It used to be that the NIT was a consolation prize for college basketball’s also-rans, a tournament that wasn’t as thrilling as the men’s March Madness edition, but an entertaining one and maybe a building block for the future for your players.
And while that may still be the case, there’s a lot of buzz about how some big-name teams turned down invitations to the NIT, and the backlash that’s resulted from that has been a talking point this week.
So let’s look at all the names of the programs who said “Thanks but no thanks” to the NIT in 2024:
