2025 NIT Unveils New Qualification Rules and Enhanced Selection Process

INDIANAPOLIS — The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) Board of Managers has unveiled new guidelines for the 2025 NIT that will impact how teams qualify. Starting in 2025, a total of 16 teams will be given “exempt” bids, in addition to those that qualify as regular-season conference champions. The exempt teams will include the top two squads not selected for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship from both the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference. Additionally, the leading team not picked from the top 12 conferences, based on the Ken Pomeroy Rating, will also secure an exempt bid.

The selection process will analyze various performance metrics, including ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI), Kevin Pauga Index (KPI), NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), Ken Pomeroy Rating (KenPom), Strength of Record (SOR), Torvik ranking, and Wins Above Bubble (WAB). Teams will be evaluated through an average of these rankings.

Teams that receive exempt bids will be guaranteed home-court advantage for their first-round games. Regular-season champions who are not selected for the NCAA tournament can land an automatic berth to the NIT, granted they maintain an average of 125 across the listed metrics.

The remaining spots in the 32-team tournament will be filled with at-large selections chosen by the NIT Committee. In a noteworthy addition, former head coaches Tubby Smith and Jeff Jones have joined the NIT Committee to help guide the selection process. Smith boasts an impressive record of 642-370, leading his teams to multiple postseason appearances, while Jones has a record of 560-418.

Another significant change is the introduction of a new rule that will allow coaches to appeal out-of-bounds calls in the final two minutes of a game. This will replace the current system where officials voluntarily review these calls. Instead, the outcome of the appeal will depend on the remaining timeouts for the coach’s team.

The NIT bracket and pairings will be disclosed on Sunday, March 16, with first-round games set to kick off at campus locations on Tuesday, March 18. The semifinals and championship will be held at the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, with the semifinals scheduled for April 1 and the championship match on April 3. Fans can catch all the action live via ESPN platforms.