2018 National Invitation Tournament

The 2018 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I college men's basketball teams that were not selected to participate in the 2018 NCAA tournament. The first three rounds of the annual tournament were played on campus sites (the host team being the higher seeded team). The semifinals and championship game were held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.[1]

2018 National Invitation Tournament
Season2017–18
Teams32
Finals siteMadison Square Garden
New York City
ChampionsPenn State Nittany Lions (2nd title)
Runner-upUtah Utes (3rd title game)
Semifinalists
Winning coachPat Chambers (1st title)
MVPLamar Stevens (Penn State)
National Invitation Tournaments
«2017 2019»

Experimental rules

In February 2018, the NCAA approved a number of experimental rule changes for use in this tournament:[2]

  • Games were played in 10-minute quarters instead of 20-minute halves. The NCAA has used this timing convention for women's basketball since the 2015–16 season.
  • As in NCAA women's basketball, as well as the 2017 NIT,[3] there were no "one-and-one" foul shots. Starting with the fifth foul in each quarter, non-shooting fouls by the defense resulted in two free throws, with the exception of administrative technical fouls (for which only one shot is awarded). The 2018 NIT, however, returned to the standard NCAA procedure of treating overtime periods as extensions of the final period of regulation for purposes of team foul accumulation.
  • The three-point line changed to the current FIBA distance of 6.75 metres (22 ft 2 in) from the center of the basket, except along the sidelines. Once the arc reaches a distance of 1.02 metres (3 ft 4 in) from the sideline, it becomes a straight line parallel to the sideline.[lower-alpha 1]
  • The free-throw lane was 16 feet (4.9 m) wide, the same width as in (W)NBA and FIBA rules, instead of the 12 feet (3.7 m) in the current NCAA rules.
  • The shot clock was reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound.
Notes
  1. FIBA's definition of the three-point arc calls for the line to be exactly 0.9 metres (2 ft 11 in) from the sideline until it intersects the 6.75 m arc. However, the FIBA court is officially defined as 15 metres (49 ft 3 in) wide, slightly narrower than the NCAA standard of 50 feet (15.24 m). On a FIBA court, the closest three-point distance, found along a line parallel to the baseline that passes through the center of the basket, is thus 6.6 metres (21 ft 8 in) from the center of the basket. Translating this distance to the NCAA court dimensions results in the line being the stated 1.02 m from the sidelines.

Participants

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams were guaranteed berths into the 2018 NIT field by having the best regular season record in their conference but failing to either win their conference tournament or earn an at-large berth in the 2018 NCAA tournament.

Team Conference Record Appearance Last bid
Florida Gulf Coast ASUN 23–11 2nd 2014
Hampton MEAC 19–15 1st Never
Harvard Ivy 18–13 2nd 2011
Louisiana Sun Belt 27–6 6th 2003
Middle Tennessee C-USA 24–7 4th 2012
Northern Kentucky Horizon 22–9 1st Never
Rider Metro Atlantic 22–9 2nd 1998
Southeastern Louisiana Southland 22–11 1st Never
UC Davis Big West 22–10 2nd 2015
UNC Asheville Big South 21–12 2nd 2008
Vermont America East 27–7 4th 2014
Wagner Northeast 23–9 4th 2016

Grambling State won the SWAC regular season title but was banned from the postseason due to low graduation rates and did not participate in the conference tournament. There was thus no automatic qualifier from the SWAC.

At-large bids

The following 20 teams were also awarded NIT berths.

Team Conference Record Appearance Last bid
Baylor Big 12 18–14 6th 2013
Boise State Mountain West 23–8 6th 2017
Boston College ACC 19–15 12th 2011
BYU WCC 24–10 14th 2017
Louisville ACC 20–13 15th 2006
LSU SEC 17–14 8th 2014
Marquette Big East 19–13 16th 2005
Mississippi State SEC 22–11 9th 2012
Nebraska Big Ten 22–10 18th 2011
Notre Dame ACC 20–14 12th 2009
Oklahoma State Big 12 19–14 12th 2011
Oregon Pac-12 22–12 11th 2012
Penn State Big Ten 21–13 11th 2009
Stanford Pac-12 18–15 9th 2015
Saint Mary's WCC 28–5 5th 2016
Temple American 17–15 19th 2015
USC Pac-12 23–11 5th 1999
Utah Pac-12 19–11 14th 2017
Washington Pac-12 20–12 9th 2016
Western Kentucky C-USA 24–10 14th 2006

Bids by conference
Conference Bids
Pac-125
ACC3
Big 12, Big Ten, C-USA, SEC, West Coast2
America East, American, ASUN, Big East, Big South, Big West, Horizon,
Ivy, MAAC, MEAC, Mountain West, Northeast, Southland, Sun Belt		1
Atlantic 10, Big Sky, CAA, MAC, Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, SWAC, Summit, WAC0

Seeds

Schedule

The NIT Tournament began on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Due to a conflict at Taco Bell Arena (with the NCAA tournament), Boise State travelled to the University of Washington for their first round match.[4] The first three rounds were played on campus sites. The Semifinals were held on Tuesday, March 27, and the Championship Game was held on Thursday, March 29, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Bracket
First round
March 13–14 		Second round
March 17–18 		Quarterfinals
March 20
         
1 Notre Dame 84
8 Hampton 63
1 Notre Dame 63
4 Penn State 73
4 Penn State 63
5 Temple 57
4 Penn State 85
2 Marquette 80
3 Oregon 99
6 Rider 86
3 Oregon 92
2 Marquette 101
2 Marquette 67
7 Harvard 60
First round
March 13–14 		Second round
March 18 		Quarterfinals
March 20
         
1 Baylor 80
8 Wagner 59
1 Baylor 77
4 Mississippi State 78
4 Mississippi State 66
5 Nebraska 59
4 Mississippi State 79
2 Louisville 56
3 Middle Tennessee 91
6 Vermont 64
3 Middle Tennessee 68
2 Louisville 84
2 Louisville 66
7 Northern Kentucky 58
First round
March 13–14 		Second round
March 19 		Quarterfinals
March 21
         
1 USC 103**
8 UNC Asheville 98
1 USC 75
4 Western Kentucky 79
4 Western Kentucky 79
5 Boston College 62
4 Western Kentucky 92
2 Oklahoma State 84
3 Stanford 86
6 BYU 83
3 Stanford 65
2 Oklahoma State 71
2 Oklahoma State 80
7 Florida Gulf Coast 68
First round
March 13–14 		Second round
March 19 		Quarterfinals
March 21
         
1 Saint Mary's 89
8 SE Louisiana 45
1 Saint Mary's 85
5 Washington 81
4 Boise State^ 74
5 Washington 77
1 Saint Mary's 58
2 Utah 67*
3 LSU 84
6 Louisiana 76
3 LSU 71
2 Utah 95
2 Utah 69
7 UC Davis 59

^ Game played at Washington due to Taco Bell Arena hosting First and Second Round 2018 NCAA tournament games.

Semifinals
March 27 		Final
March 29
      
4 Penn State 75
4 Mississippi State 60
4 Penn State 82
2 Utah 66
4 Western Kentucky 64
2 Utah 69

* Denotes overtime period

Media

ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all of the NIT Games. It was telecast every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN3. Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.

See also

References
  1. "NIT Men's Basketball Tickets". NCAA.
  2. Bonagura, Kyle (February 27, 2018). "NIT to experiment with new rules this season". ESPN. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  3. Brown, C.L. (February 13, 2017). "NIT to experiment with resetting fouls every 10 minutes". ESPN. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  4. Roberts, Rachel (March 10, 2018). "Boise State men's basketball lands NIT berth but must go on the road". Idaho Statesman. Retrieved March 10, 2018.
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