The 2003

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

was the 2003 edition of the annual

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competition. This was the last NIT to include a third-place game until

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. During the following season, St. John's

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Abe Keita revealed that a member of the team's staff had paid him nearly $300 a month for the past four seasons. As a result, St. John's took various actions, including vacating 43 wins in which Keita participated, among which were the team's victories and eventual championship in the 2003 NIT. St. John's became the third team in the history of the NIT to be forced to vacate its standing in the tournament.

Marcus Hatten Marcus Isaiah Hatten (born December 13, 1980) is a retired American professional basketball player. Standing at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), he played as point guard and had an extensive professional career in several European and South-American count ...

's tournament Most Valuable Player award also was vacated.

Selected teams

Below is a list of the 40 teams selected for the tournament.Tournament Results (2000's)
at nit.org, URL accessed November 5, 2009

11/5/09

Bracket

Below are the four first round brackets, along with the four-team championship bracket.

Semifinals & finals

NOTE: St. John's later vacated its tournament wins and title championship due to an ineligible player.

References

{{2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox National Invitation

2000s in Manhattan Basketball competitions in New York City College sports in New York City

National Invitation Tournament Sports in Manhattan

Selected teams

Bracket

Semifinals & finals

See also

References