2014 National Invitation Tournament Explained

Type:NIT
Gender:Men's
Year:2014
Teams:32
Finalfourarena:Madison Square Garden
Finalfourcity:New York City
Champions:Minnesota Golden Gophers
Titlecount:3rd
Runnerup:SMU Mustangs
Gamecount:1st
Semifinal1:Clemson Tigers
Semifinalcount:3rd
Semifinal2:Florida State Seminoles
Semifinalcount2:2nd
Coach:Richard Pitino
Coachcount:1st
Mop:Austin Hollins
Mopteam:Minnesota

The 2014 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2014 NCAA tournament. The annual tournament started on campus sites for the first three rounds, with the Final 4 and championship game being held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tournament began on Tuesday, March 18 and ended on Thursday, April 3. Minnesota won this tournament after being the third Big Ten team in a row to make the NIT Finals (the two previous years a Big Ten team had lost the final game).

Participants

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams earned automatic berths into the 2014 NIT field having won their respective conference's regular season championship, but failing to win their conference tournament.

Conference Team Record Appearance Last bid
BelmontOhio Valley24–92nd2004
Boston UniversityPatriot24–106th2005
DavidsonSouthern20–126th2009
Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun22–121stNever
Georgia StateSun Belt25–82nd2002
Green BayHorizon24–63rd1992
High PointBig South16–141stNever
IonaMAAC22–105th1997
Louisiana TechC-USA27–78th2013
Robert MorrisNortheast21–133rd2013
UC IrvineBig West23–115th2002
Utah ValleyWAC20–111stNever
VermontAmerica East22–103rd2011

Southern from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) was the league regular-season champion and lost in their conference tournament but is ineligible for the NIT due to Academic Progress Rate (APR) sanctions.[1] No team from the SWAC received an NIT autobid.

Arizona (Pac-12), Cincinnati (American), Kansas (Big 12), Michigan (Big Ten), Saint Louis (Atlantic 10), San Diego State (Mountain West) and Villanova (Big East) received automatic bids to the NIT, but did not accept them as they were selected as at-large teams in the 2014 NCAA tournament.

At-large bids

The following 19 teams were also awarded NIT berths.

TeamConferenceRecorddata-sort-type="number" AppearanceLast bid
ArkansasSEC21–113rd1997
CaliforniaPac-1219–138th2011
ClemsonACC20–1215th2007
Florida StateACC19–139th2013
GeorgetownBig East17–1412th2009
GeorgiaSEC19–1312th2007
IllinoisBig Ten19–145th2010
Indiana StateMissouri Valley23–104th2013
LSUSEC19–137th2012
MinnesotaBig Ten20–1315th2012
MissouriSEC22–118th2005
Saint Mary'sWest Coast22–113rd2011
San FranciscoWest Coast21–116th2005
SMUAmerican23–93rd2000
Southern MissC-USA27–610th2013
St. John'sBig East20–1230th2013
ToledoMAC27–68th2007
UtahPac-1221–1116th2001
West VirginiaBig 1217–1516th2007

Seeds

valign=top
SMU Bracket
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type
1SMUAmerican23–9At-large
2CaliforniaPac-1219–13At-large
3ArkansasSEC21–11At-large
4San FranciscoWest Coast21–11At-large
5LSUSEC19–13At-large
6Indiana StateMVC23–10At-large
7Utah ValleyWAC20–11Automatic
8UC IrvineBig West23–11Automatic
valign=top
St. John's Bracket
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type
1 St. John'sBig East20–12At-large
2IllinoisBig Ten19–14At-large
3ClemsonACC20–12At-large
4Green BayHorizon24–6Automatic
5BelmontOhio Valley24–9Automatic
6Georgia StateSun Belt25–8Automatic
7Boston UniversityPatriot24–10Automatic
8Robert MorrisNortheast21–13Automatic
valign=top
Florida State Bracket
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type
1Florida StateACC19–13At-large
2GeorgiaSEC19–13At-large
3Louisiana TechC-USA27–7Automatic
4GeorgetownBig East17–14At-large
5West VirginiaBig 1217–15At-large
6IonaMAAC22–10Automatic
7VermontAmerica East22–10Automatic
8Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun22–12Automatic
valign=top
Minnesota Bracket
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type
1MinnesotaBig Ten20–13At-large
2 MissouriSEC22–11At-large
3 Southern MissC-USA27–6At-large
4 Saint Mary'sWest Coast22–11At-large
5 UtahPac-1221–11At-large
6 ToledoMAC27–6At-large
7 DavidsonSouthern20–12Automatic
8High PointBig South16–14Automatic

Bracket

Games are played at higher seed unless noted.

  1. 2 Illinois played at #7 Boston University and at #3 Clemson due to State Farm Center renovations.

Media

ESPN has exclusive television rights to all NIT games. They aired every single game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.[2] Since 2011 Westwood One has held exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and championship. In 2014, John Tautges and Kelly Tripucka called these games for Westwood One.[3]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Katz . Andy . Andy Katz . March 1, 2014 . NCAA gives SWAC exemption . November 4, 2023 . ESPN.com.
  2. Web site: Humes . Mike . March 17, 2014 . Men's College Basketball: Exclusive Coverage of Every NIT Game across ESPN Networks . November 4, 2023 . ESPN Media Zone.
  3. Web site: 2014 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) Semifinals & Championship TV & Radio Schedule . Eye on Sky and Air Sports. March 29, 2014. March 29, 2014.