The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is one of college basketball's longest standing traditions. Once considered the top postseason tournament in college basketball, the NIT now gives teams whose NCAA Tournament bubble bursts another shot at high-level postseason play.
Now, with other postseason tournaments on the rise, the NIT's rules and qualifications continue to change. For the 2024 tournament, the NIT took away automatic bids for any team that wins its conference's regular-season title but does not qualify for the NCAA tournament. The 2024 field guaranteed berths to 12 teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, Pac-12 and SEC regardless of record, which hindered the path to the NIT for low- and mid-major regular-season champions.
