| Type: | NIT |
| Year: | 2009 |
| Teams: | 32 |
| Finalfourarena: | Madison Square Garden |
| Finalfourcity: | New York City |
| Champions: | Penn State |
| Titlecount: | 1st |
| Runnerup: | Baylor |
| Gamecount: | 1st |
| Semifinal1: | Notre Dame |
| Semifinalcount: | 6th |
| Semifinal2: | San Diego State |
| Semifinalcount2: | 1st |
| Coach: | Ed DeChellis |
| Coachcount: | 1st |
| Mop: | Jamelle Cornley |
| Mopteam: | Penn State |
The 2009 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The 72nd annual tournament began on March 17 on campus sites and ended on April 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with Penn State winning the final 69–63 over Baylor.
The following teams won their conference regular season title, but failed to win conference post season tournaments. Therefore, they were not awarded their respective conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. When they did not receive at-large selections to the NCAA tournament either, they automatically qualified for the 2009 NIT.
| Team | Conference | Record | data-sort-type="number" | Appearance | Last bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowling Green | MAC | 19–13 | 14th | 2002 | |
| Davidson | Southern | 26–7 | 5th | 2005 | |
| Atlantic Sun | 18–13 | 5th | 1987 | ||
| Ohio Valley | 22–9 | 1st | Never | ||
| Big Sky | 21–9 | 2nd | 1984 |
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Played on the home court of the higher-seeded team (except
at
)
Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 31 and April 2
* denotes each overtime played
| Team | 1st half | 2nd half | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn State | 25 | 44 | 69 | |
| Baylor | 29 | 34 | 63 |