAAC, MEAC, Mountain West, Northeast, Southland, Sun Belt 1 Atlantic 10, Big Sky, CAA, MAC, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, SWAC, Summit, WAC 0

Seeds

+Saint Mary's bracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1 Saint Mary'sWCC28–5At-large2 UtahPac-1219–11At-large3LSUSEC17–14At-large4Boise StateMountain West23–8At-large5WashingtonPac-1220–12At-large6LouisianaSun Belt27–6Automatic7UC DavisBig West22–10Automatic8SE LouisianaSouthland22–11Automatic +Baylor bracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1 BaylorBig 1218–14At-large2LouisvilleACC20–13At-large3Middle TennesseeC-USA24–7Automatic4Mississippi StateSEC22–11At-large5NebraskaBig Ten22–10At-large6VermontAmerica East27–7Automatic7Northern KentuckyHorizon22–9Automatic8WagnerNEC23–9Automatic

+USC bracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1 USCPac-1223–11At-large2Oklahoma StateBig 1219–14At-large3StanfordPac-1218–15At-large4Western KentuckyC-USA24–10At-large5Boston CollegeACC19–15At-large6BYUWCC24–10At-large7Florida Gulf CoastASUN23–11Automatic8UNC AshevilleBig South21–12Automatic +Notre Dame bracketSeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type1 Notre DameACC20–14At-large2MarquetteBig East19–13At-large3OregonPac-1222–12At-large4Penn StateBig Ten21–13At-large5TempleAmerican17–15At-large6RiderMAAC22–9Automatic7HarvardIvy18–13Automatic8HamptonMEAC19–15Automatic

Schedule The NIT began on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Due to a conflict at Taco Bell Arena (with the NCAA tournament), Boise State travelled to the University of Washington for their first-round match. The first three rounds were played on campus sites. The semifinals were held on Tuesday, March 27, and the championship game was held on Thursday, March 29, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Bracket

^ Game played at Washington due to Taco Bell Arena hosting first- and second-round 2018 NCAA tournament games.

* Denotes overtime period

Media ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT Games. It was telecast every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN3. Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

See also 2018 Women's National Invitation Tournament

References