The 2008

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

(known through sponsorship as the MasterCard NIT) was a single-elimination tournament of 32 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not participate in the

2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2007–08 basketball ...

. The 71st annual tournament began on March 18 on campus sites and ended on April 3 at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in New York City. Each regular season conference champion that did not receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament received an automatic bid to this tournament. The remaining slots were filled by the NIT Selection Committee. The first, second, and third rounds were played on the higher seeded team's home court, with the semi-finals and finals played at Madison Square Garden. The Ohio State Buckeyes won the tournament.

Selection Committee

The 2008 NIT Selection Committee consists of the following former college basketball coaches and administrators:NIT – National Invitation Tournament
/ref> *

Rudy Davalos Rudy Albert Davalos, Jr. is an American retired basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He is the father of former Texas State head basketball coach Doug Davalos Douglas Wayne Davalos (born February 10, 1970) is a former Texas Stat ...

Don DeVoe Donald Eugene DeVoe (born December 31, 1941) is a former American college basketball coach and former player. DeVoe played college basketball for Ohio State University, and later served as the head coach for Virginia Tech, the University of Wyom ...

* Gene Keady *

Reggie Minton William Reginald Minton (born June 10, 1941) is the deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He also served as the men's basketball head coach at Dartmouth College in 1984 and at the United States Air Force Acad ...

C. M. Newton Charles Martin Newton (February 2, 1930 – June 4, 2018) was an American collegiate basketball player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Transylvania University from 1956 to 1968, the University ...

(Chair) * John J. Powers * Carroll Williams

Participants

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2008 NIT field after losing in their respective conference tournaments; by virtue of winning their conferences' regular season championship and not qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

Seedings

Bracket

Semifinals and Final

''Played at

in New York City on April 1 and 3'' * - Overtime game.

References

{{2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox National Invitation

2000s in Manhattan

Basketball in New York City College sports in New York City Madison Square Garden

National Invitation Tournament Sports competitions in New York City Sports in Manhattan