Indianapolis Announces New Changes for the 2025 NIT

INDIANAPOLIS — Exciting updates are coming for the 2025 National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The NIT Board of Managers has shared new qualification procedures that will give an additional chance to teams looking for postseason play. Starting in 2025, 16 teams will be selected as “exempt” entries, including the top two teams not selected for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

Moreover, the highest-ranked team that doesn’t make it to the NCAA tournament from the top 12 conferences—determined by the Ken Pomeroy Rating—will also snag an exempt bid to the NIT. The top teams are evaluated through a mix of rankings and indexes, including the ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI), Kevin Pauga Index (KPI), and several others. All of these rankings help chart teams’ standings as used by the NIT Committee during selection time.

Teams that receive an exempt bid are guaranteed the chance to host a first-round game, adding an exciting home-court advantage to the tournament. Additionally, regular-season conference champions that do not qualify for the NCAA tournament will also have an opportunity to earn an automatic bid to the NIT, provided they maintain an average score of 125 or better based on the mentioned rankings.

The remaining slots, which add up to 32 teams in total, will be filled by the NIT Committee through at-large selections. The Board also appointed respected coaches Tubby Smith and Jeff Jones to the NIT Committee. Smith has a storied career, boasting a 642-370 record, while Jones tallied a 560-418 record over 32 years, making both of them valuable assets to the NIT’s future.

In a progressive move, the NIT Board approved an experimental rule that allows coaches to contest out-of-bounds calls in the last two minutes of games. Under this new rule, coaches will be able to appeal these calls, but it will come with some conditions. If a coach correctly appeals and the call is overturned, they will not lose any timeouts. However, if the appeal fails, their team will lose a timeout, and if they have none left, they will incur a technical foul.

The full bracket and matchups for the 2025 NIT will be revealed on March 16, with first-round games slated to begin on March 18 at various campus locations. The semifinals and championship game will return to the iconic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, with the semifinals on April 1 and the championship game on April 3. Fans will be able to catch all of the action live on ESPN platforms.

For further insights about the tournament and developments, the NIT offers resources on their official championship webpage.