Here is the full field for the 2025 NIT Tournament.
In theory the National Invitational Tournament should be a place where mid-majors and lesser-known teams have a chance their chance to compete against the best programs in the country who barely missed out on the big dance of the NCAA Tournament.
A lot has changed in recent years. The NIT has been trying to find ways to carve a niche in postseason basketball. Last year the team made big plays to get power conference teams on board to moderate success, but for 2024-25 there’s now the College Basketball Crown tournament, which will award bids to schools — which fundamentally competes with the NIT for attention.
In what could either be considered sour grapes, or perhaps planning for the new tournament, more and more major programs are avoiding the NIT to instead skip postseason play all together. The idea is that those who just missed the bubble don’t often win the NIT, and losing to a small school could hurt recruiting.
Thus far we have three teams have announced they won’t attend the tournament regardless of whether they get an invite or not: LSU, who finished second-last in the SEC this season will be joined by two ACC teams in Wake Forest and Pitt, all of whom have said they won’t attend this year.
Here is the field for 2025 of teams who have accepted an invite.
Dallas Region
1 SMU
Northern Iowa
4 Oklahoma State
Wichita State
3 Arkansas State
Saint Louis
2 North Texas
Furman
Dayton Region
1 Dayton
Florida Atlantic
4 Middle Tennessee
Chattanooga
3 Bradley
North Alabama
2 George Mason
Samford
Irvine Region
1 UC Irvine
Northern Colorado
Jacksonville St.
3 Saint Joseph’s
UAB
2 Santa Clara
UC Riverside
San Francisco Region
1 San Francisco
Utah Valley
4 San Jose St.
Loyola Chicago
3 St. Bonaventure
Kent St.
2 Stanford
CSUN
