2023 National Invitation Tournament

2023 National Invitation Tournament
Season	2022–23
Teams	32
Finals site	Orleans Arena; Paradise, Nevada
Champions	North Texas Mean Green (1st title)
Runner-up	UAB Blazers (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Wisconsin Badgers (1st semifinal); Utah Valley Wolverines (1st semifinal);
Winning coach	Grant McCasland (1st title)
MVP	Tylor Perry (North Texas)
National Invitation Tournaments
«2022	2024»

The 2023 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I men's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2023 NCAA tournament. The tournament began on March 14 and ended on March 30. The first three rounds were played on campuses, with the semifinal and championship final played at Orleans Arena in the Las Vegas Valley.^[1]

Participants

Teams and parings for the 2023 NIT were released by the NIT Committee on Sunday, March 12. Thirty-two teams qualified for the NIT, both automatic qualifiers and at-large selections. In 2022, the Xavier Musketeers won the NIT Title.

Automatic qualifiers

Teams which had the best regular-season record in their conference but failed to win their conference tournament automatically qualified for the 2023 NIT if they were not selected for the 2023 NCAA Tournament.^[1]

Team	Conference	Overall record	Appearance	Last bid
Eastern Washington	Big Sky	22–10	2nd	2003
UC Irvine	Big West	23–11	7th	2017
Hofstra	CAA	24–9	7th	2019
Youngstown State	Horizon	24–9	1st	Never
Yale	Ivy League	21–8	2nd	2002
Toledo	MAC	27–7	10th	2022
Bradley	MVC	25–9	22nd	2007
Morehead State	OVC	21–11	1st	Never
Southern Miss	Sun Belt	25–7	11th	2014
Alcorn State	SWAC	18–13	4th	2022
Utah Valley	WAC	25–8	2nd	2014

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.

Team	Conference	Overall record	Appearance	Last bid
Cincinnati	American	21–12	11th	2010
Clemson	ACC	23–10	18th	2019
Colorado	Pac-12	17–16	13th	2022
Florida	SEC	16–16	11th	2022
Liberty	ASUN	26–8	1st	Never
Michigan	Big Ten	17–15	10th	2007
New Mexico	Mountain West	22–11	20th	2011
North Texas	Conference USA	26–7	2nd	2022
Oklahoma State	Big 12	18–15	13th	2018
Oregon	Pac-12	19–14	13th	2022
Rutgers	Big Ten	19–14	15th	2006
Sam Houston	WAC	25–7	2nd	2019
Santa Clara	West Coast	23–9	7th	2022
Seton Hall	Big East	17–15	18th	2012
UAB	Conference USA	25–9	13th	2016
UCF	American	18–14	3rd	2017
Vanderbilt	SEC	20–14	14th	2022
Villanova	Big East	17–16	18th	2004
Virginia Tech	ACC	19–14	14th	2016
Washington State	Pac-12	17–16	7th	2022
Wisconsin	Big Ten	17–14	5th	1996

Declined invitations

The following programs declined to participate in the 2023 NIT:

North Carolina^[2]
Dayton^[3] (It is unclear if Dayton would have been invited had they not preemptively declined.)

Bracket

The 32-team bracket was announced on March 12, via the NIT Selection Show on ESPNU at 10 p.m. EST.^[4]

First round March 14–15 Campus sites			Second round March 18–19 Campus sites			Quarterfinal March 21 Gallagher-Iba Arena

1	Oklahoma State^	69

	Youngstown State	64
			1	Oklahoma State	71

				Eastern Washington	60
4	Washington State	74

	Eastern Washington	81
						1	Oklahoma State	59

						2	North Texas	65^OT
2	North Texas	69

	Alcorn State	53
			2	North Texas	75

			3	Sam Houston	55
3	Sam Houston^^	58

	Santa Clara	56

^ Oklahoma State played its first-round game at Youngstown State due to a scheduling conflict at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

^^ Sam Houston State played its first-round game at Santa Clara due to a scheduling conflict at Bernard Johnson Coliseum.

First round March 14–15 Campus sites			Second round March 18–19 Campus sites			Quarterfinal March 21 Matthew Knight Arena

1	Oregon	84

	UC Irvine	58
			1	Oregon	68

				UCF	54
4	Florida	49

	UCF	67
						1	Oregon	58

						2	Wisconsin	61
2	Wisconsin	81

	Bradley	62
			2	Wisconsin	75

			3	Liberty	71
3	Liberty	62

	Villanova	57

First round March 14–15 Campus sites			Second round March 18–19 Campus sites			Quarterfinal March 22 UCCU Center

1	Rutgers	86

	Hofstra	88^OT
				Hofstra	65

			4	Cincinnati^	79
4	Cincinnati	81

	Virginia Tech	72
						4	Cincinnati^^	68

							Utah Valley	74
2	New Mexico	69

	Utah Valley	83
				Utah Valley	81

			3	Colorado	69
3	Colorado	65

	Seton Hall	64

^ Cincinnati played its second-round game at Hofstra due to their home court at Fifth Third Arena being renovated.

^^ Cincinnati played its third-round game at Utah Valley due to their home court at Fifth Third Arena being renovated.

First round March 14–15 Campus sites			Second round March 18–19 Campus sites			Quarterfinal March 22 Memorial Gymnasium

1	Clemson	64

	Morehead State	68
				Morehead State	59

			4	UAB	77
4	UAB	88

	Southern Miss	60
						4	UAB	67

						2	Vanderbilt	59
2	Vanderbilt	71

	Yale	62
			2	Vanderbilt	66

			3	Michigan	65
3	Michigan	90

	Toledo	80

Semifinals March 28 Orleans Arena			Final March 30 Orleans Arena

2	North Texas	56

2	Wisconsin	54
			2	North Texas	68

			4	UAB	61
	Utah Valley	86

4	UAB	88^OT

Media

ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT games. It telecast every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, and ESPN+. Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

References

^ ^a ^b "2023 NIT bracket" (PDF). NCAA.com. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
^ Baxley, Rodd (March 12, 2023). "Why Hubert Davis said UNC basketball will not play in NIT after missing NCAA Tournament". Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
^ Jablonski, David (March 12, 2023). "Dayton's season ends as it announces it 'will decline any postseason opportunities'". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
^ "2023 NIT men's basketball field and pairings announced". NCAA.com. March 12, 2023. Retrieved March 12, 2023.

[nitinfo-1] "2023 NIT bracket" (PDF). NCAA.com. Retrieved March 4, 2023.

[2] Baxley, Rodd (March 12, 2023). "Why Hubert Davis said UNC basketball will not play in NIT after missing NCAA Tournament". Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved July 10, 2023.

[3] Jablonski, David (March 12, 2023). "Dayton's season ends as it announces it 'will decline any postseason opportunities'". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved March 12, 2023.

[4] "2023 NIT men's basketball field and pairings announced". NCAA.com. March 12, 2023. Retrieved March 12, 2023.

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