Hours after the 68 teams for the 2022 men’s NCAA tournament were revealed, the bracket for the NIT—the main consolation prize for teams that missed the Big Dance—was also announced.
This year’s event will be the first full 32-team NIT since 2019. The 2020 edition of the tournament was canceled, along with the rest of college basketball’s postseason that season. The 2021 tournament was reduced to 16 teams.
Dayton, the first team out of the NCAA tournament, is the No. 1 seed in the top left portion of the bracket, facing Toledo in the first round. Oklahoma, SMU and Texas A&M join the Flyers on the top seed line.
Xavier, North Texas, BYU and Wake Forest are the No. 2 seeds in the field. Other major programs participating in this year’s tournament include Vanderbilt, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, VCU, Oregon and Rick Pitino’s Iona.
Here is the full 32-team men’s NIT bracket:
Top Left:
No. 1 Dayton vs. Toledo
No. 4 Vanderbilt vs. Belmont
No. 3 Florida vs. Iona
No. 2 Xavier vs. Cleveland State
Bottom Left:
No. 1 Oklahoma vs. Missouri State
No. 4 Colorado vs. St. Bonaventure
No. 3 Mississippi State vs. Virginia
No. 2 North Texas vs. Texas State
Top Right:
No. 1 SMU vs. Nicholls
No. 4 Washington State vs. Santa Clara
No. 3 Saint Louis vs. Northern Iowa
No. 2 BYU vs. Long Beach State
Bottom Right:
No. 1 Texas A&M vs. Alcorn State
No. 4 Utah State vs. Oregon
No. 3 VCU vs. Princeton
No. 4 Utah State vs. Oregon
The first round of the men’s NIT will be played on March 15–16, with the second round coming on March 19–20. The third round will be played on March 22–23, and the event’s final four and championship game will be played at Madison Square Garden on March 29 and 31.
