The NCAA is changing the NIT Selection criteria again, but this time it's for the better!
The changes announced today include 16 "exempt" teams. Those teams are:
- The top two teams from the SEC not selected for the NCAA Tournament
- The top two teams from the ACC not selected for the NCAA Tournament
- The top team not selected from the NCAA championship from the top 12 conferences (based on the Ken Pomeroy Rating) — and yes, the SEC and ACC do get to double dip here
The "top" team doesn't mean "top" in the standings though, which could have some interesting consequences. "The top teams from each conference will be determined based on the average of the teams’ 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) ranking. All rankings are already included in the “Team Sheets” used by the NIT Committee during the selection process."
The bonus for these 16 teams is that by being "exempt" they're guaranteed to host a first-round game.
The NCAA also announced that any "regular-season conference champions that are not otherwise selected to the NCAA championship can earn an automatic bid to the NIT as along as that regular-season champion has an average of 125 or better across BPI, KPI, NET, KenPom, SOR, Torvik and WAB rankings".
This will definitely shake up the field moving forward and appears to be a direct response to the College Basketball Crown.
I used Torvik WAB from last season to fill in for WAB, and if this system was in place last season I believe these would've been the "exempt" teams:
- Pittsburgh (ACC)
- Wake Forest (ACC)
- LSU (SEC)
- Ole Miss (SEC)
- Oklahoma (Big 12)
- St. John's (Big East)
- Ohio St. (Big Ten)
- Georgia (SEC)
- Virginia Tech (ACC)
- Utah (Pac-12)
- UNLV (Mountain West)
- Richmond (Atlantic 10)
- Memphis (AAC)
- Indiana St. (Missouri Valley)
- San Francisco (WCC)
- Western Carolina (Southern Conference)
These teams would also qualify under the regular-season champion exception:
- South Florida
- Princeton
- UC Irvine
- Appalachian St.
- High Point
Toledo would have just missed at 129. Quinnipiac would've been a bit further off at 149.
Why is Memphis the automatic qualifier from the AAC over South Florida? A four point difference in their average rating, which mostly comes down to how KenPom viewed the two programs last season.
Iowa, Seton Hall, Bradley and VCU would've made excellent at-large teams based on their rankings in all of these metrics.
In addition, the race for the "exempt" bid in conferences like the Atlantic 10, Big Ten (sorta), and AAC would have been fascinating to watch down the stretch. Most seasons the Mountain West, Missouri Valley and WCC could also fall into that group. It will give teams a lot of incentives.
If this system was in place for Selection Sunday 2024 it would've given UNLV, Richmond and San Francisco home games that they didn't have last season. In addition, Western Carolina, which missed the bracket entirely, would've been given a home game. Memphis would've also been invited as an exempt team, but they were on record as planning to decline an NIT invite.
In addition to Western Carolina, High Point would also have been invited to the NIT last season.
This would have unfortunately most likely taken a home game away from Princeton, unless the number of exempt teams declining allowed the Tigers to host at Jadwin. (This is essentially what happened last season anyways.)
Overall, these changes look like they could represent a positive step forward for the NIT. It will create better representation across college basketball and lead to some interesting teams receiving invites. The College Basketball Crown still hangs over this operation, with the likelihood that the best teams from the Big East, Big Ten and Big 12 will head to Vegas, but the NIT should have a very competitive field.
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