National Invitation Tournament

National Invitation Tournament (NIT), collegiate basketball competition initiated in the United States in 1938 by New York City basketball writers and held annually since then in Madison Square Garden under the auspices of the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA). It is a single-elimination tournament (a loss brings elimination) with 32 of the nation’s outstanding college teams invited to participate.

Because most teams aspire to a berth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament’s field of 65, the NIT has lost most of its earlier lustre. Now, the early rounds are played outside New York, with only the four semifinalists competing in Madison Square Garden. In 1985 a preseason NIT tournament was introduced and is played annually in November. In 2005 the NCAA purchased ownership rights to the NIT tournaments.