2015 National Invitation Tournament

2015 National Invitation Tournament
Season	2014–15
Teams	32
Finals site	Madison Square Garden New York City
Champions	Stanford (3rd title)
Runner-up	Miami (FL) (1st title game)
Semifinalists	Temple (5th semifinal) Old Dominion (2nd semifinal)
Winning coach	Johnny Dawkins (2nd title)
MVP	Chasson Randle (Stanford)
Attendance	117,911 (Total) 6,600 (Title game)
National Invitation Tournaments «2014 2016»

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 4-foot (1.22 m) 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 failed to win their conference tournaments or receive an at-large NCAA bid.

Conference	Team	Appearance	Last bid
Big Sky	Montana	4th	1995
Big South	Charleston Southern	2nd	2013
Big West	UC Davis	1st	–
Colonial	William & Mary	3rd	2010
C–USA	Louisiana Tech	9th	2014
MAAC	Iona	6th	2014
MEAC	North Carolina Central	1st	–
Mid-American	Central Michigan	2nd	1979
Northeast	St. Francis Brooklyn	4th	1963
Ohio Valley	Murray State	8th	2011
Patriot	Bucknell	2nd	2012
Summit	South Dakota State	1st	–

Seeds

Old Dominion Bracket Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Old Dominion C–USA 24–7 At-large 2 Tulsa American 22–10 At-large 3 Murray State Ohio Valley 27–5 Automatic 4 Illinois State Missouri Valley 21–12 At-large 5 Green Bay Horizon 24–8 At-large 6 UTEP C–USA 22–10 At-large 7 William & Mary Colonial 20–12 Automatic 8 Charleston Southern Big South 19–11 Automatic	Richmond Bracket Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Richmond Atlantic 10 19–13 At-large 2 Miami (FL) ACC 21–12 At-large 3 Illinois Big Ten 19–13 At-large 4 Connecticut American 20–14 At-large 5 Arizona State Pac–12 17–15 At-large 6 Alabama SEC 18–14 At-large 7 North Carolina Central MEAC 25–7 Automatic 8 St. Francis Brooklyn Northeast 23–11 Automatic
Temple Bracket Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Temple American 23–10 At-large 2 Texas A&M SEC 20–11 At-large 3 Louisiana Tech C-USA 25–8 Automatic 4 Pittsburgh ACC 19–14 At-large 5 George Washington Atlantic 10 21–12 At-large 6 Central Michigan MAC 23–8 Automatic 7 Montana Big Sky 20–12 Automatic 8 Bucknell Patriot 19–14 Automatic	Colorado State Bracket Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Colorado State Mountain West 27–6 At-large 2 Stanford Pac–12 19–13 At-large 3 Rhode Island Atlantic 10 22–9 At-large 4 Saint Mary's West Coast 21–9 At-large 5 Vanderbilt SEC 19–13 At-large 6 Iona MAAC 26–8 Automatic 7 UC Davis Big West 25–6 Automatic 8 South Dakota State Summit 23–10 Automatic

Schedule

Date	Time*	Matchup	Television	Score	Attendance
First round
March 17	7:00 pm	#5 George Washington at #4 Pittsburgh	ESPN	60–54	3,049
	7:00 pm	#7 N.C. Central at #2 Miami (FL)	ESPN2	71–75	1,612
	7:00 pm	#6 Iona at #3 Rhode Island	ESPNU	75–88	2,638
	7:30 pm	#6 Central Michigan at #3 Louisiana Tech	ESPN3	79–89	6,904
	8:15 pm	#7 William & Mary at #2 Tulsa	ESPN3	67–70	2,547
	9:00 pm	#6 UTEP at #3 Murray State	ESPN2	66–81	3,376
	9:00 pm	#7 Montana at #2 Texas A&M	ESPNU	64–81	2,583
	9:00 pm	#3 Illinois at #6 Alabama	ESPN	58–79	2,348
	11:00 pm	#7 UC Davis at #2 Stanford	ESPN2	64–77	1,436
March 18	7:00 pm	#8 Bucknell at #1 Temple	ESPN3	67–73	3,882
	7:00 pm	#5 Arizona State at #4 Connecticut	ESPN2	68–61	6,045
	7:15 pm	#8 Charleston Southern at #1 Old Dominion	ESPN3	56–65	4,736
	7:30 pm	#8 St. Francis Brooklyn at #1 Richmond	ESPN3	74–84	3,624
	8:00 pm	#5 Green Bay at #4 Illinois State	ESPNU	56–69	4,942
	9:00 pm	#5 Vanderbilt at #4 Saint Mary's	ESPN2	75–64	1,322
	10:00 pm	#8 South Dakota State at #1 Colorado State	ESPNU	86–76	3,391
Second round
March 20	9:30 pm	#8 South Dakota State at #5 Vanderbilt	ESPNU	77–92	5,605
March 21	11:00 am	#6 Alabama @ #2 Miami (FL)	ESPN	66–73	1,979
March 22	11:00 am	#5 George Washington @ #1 Temple	ESPN	77–90	3,404
	7:30 pm	#5 Arizona State @ #1 Richmond	ESPNU	70–76	4,507
	9:30 pm	#3 Rhode Island @ #2 Stanford	ESPNU	65–74	1,235
March 23	7:00 pm	#3 Louisiana Tech @ #2 Texas A&M	ESPN	84–72	3,859
	8:00 pm	#4 Illinois State @ #1 Old Dominion	ESPNU	49–50	5,923
	9:00 pm	#3 Murray State @ #2 Tulsa	ESPN	83–62	3,440
Quarterfinals
March 24	7:00 pm	#2 Miami (FL) @ #1 Richmond	ESPN	63–61	6,126
	9:00 pm	#5 Vanderbilt @ #2 Stanford	ESPN	75–78	1,546
March 25	9:00 pm	#3 Louisiana Tech @ #1 Temple	ESPN2	59–77	3,906
	7:00 pm	#3 Murray State @ #1 Old Dominion	ESPN2	69–72	8,161
Semifinals
March 31	7:00 pm	#1Temple vs. #2 Miami (FL)	ESPN	57–60	7,185
	9:00 pm	#2 Stanford vs. #1 Old Dominion	ESPN	67–60
Championship game
April 2	9:00 pm	#2 Stanford vs. #2 Miami (FL)	ESPN	66–64 (OT)	6,600

*Game times in Eastern Time. #Rankings denote tournament seeding.

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.

	First round March 17–18					Second round March 23					Quarterfinals March 25
	1	Old Dominion	65
	8	Charleston Southern	56
						1	Old Dominion	50
						4	Illinois State	49
	4	Illinois State	69
	5	Green Bay	56
											1	Old Dominion	72
											3	Murray State	69
	2	Tulsa	70
	7	William & Mary	67
						2	Tulsa	62
						3	Murray State	83
	3	Murray State	81
	6	UTEP	66

	First round March 17–18					Second round March 21–22					Quarterfinals March 24
	1	Richmond	84
	8	St. Francis Brooklyn	74
						1	Richmond	76
						5	Arizona State	70
	4	Connecticut	61
	5	Arizona State	68
											1	Richmond	61
											2	Miami (FL)	63
	2	Miami (FL)	75
	7	North Carolina Central	71
						2	Miami (FL)	73
						6	Alabama	66
	3	Illinois^	58
	6	Alabama	79

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

	First round March 17–18					Second round March 22–23					Quarterfinals March 25
	1	Temple	73
	8	Bucknell	67
						1	Temple	90
						5	George Washington	77
	4	Pittsburgh	54
	5	George Washington	60
											1	Temple	77
											3	Louisiana Tech	59
	2	Texas A&M	81
	7	Montana	64
						2	Texas A&M	72
						3	Louisiana Tech	84
	3	Louisiana Tech	89
	6	Central Michigan	79

	First round March 17–18					Second round March 20–22					Quarterfinals March 24
	1	Colorado State	76
	8	South Dakota State	86
						8	South Dakota State	77
						5	Vanderbilt	92
	4	Saint Mary's	64
	5	Vanderbilt	75
											5	Vanderbilt	75
											2	Stanford	78
	2	Stanford	77
	7	UC Davis	64
						2	Stanford	74
						3	Rhode Island	65
	3	Rhode Island	88
	6	Iona	75

	Semifinals March 31					Final April 2
	1	Temple	57
	2	Miami (FL)	60
						2	Miami (FL)	64
						2	Stanford	66*
	2	Stanford	67
	1	Old Dominion	60

* 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 will call these games for Westwood One.

References

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

External links

• Official NIT site