Every college basketball player’s dream is to make the NCAA Tournament and play for a national championship, and while many of them unfortunately don’t get the chance, a select few will get the opportunity to play for another postseason title.
The National Invitation Tournament − commonly known as the NIT − is another postseason tournament put on by the NCAA that actually started in 1938, a year before the NCAA Tournament we know today began and actually was the more prestigious event for decades. Now in 2025 it obviously doesn’t have the same allure as March Madness, but the NIT offers teams the chance to play together one more time and win a postseason title − and the ones that just missed out on the NCAA Tournament the opportunity to prove the selection committee wrong.
There are other postseason tournaments like the College Basketball Crown and College Basketball Invitational, but the NIT still remains a well-regarded event fans and teams in will have a great interest in winning. Now that the men’s NCAA Tournament bracket has been released, it’s time to look who will be playing in the NIT:
NIT 2025 teams
The 32 team field for the 2025 NIT (in alphabetical order):
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- Arkansas State
- Bradley
- Chattanooga
- Cal State Northridge
- Dayton
- Florida Atlantic
- Furman
- George Mason
- Georgia Tech
- Jacksonville State
- Kent State
- Loyola Chicago
- Middle Tennessee
- North Alabama
- North Texas
- Northern Colorado
- Oklahoma State
- Saint Joseph’s
- Saint Louis
- Samford
- San Francisco
- San Jose State
- Santa Clara
- Southern Methodist
- Stanford
- Saint Bonaventure
- UAB
- UC Irvine
- UC Riversdie
- Northern Iowa
- Utah Valley
- Wichita State
NIT 2025 bracket
NIT 2025 schedule
(Home team listed first. All times in Eastern)
First round
Dallas region
No. 1 SMU vs. Northern Iowa − March 19, 9 p.m. | ESPN2
No. 4 Oklahoma State vs. Wichita State − March 18, 9 p.m. | ESPN2
No. 3 Arkansas State vs. Saint Louis − March 18, 9 p.m. | ESPNU
No. 2 North Texas vs. Furman − March 19, 8 p.m. | ESPN+
Dayton region
No. 1 Dayton vs. Florida Atlantic − March 19, 7 p.m. | ESPN2
No. 4 Middle Tennessee vs. Chattanooga − March 18, 8 p.m. | ESPN+
No. 3 Bradley vs. North Alabama − March 19, 8 p.m. | ESPN+
No. 2 George Mason vs. Samford − March 19, 7 p.m. | ESPN+
Irvine region
No. 1 UC Irvine vs. Northern Colorado − March 19, 10 p.m. | ESPN+
No. 4 Georgia Tech vs. Jacksonville State − March 18, 7 p.m. | ESPN2
No. 3 Saint Joseph’s vs. UAB − March 19, 7 p.m. | ESPN+
No. 2 Santa Clara vs. UC Riverside − March 18, 11 p.m. | ESPNU
San Francisco region
No. 1 San Francisco vs. Utah Valley − March 19, 11 p.m. | ESPNU
No. 4 San Jose State vs. Loyola Chicago − March 19, 11 p.m. | ESPN2
No. 3 Saint Bonaventure vs. Kent State − March 18, 7 p.m. | ESPNU
No. 2 Stanford vs. Cal State Northridge − March 18, 11 p.m. | ESPN2
When is 2025 NIT?
The first round of the 2025 NIT will begin on March 18-19 and will run until the championship game on April 3 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
- NIT first round: Tuesday, March 18 and Wednesday, March 19
- NIT second round: Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23
- NIT quarterfinal: Tuesday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 26
- NIT semifinals: Tuesday, April 1 (7 p.m. ET and 9:30 p.m. ET)
- NIT championship game: Thursday, April 3 (9 p.m. ET)
How to watch 2025 NIT
All 2025 NIT games will be on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN+ and will be announced after the matchups are set.
The first semifinal game will air on ESPN and the second semifinal game will be on ESPN2. The NIT championship game will air on ESPN.
