2022 National Invitation Tournament


The 2022 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I men's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2022 NCAA tournament. The tournament began on March 15 and ended on March 31. The first three rounds were played on campuses, with the semifinal and championship final played at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Participants

Teams and pairings for the 2022 NIT were released by the NIT Committee at 9 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, March 13, on ESPNU. It returned to its previous 32-team field for the first time since 2019. In 2021, Memphis won the NIT Title.

Automatic qualifiers

After the tournament's cancellation in 2020 and its reduction in 2021 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 tournament returned to the NIT's standard format of guaranteeing berths to teams which had the best regular season record in their conference, but failed to win their conference tournament.
TeamConferenceOverall recordAppearanceLast bid
Long Beach StateBig West20–129th2016
North TexasC-USA24–61st
TowsonCAA25–81st
Cleveland StateHorizon20–106th2012
PrincetonIvy League23–57th2016
IonaMAAC25–77th2015
ToledoMAC26–711th2021
Northern IowaMVC19–112nd2012
NichollsSouthland21–111st
Alcorn StateSWAC15–153rd1985
Texas StateSun Belt21–71st

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.
TeamConferenceOverall recordAppearanceLast bid
BelmontOhio Valley25–75th2017
BYUWCC22–1015th2018
ColoradoPac-1221–1112th2019
DaytonAtlantic 1023–1027th2021
FloridaSEC19–1311th2016
Mississippi StateSEC18–1511th2021
Missouri StateMissouri Valley23–1010th2011
OklahomaBig 1218–158th2004
OregonPac-1219–1412th2018
Saint LouisAtlantic 1023–1120th2021
Santa ClaraWCC21–115th1989
SMUAmerican23–85th2021
St. BonaventureAtlantic 1020–917th2016
Texas A&MSEC23–128th2015
Utah StateMountain West18–1510th2008
VanderbiltSEC17–1613th2015
VCUAtlantic 1021–96th2008
[2021–22 2021–22 Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team|Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team|Virginia]ACC19–1314th2013
Wake ForestACC23–97th2006
Washington StatePac-1219–146th2011
XavierBig East18–139th2019

Schedule

The 2022 National Invitation Tournament began on Tuesday, March 15 with the first round. First-round games were played both on Tuesday, and Wednesday, March 16. The semifinals were held on Tuesday, March 29, and the championship on Thursday, March 31.

Bracket

The 32-team bracket was announced on March 13. It was released via the NIT Selection Show on ESPNU at 9 p.m. EDT on March 13.
^ Game played at Virginia due to construction work at Humphrey Coliseum

Media

ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT games. It telecasted every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+. Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.