2016 National Invitation Tournament

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2016 National Invitation Tournament
Season2015–16
Teams32
Finals siteMadison Square Garden
New York City
ChampionsGeorge Washington Colonials (1st title)
Runner-upValparaiso Crusaders (1st title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachMike Lonergan (1st title)
MVPTyler Cavanaugh (George Washington)
National Invitation Tournaments
«2015 2017»

The 2016 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The annual tournament was played on campus sites for the first three rounds, with the Final Four and championship game being held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tournament began on Tuesday, March 15 and ended on Thursday, March 31. An experimental rule allowing players six personal fouls instead of five was approved for use in all national postseason tournaments except for the NCAA Tournament. The NIT Selection Show aired at 8:30 PM EDT on Sunday, March 13, 2016 on ESPNU. George Washington were the champions over Valparaiso 76-60. The Colonials victory was their first-ever NIT title.

Participants[]

Automatic qualifiers[]

The following fifteen teams earned automatic berths into the 2016 NIT field by virtue of having won their respective conference's regular season championship but failed to win their conference tournaments and did not receive an at-large NCAA bid.

Conference Team Appearance Last bid
Atlantic Sun North Florida 1st Never
Big South High Point 2nd 2014
CAA Hofstra 5th 2007
C-USA UAB 12th 2010
Horizon Valparaiso 3rd 2012
MAAC Monmouth 1st Never
MAC Akron 4th 2012
Mountain West San Diego State 6th 2009
NEC Wagner 3rd 2002
Ohio Valley Belmont 3rd 2014
Patriot Bucknell 3rd 2015
Summit IPFW 1st Never
SWAC Texas Southern 2nd 2011
WAC New Mexico State 5th 2000
WCC Saint Mary's 5th 2015

Seeds[]

The first four teams left out of the NCAA tournament were the top seeds in the four regions, as in last year's tournament. They were St. Bonaventure, South Carolina, Monmouth and Valparaiso.[1]

St. Bonaventure Bracket
Seed School Conference Record Berth type
1 St. Bonaventure Atlantic 10 22–8 At-Large
2 BYU West Coast 23–10 At-Large
3 Virginia Tech ACC 19–14 At-Large
4 Creighton Big East 18–14 At-Large
5 Alabama SEC 18–14 At-Large
6 Princeton Ivy 22–6 At-Large
7 UAB C-USA 26–6 Automatic
8 Wagner Northeast 22–10 Automatic
South Carolina Bracket
Seed School Conference Record Berth type
1 South Carolina SEC 24–8 At-Large
2 San Diego State Mountain West 25–9 Automatic
3 Washington Pac-12 18–14 At-Large
4 Georgia Tech ACC 19–14 At-Large
5 Houston American 22–9 At-Large
6 Long Beach State Big West 20–14 At-Large
7 IPFW Summit 24–9 Automatic
8 High Point Big South 21–10 Automatic
Valparaiso Bracket
Seed School Conference Record Berth type
1 Valparaiso Horizon 26–6 Automatic
2 Saint Mary's West Coast 27–5 Automatic
3 Georgia SEC 19–13 At-Large
4 Florida State ACC 19–13 At-Large
5 Davidson Atlantic 10 20–12 At-Large
6 Belmont Ohio Valley 20–11 Automatic
7 New Mexico State WAC 23–10 Automatic
8 Texas Southern SWAC 18–14 Automatic
Monmouth Bracket
Seed School Conference Record Berth type
1 Monmouth MAAC 27–7 Automatic
2 Florida SEC 19–14 At-Large
3 Ohio State Big Ten 20–13 At-Large
4 George Washington Atlantic 10 23–10 At-Large
5 Hofstra Colonial 24–9 Automatic
6 Akron MAC 26–8 Automatic
7 North Florida Atlantic Sun 22–11 Automatic
8 Bucknell Patriot 17–13 Automatic

Schedule[]

The NIT began on Tuesday March 15. The first three rounds were played on campus sites. The Final Four began on Tuesday, March 29 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and ended there with the championship game on Thursday, March 31.

Bracket[]

^Florida was not able to host home games at the O'Connell Center due to arena renovations.[2]

First round Second round Quarterfinals
         
1 Monmouth 90
8 Bucknell 80
1 Monmouth 71
4 George Washington 87
4 George Washington 82
5 Hofstra 80
4 George Washington 82
2 Florida^ 77
2 Florida^ 97
7 North Florida 68
2 Florida^ 74
3 Ohio State 66
3 Ohio State 72*
6 Akron 63
First round Second round Quarterfinals
         
1 St. Bonaventure 75
8 Wagner 79
8 Wagner 54
4 Creighton 87
4 Creighton 72
5 Alabama 54
4 Creighton 82
2 BYU 88
2 BYU 97
7 UAB 79
2 BYU 80
3 Virginia Tech 77
3 Virginia Tech 86*
6 Princeton 81
First round Second round Quarterfinals
         
1 South Carolina 88
8 High Point 66
1 South Carolina 66
4 Georgia Tech 83
4 Georgia Tech 81
5 Houston 62
4 Georgia Tech 56
2 San Diego State 72
2 San Diego State 79
7 IPFW 55
2 San Diego State 93
3 Washington 78
3 Washington 107
6 Long Beach State 102
First round Second round Quarterfinals
         
1 Valparaiso 84
8 Texas Southern 73
1 Valparaiso 81
4 Florida State 69
4 Florida State 84
5 Davidson 74
1 Valparaiso 60
2 Saint Mary's 44
2 Saint Mary's 58
7 New Mexico State 56
2 Saint Mary's 77
3 Georgia 65
3 Georgia 93
6 Belmont 84
Semifinals
March 29 		Final
March 31
      
1 Valparaiso 72
2 BYU 70
1 Valparaiso 60
4 George Washington 76
2 San Diego State 46
4 George Washington 65

* Denotes overtime period

Media[]

ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all NIT games. It will telecast every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN3 (ESPNews was used for the Valparaiso-Florida State game). Since 2011, Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and championship. In 2016 Scott Graham and Kelly Tripucka provided the call.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "2016 NIT bracket". cbssports.com. CBS Sports. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  2. ^ "Florida/UNF Game Notes" (PDF). GatorZone.com. SideArm Sports. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
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