The NIT Season Tip-Off (National Invitation Tournament) is an annual college basketball tournament that takes place in November of each year, toward the beginning of the season. The first two rounds are held at campus sites, while the semifinals and the finals are held during the week of Thanksgiving in Brooklyn, NY. 2020's tournament was to be held at Amway Center in Orlando, FL, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused the NCAA to cancel it. The tournament, which is a part of the regular season for all participating colleges, began in 1985 as the Preseason NIT, so-called in order to distinguish it from the post-season NIT. In 2005, the NCAA purchased the Men's Preseason and Postseason NIT and renamed the November tournament the NIT Season Tip-Off. The tournament remains one of the most well-known preseason tournaments in NCAA Division I men's basketball, along with the Maui Invitational.
The tournament had a new format in 2006. The first two rounds were held at regional "common sites" instead of campus sites, making the format more like the postseason NCAA Tournament. Through 2014, the semifinals and finals had always been held at Madison Square Garden. In 2006, the common sites were Charlotte, North Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, Indianapolis and Spokane, Washington. The tournament returned to its previous format in 2007 then returned to the 2006 format in 2009.
On September 3, 2014 a new format was announced for the NIT Season Tip-Off. The NIT Season Tip-Off will no longer be a bracketed event, instead becoming a classic with set semifinal matchups in New York, after the NCAA could only get eight teams in the field instead of 16. The NCAA-run event will add a new wrinkle due to the reduced field and feature a showcase of games on Thanksgiving Day with the other four teams that are not in the championship. Teams in the NIT Season Tip-Off will play four games at campus sites prior to the eight teams' arrival in New York.
The NIT Season Tip-Off tournament was not held in 2022 but did return for 2023 and subsequent years.
Madison Square Garden hosted the semifinal and final rounds for the first three decades, since the tournament's inception. Beginning in 2015, Barclays Center in Brooklyn will hold the two semifinal games on Thanksgiving Day, as well as the championship game the following day. Barclays Center will also have the 2016 and 2018 semis and finals. In 2017, the tournament is scheduled to move over to the nearby Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which is in the process of getting a major renovation to its facilities.
Past championship games
edit- 1985 – Duke 92, Kansas 86
- 1986 – UNLV 96, Western Kentucky 95 (2 OT)
- 1987 – Florida 70, Seton Hall 68
- 1988 – Syracuse 86, Missouri 84 (OT)
- 1989 – Kansas 66, St. John's 57
- 1990 – Arizona 89, Arkansas 77
- 1991 – Oklahoma State 78, Georgia Tech 71
- 1992 – Indiana 78, Seton Hall 74
- 1993 – Kansas 86, Massachusetts 75
- 1994 – Ohio 84, New Mexico State 80 (OT)
- 1995 – Arizona 81, Georgetown 71
- 1996 – Indiana 85, Duke 69
- 1997 – Kansas 73, Florida State 58
- 1998 – North Carolina 57, Stanford 49
- 1999 – Arizona 63, Kentucky 51
- 2000 – Duke 63, Temple 60
- 2001 – Syracuse 74, Wake Forest 67
- 2002 – North Carolina 67, Kansas 56
- 2003 – Georgia Tech 85, Texas Tech 65
- 2004 – Wake Forest 63, Arizona 60
- 2005 – Duke 70, Memphis 67
- 2006 – Butler 79, Gonzaga 71
- 2007 – Texas A&M 70, Ohio State 47
- 2008 – Oklahoma 87, Purdue 82 (OT)
- 2009 – Duke 68, Connecticut 59
- 2010 – Tennessee 78, Villanova 68
- 2011 – Syracuse 69, Stanford 63
- 2012 – Michigan 71, Kansas State 57
- 2013 – Arizona 72, Duke 66
- 2014 – Gonzaga 73, St. John's 66
- 2015 – Villanova 69, Georgia Tech 52
- 2016 – Temple 81, West Virginia 77
- 2017 – Virginia 70, Rhode Island 55
- 2018 – Kansas 87, Tennessee 81 (OT)
- 2019 – Oklahoma State 78, Ole Miss 37
- 2020 – NONE (COVID-19 pandemic).
- 2021 – Iowa State 78, Memphis 59
- 2022 – No Tournament
- 2023 – Baylor 95, Florida 91
- 2024 - Utah State 61, North Texas 57
- – Denotes overtime period
- November 28 – November 29
The field originally included Cincinnati, Arizona, Texas Tech and St. John's.
An initial attempt was made to move the event to the bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World, but the tournament was eventually cancelled outright due to COVID-19.
Thanksgiving Day Games
edit- Official Site of the NIT Season Tip-Off
- Bloomberg.com article discussing purchase of NIT Preseason & Postseason tournaments
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