2012 National Invitation Tournament

2012 National Invitation Tournament
2012 NIT Logo
Season	2011–12
Teams	32
Finals site	Madison Square Garden New York City
Champions	Stanford (2nd title)
Runner-up	Minnesota (4th title game)
Semifinalists	Washington (1st semifinal) Massachusetts (3rd semifinal)
Winning coach	Johnny Dawkins (1st title)
MVP	Aaron Bright Stanford
National Invitation Tournaments «2011 2013»

The 2012 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. The annual tournament began on March 13 on campus sites and ended on March 29 at Madison Square Garden.^[1] Stanford defeated Minnesota in the final game, by a score of 75-51 to become NIT champions for second time (first since 1991).

Participants

Automatic qualifiers

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2012 NIT field by virtue of winning their conferences' regular season championship but failing to win their conference tournament. These teams also did not receive an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.

Conference	School
Sun Belt	Middle Tennessee
Summit	Oral Roberts
Colonial	Drexel
Horizon	Valparaiso
MEAC	Savannah State
Patriot League	Bucknell
Pac-12	Washington
Southland	UT-Arlington
WAC	Nevada
America East	Stony Brook
MAC	Akron

Seeds

Washington Bracket Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Washington Pac-12 21–10 Automatic 2 Dayton Atlantic 10 20–12 At-large 3 Oregon Pac-12 22–9 At-large 4 Northwestern Big Ten 18–13 At-large 5 Akron MAC 22–11 Automatic 6 LSU SEC 18–14 At-large 7 Iowa Big Ten 17–16 At-large 8 UT-Arlington Southland 24–8 Automatic	Tennessee Bracket Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Tennessee SEC 18–14 At-large 2 Miami (FL) ACC 19–12 At-large 3 La Salle Atlantic 10 21–12 At-large 4 Middle Tennessee Sun Belt 25–6 Automatic 5 Marshall Conference USA 21–13 At-large 6 Minnesota Big Ten 19–14 At-large 7 Valparaiso Horizon 22–11 Automatic 8 Savannah State MEAC 21–11 Automatic
Seton Hall Bracket Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Seton Hall Big East 20–12 At-large 2 Saint Joseph's Atlantic 10 20–13 At-large 3 Drexel Colonial 27–6 Automatic 4 Mississippi State SEC 21–11 At-large 5 UMass Atlantic 10 22–11 At-large 6 UCF Conference USA 22–10 At-large 7 Northern Iowa Missouri Valley 19–13 At-large 8 Stony Brook America East 22–9 Automatic	Arizona Bracket Seed School Conference Record Berth type 1 Arizona Pac-12 23–11 At-large 2 Mississippi SEC 20–13 At-large 3 Stanford Pac-12 21–11 At-large 4 Oral Roberts Summit 27–6 Automatic 5 Nevada WAC 26–6 Automatic 6 Cleveland State Horizon 22–10 At-large 7 Illinois State Missouri Valley 20–13 At-large 8 Bucknell Patriot 24–9 Automatic

Bracket

Played on the home court of the higher-seeded team except #7 seed Iowa hosts #2 seed Dayton since Dayton is the host of the NCAA First Four and cannot host a first-round NIT game.

	First round March 13–14					Second round March 16–19					Quarterfinals March 20–21 ESPN
	1	Washington	82
	8	UT-Arlington	72
						1	Washington	76
						4	Northwestern	55
	4	Northwestern	76
	5	Akron	74
											1	Washington	90
											3	Oregon	86
	3	Oregon	96
	6	LSU	76
						3	Oregon	108
						7	Iowa	97
	2	Dayton	72
	7	Iowa	84

	First round March 13–14					Second round March 16–19					Quarterfinals March 20–21 ESPN
	1	Tennessee	65
	8	Savannah State	51
						1	Tennessee	64
						4	Middle Tennessee	71
	4	Middle Tennessee	86
	5	Marshall	78
											4	Middle Tennessee	72
											6	Minnesota	78
	3	La Salle	61
	6	Minnesota	70
						6	Minnesota	78
						2	Miami (FL)	60
	2	Miami (FL)	66
	7	Valparaiso	50

	First round March 13–14					Second round March 16–19					Quarterfinals March 20–21 ESPN2
	1	Seton Hall	63
	8	Stony Brook	61
						1	Seton Hall	67
						5	UMass	77
	4	Mississippi State	96
	5	UMass	101^2OT
											5	UMass	72
											3	Drexel	70
	3	Drexel	81
	6	UCF	56
						3	Drexel	65
						7	Northern Iowa	63
	2	Saint Joseph's	65
	7	Northern Iowa	67

	First round March 13–14					Second round March 16–19					Quarterfinals March 20–21 ESPN2
	1	Arizona	54
	8	Bucknell	65
						8	Bucknell	67
						5	Nevada	75
	4	Oral Roberts	59
	5	Nevada	68
											5	Nevada	56
											3	Stanford	84
	3	Stanford	76
	6	Cleveland State	65
						3	Stanford	92^OT
						7	Illinois State	88
	2	Ole Miss	93
	7	Illinois State	96^OT

Semifinals and final

Played at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 27 and March 29

	Semifinals March 27 ESPN2					Championship March 29 ESPN
	1	Washington	67
	6	Minnesota	68^OT
						6	Minnesota	51
						3	Stanford	75
	5	UMass	74
	3	Stanford	84

See also

• 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
• 2012 College Basketball Invitational
• 2012 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

References

1. "2012 Postseason NIT Bracket" (PDF). ncaa.com. Retrieved 13 March 2012.

External links

• Official NIT site