NIT Bracket 2013

For all the bubble teams that fail to make the NCAA Tournament, there is always the National Invitational Tournament. The tournament doesn't have the prestige it did back in the early days of college hoops, but it is still a way for teams to keep playing basketball. 

The bracket above gives the schedule as well for the 32 teams competing for the 2013 NIT crown. 

As of now, it looks like Kentucky, UMass, Iowa, and Maryland will be getting 1-seeds in the NIT. 

March 19 and 20 will be the first round while the 2nd round will take place from March 21-27 before the final four teams travel to New York City for the semi finals and championship game on April 2 and 4. 

Here are projections for the 2013 NIT tournament:

List of Teams With Automatic Bids To NIT

*Note: Middle Tennessee State also has a guaranteed spot in the NIT if it doesn’t make the NCAA Tournament, though for now, we have the Blue Raiders in the field

There are going to be 22 at large bids to the NIT that are up for grabs after 10 top seeds fell in their conference tournaments over the course of the last two weeks. The Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders would be automatic qualifiers if they dropped into the NIT as well, but they would clearly fit the bill as an NIT team regardless of their conference affiliation.

NIT No. 1 Seeds: Kentucky Wildcats, Virginia Cavaliers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Tennessee Volunteers

Here are all the first round games: 

No. 1 Kentucky (21-11) at No. 8 Robert Morris (23-10)

No. 1 Southern Mississippi (25-9) vs. Charleston Southern (19-12)

No. 1 Alabama (21-12) vs. No. 8 Northeastern (20-12)

No. 1 Virginia (21-11) vs. No. 8 Norfolk State (21-11)