2011 National Invitation Tournament


The 2011 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA tournament. The 74th annual tournament began March 15 on campus sites ended on March 31 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Wichita State defeated [2010–11 2010–11 Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team|Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team|Alabama], 66–57, to win its first NIT title.

Participants

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams are automatic qualifiers for the 2011 NIT field; by virtue of winning their conferences' regular season championship and not qualifying for the NCAA tournament as an "at-large" bid.
TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bid
Bethune–CookmanMEAC21–121stNever
Coastal CarolinaBig South28–52nd2010
College of CharlestonSouthern24–104th2003
FairfieldMAAC24–76th2003
Florida AtlanticSun Belt21–101stNever
Kent StateMAC23–119th2010
Long Beach StateBig West22–116th2000
McNeese StateSouthland21–113rd2001
MilwaukeeHorizon19–132nd2004
Missouri StateMissouri Valley25–89th2007
Murray StateOhio Valley23–87th1996
Saint Mary'sWest Coast25–82nd2009
Texas SouthernSWAC19–121stNever
VermontAmerica East23–82nd2007

At-large bids

The following 18 teams were also awarded NIT berths.
TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLast bid
AlabamaSEC21–1111th2007
[2010–11 2010–11 Boston College Eagles men's basketball team|Boston College Eagles men's basketball team|Boston College]ACC20–1211th2003
CaliforniaPac-1017–147th2008
Cleveland StateHorizon26–84th2008
[2010–11 2010–11 Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team|Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball team|Colorado]Big 1221–139th2006
Colorado StateMountain West19–127th1999
DaytonAtlantic 1022–1323rd2010
HarvardIvy23–61stNever
Miami (FL)ACC19–1410th2009
NebraskaBig 1219–1217th2009
New MexicoMountain West21–1219th2009
NorthwesternBig Ten18–136th2010
Oklahoma StateBig 1219–1311th2008
Ole MissSEC20–1310th2010
UTEPC-USA25–99th2006
[2010–11 2010–11 Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball team|Virginia Tech Hokies men's basketball team|Virginia Tech]ACC21–1112th2010
Washington StatePac-1019–125th2009
Wichita StateMissouri Valley24–812th2010

Bracket

Played on the home court of the higher-seeded team
* – Denotes overtime

NIT Final Four

''Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City''