Selection Sunday isn’t just for the NCAA tournament. Hours after the 2025 men’s NCAA tournament bracket is announced, the snubs in the field of 68 will get another shot at the postseason when the NIT bracket is announced. The National Invitational Tournament will feature 32 teams, and field will be announced at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
The NIT begins on March 18 with games being played at the home gym of the higher-seeded team. It concludes with the NIT semifinals on April 1 and championship game on April 3 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on the campus of Butler University.
The NCAA tournament bubble is full of bluebloods, and that could make for a thrilling field at the NIT. The latest bracketology projection at Blogging the Bracket had North Carolina, Texas, and Indiana all among the first four teams out of the NCAA tournament. Ohio State, Dayton, Wake Forest, Nebraska, and SMU are also strong teams projected on the wrong side of the bubble right now. The NIT has been home to fantastic postseason college basketball since 1938, and there are plenty of quality programs to make up the single-elimination bracket once again this year.
The NIT gives automatic bids will be given to regular-season conference champions with a qualifying cumulative score in weight metrics like KenPom and Bart Torvik’s efficiency stats and traditional metrics like the BPI and NIT. It will be fascinating to see if any programs turn down the invite to instead focus on roster-building for next year in the transfer portal. With one last opportunity for games on college campuses, the NIT is going to be so much fun all the way up to the semifinals and finals at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Last year’s 2024 NIT championship game between Seton Hall and Indiana State was an all-timer. Seton Hall closed the game on a 9-0 run to steal the win. It was one of the more exciting men’s college games of the year.
Here’s how you can watch the 2025 NIT men’s selection show.
Date: Sunday, March 16
Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN2
Streaming: Watch ESPN and ESPN+
