The 2023 National Invitation Tournament was a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

of 32

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

men's

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

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 Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the The Orleans, Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming, Boyd Gaming Corporation. ...

in the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan St ...

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 year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, the

Xavier Musketeers The Xavier Musketeers are the 19 teams representing Xavier University in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The Mus ...

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.

At-large bids

The following teams were awarded at-large bids.

Declined invitations

The following programs declined to participate in the 2023 NIT: *

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

(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 ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

at 10 p.m. EST. :^ Oklahoma State played its first-round game at Youngstown State due to a scheduling conflict at

Gallagher-Iba Arena Gallagher-Iba Arena, also known as ''"The Rowdiest Arena in the Country"'' and ''"The Madison Square Garden of the Plains”'', is the basketball and wrestling venue at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. Originally ...

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

Media

ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT games. It telecast every game across

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...

, and

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

References

{{2023 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament navbox National Invitation Tournament College basketball tournaments in the Las Vegas Valley Sports competitions in Paradise, Nevada National Invitation

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 ...

2023 in the Las Vegas Valley