2015 National Invitation Tournament Explained

Type:NIT
Gender:Men's
Year:2015
Teams:32
Finalfourarena:Madison Square Garden
Finalfourcity:New York City
Champions:Stanford Cardinal
Titlecount:3rd
Runnerup:Miami Hurricanes
Gamecount:1st
Semifinal1:Temple Owls
Semifinalcount:5th
Semifinal2:Old Dominion Monarchs
Semifinalcount2:2nd
Coach:Johnny Dawkins
Coachcount:2nd
Mop:Chasson Randle
Mopteam:Stanford
Attendance:117,911 (Total)
6,600 (Title game)
Topscorer:1
Topscorerteam:1
Topscorer2:1
Topscorer2team:1
Points:1

The 2015 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2015 NCAA tournament. The annual tournament is being played on campus sites for the first three rounds, with the Final Four and championship game being held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tournament began on Tuesday, March 17 and ended on Thursday, April 2. On February 6, the NCAA announced the 2015 NIT will use a 30-second shot clock (same as its WNIT counterpart) and a 4feet restricted-area arc as experimental rules for the 2015 tournament.[1] On March 4, the NCAA announced teams that are marked as the first four teams left out of the 2015 NCAA tournament field will be the top-seeded teams in the 2015 NIT.[2]

Participants

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams earned automatic berths into the 2015 NIT field by virtue of having won their respective conference's regular season championship but failing to win their conference tournaments or receive an at-large NCAA bid.

TeamConferenceRecorddata-sort-type="number" AppearanceLast bid
BucknellPatriot19–142nd2012
Central MichiganMid-American23–82nd1979
Charleston SouthernBig South19–112nd2013
IonaMAAC26–86th2014
Louisiana TechC-USA25–89th2014
MontanaBig Sky20–124th1995
Murray StateOhio Valley27–58th2011
North Carolina CentralMEAC25–71stNever
South Dakota StateSummit23–101stNever
St. Francis BrooklynNortheast23–114th1963
UC DavisBig West25–61stNever
William & MaryColonial20–123rd2010

At-large bids

The following 20 teams were also awarded NIT berths.

TeamConferenceRecorddata-sort-type="number" AppearanceLast bid
AlabamaSEC18–1413th2013
Arizona StatePac-1217–1513th2013
Colorado StateMountain West27–68th2011
George WashingtonAtlantic 1021–125th2004
Green BayHorizon24–84th2014
IllinoisBig Ten19–136th2014
Illinois StateMissouri Valley21–1213th2012
Miami (FL)ACC21–1211th2012
Old DominionC-USA24–711th2006
PittsburghACC19–149th2001
Rhode IslandAtlantic 1022–915th2010
RichmondAtlantic 1019–138th2008
Saint Mary'sWest Coast21–94th2014
StanfordPac-1219–138th2013
TempleAmerican23–1017th2006
Texas A&MSEC20–117th2005
TulsaAmerican22–1010th2010
UConnAmerican20–1413th2010
UTEPC-USA22–1010th2011
VanderbiltSEC19–1312th2006

Seeds

valign=top
Old Dominion bracket
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type
1Old DominionC-USA24–7At-large
2TulsaAmerican22–10At-large
3Murray StateOhio Valley27–5Automatic
4Illinois StateMissouri Valley21–12At-large
5Green BayHorizon24–8At-large
6UTEPC-USA22–10At-large
7William & MaryColonial20–12Automatic
8Charleston SouthernBig South19–11Automatic
valign=top
Richmond bracket
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type
1 RichmondAtlantic 1019–13At-large
2Miami (FL)ACC21–12At-large
3IllinoisBig Ten19–13At-large
4UConnAmerican20–14At-large
5Arizona StatePac-1217–15At-large
6AlabamaSEC18–14At-large
7North Carolina CentralMEAC25–7Automatic
8St. Francis BrooklynNortheast23–11Automatic
valign=top
Temple bracket
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type
1TempleAmerican23–10At-large
2Texas A&MSEC20–11At-large
3Louisiana TechC-USA25–8Automatic
4PittsburghACC19–14At-large
5George WashingtonAtlantic 1021–12At-large
6Central MichiganMAC23–8Automatic
7MontanaBig Sky20–12Automatic
8BucknellPatriot19–14Automatic
valign=top
Colorado State bracket
SeedSchoolConference RecordBerth type
1Colorado StateMountain West27–6At-large
2 StanfordPac-1219–13At-large
3 Rhode IslandAtlantic 1022–9At-large
4 Saint Mary'sWest Coast21–9At-large
5 VanderbiltSEC19–13At-large
6 IonaMAAC26–8Automatic
7 UC DavisBig West25–6Automatic
8South Dakota StateSummit23–10Automatic

Schedule

DateTime*MatchupTelevisionScoreAttendance
First round
March 177:00 pm
  1. 5 George Washington at #4 Pittsburgh
ESPN60–543,049
7:00 pm
  1. 7 N.C. Central at #2 Miami (FL)
ESPN271–751,612
7:00 pm
  1. 6 Iona at #3 Rhode Island
ESPNU75–882,638
7:30 pm
  1. 6 Central Michigan at #3 Louisiana Tech
ESPN379–896,904
8:15 pm
  1. 7 William & Mary at #2 Tulsa
ESPN367–702,547
9:00 pm
  1. 6 UTEP at #3 Murray State
ESPN266–813,376
9:00 pm
  1. 7 Montana at #2 Texas A&M
ESPNU64–812,583
9:00 pm
  1. 3 Illinois at #6 Alabama
ESPN58–792,348
11:00 pm
  1. 7 UC Davis at #2 Stanford
ESPN264–771,436
March 18 7:00 pm
  1. 8 Bucknell at #1 Temple
ESPN367–733,882
7:00 pm
  1. 5 Arizona State at #4 UConn
ESPN268–616,045
7:15 pm
  1. 8 Charleston Southern at #1 Old Dominion
ESPN356–654,736
7:30 pm
  1. 8 St. Francis Brooklyn at #1 Richmond
ESPN374–843,624
8:00 pm
  1. 5 Green Bay at #4 Illinois State
ESPNU56–694,942
9:00 pm
  1. 5 Vanderbilt at #4 Saint Mary's
ESPN275–641,322
10:00 pm
  1. 8 South Dakota State at #1 Colorado State
ESPNU86–763,391
Second round
March 20 9:30 pm
  1. 8 South Dakota State at #5 Vanderbilt
ESPNU77–925,605
March 2111:00 am
  1. 6 Alabama @ #2 Miami (FL)
ESPN66–731,979
March 2211:00 am
  1. 5 George Washington @ #1 Temple
ESPN77–903,404
7:30 pm
  1. 5 Arizona State @ #1 Richmond
ESPNU70–764,507
9:30 pm
  1. 3 Rhode Island @ #2 Stanford
ESPNU65–741,235
March 237:00 pm
  1. 3 Louisiana Tech @ #2 Texas A&M
ESPN84–723,859
8:00 pm
  1. 4 Illinois State @ #1 Old Dominion
ESPNU49–50 5,923
9:00 pm
  1. 3 Murray State @ #2 Tulsa
ESPN83–623,440
Quarterfinals
March 247:00 pm
  1. 2 Miami (FL) @ #1 Richmond
ESPN63–616,126
9:00 pm
  1. 5 Vanderbilt @ #2 Stanford
ESPN75–781,546
March 259:00 pm
  1. 3 Louisiana Tech @ #1 Temple
ESPN259–773,906
7:00 pm
  1. 3 Murray State @ #1 Old Dominion
ESPN269–72 8,161
Semifinals
March 317:00 pm
  1. 1Temple vs. #2 Miami (FL)
ESPN57–607,185
9:00 pm
  1. 2 Stanford vs. #1 Old Dominion
ESPN67–60
Championship game
April 29:00 pm
  1. 2 Stanford vs. #2 Miami (FL)
ESPN66–64 (OT)6,600

Bracket

The following teams were listed as the "First Four Out" of the NCAA tournament and received #1 seeds: Old Dominion, Richmond, Temple, Colorado State.

  1. 3 Illinois played at #6 Alabama due to State Farm Center renovations.

* Denotes overtime period

Media

ESPN, Inc. has exclusive television rights to all NIT games. It will telecast every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.[3] Since 2011, Westwood One has held exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and championship. In 2015, Dave Ryan and Kelly Tripucka called these games for Westwood One.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Experimental rules to be used during 2015 NIT include 30-second shot clock. NCAA.com. February 7, 2015.
  2. Web site: 'First four out' of NCAA tournament to highlight NIT field of 32 as top seeds. NCAA.com. March 4, 2015.
  3. Web site: Humes . Mike . March 16, 2015 . Men's College Basketball: Exclusive Coverage of Every NIT Game Begins Tuesday . November 1, 2023 . ESPN.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2015 National Invitation Tournament".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2026, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.