The NIT - What's this all about?
Teams not qualifying for the NCAA tournament have the opportunity to be invited to one of three other postseason tournaments:
 The NIT features a 32-team field chosen right after the NCAA chooses the 68 teams in its tournament.  It awards automatic bids to regular season conference champions who do not otherwise go to the NCAA tournament. Also, the first 4 teams out of the NCAA tournament become automatic 1 seeds in the NIT.

The CBI features 16 teams and the Basketball Classic has up to 32 teams.

Schools have been known to decline an invitation to the CBI/Basketball Classic tournaments due to the lack of interest in playing in a third-tier tournament (e.g., "We're Indiana. We don't play in the CBI.") or the pay-to-play nature of these tournaments.
 
To get a feel for what kind of teams are involved, these were the 2022 participants along with their record and NET ranking.
The 2022 NIT/CBI/Basketball Classic Teams

NIT
 CBI
39
 Oklahoma
 18-15
 82
 Drake
 22-10
40
 Xavier
 18-13
 103
 Middle Tennessee
 21-10
43
 Texas A&M
 22-12
 113
 Ohio
 23-9
45
 SMU
 23-8
 117
 Stephen F. Austin
 18-9
47
 North Texas
 22-6
 123
 Abilene Christian
 19-10
48
 Wake Forest
 23-9
 131
 Florida Atlantic
 16-14
54
 BYU
 20-10
 165
 VMI
 13-15
56
 VCU
 21-9
 175
 UNC Wilmington
 		21-9
57
 Mississippi State
 18-15
 186
 Troy
 		17-11
58
 Dayton
 23-10
 201
 Boston University
 		20-12
59
 Florida
 19-13
 204
 Northern Colorado
 		18-14
60
 Utah State
 17-15
 216
 Rice
 		14-16
61
 Washington State
 19-14
 219
 California Baptist
 		15-15
64
 Saint Louis
 22-11
 222
 UNC Asheville
 		13-14
66
 Vanderbilt
 17-16
 232
 Purdue Fort Wayne
 		19-11
67
 Santa Clara
 21-11


68
 Missouri State
 22-10
 The Basketball Classic
70
 Colorado
 21-11
 73
 Fresno State
 18-13
71
 Belmont
 24-7
 107
 Wofford
 17-13
72
 Towson
 25-8
 132
 Kent State
 21-10
75
 Toledo
 25-7
 146
 South Alabama
 15-11
76
 Oregon
 18-14
 158
 Coastal Carolina
 12-13
83
 Virginia
 19-13
 160
 Appalachian State
 16-14
85
 St. Bonaventure
 20-9
 164
 UTEP
 17-13
90
 Iona
 25-7
 176
 Portland
 16-14
100
 Northern Iowa
 18-11
 179
 Southern Utah
 18-11
105
 Princeton
 21-6
 198
 Florida Gulf Coast
 19-11
129
 Texas State
 18-7
 221
 Eastern Washington
 16-15
154
 Long Beach State
 18-12
 225
 Western Illinois
 14-15
182
 Cleveland State
 18-10
 231
 Detroit Mercy
 13-15
192
 Nicholls
 17-11
 235
 UMBC
 17-14
265
 Alcorn State
 17-16
 249
 Youngstown State
 16-14



257
 Southeastern Louisiana
 17-14



264
 New Orleans
 15-13



274
 USC Upstate
 12-16



293
 Merrimack
 13-16



299
 Morgan State
 9-14



302
 Maryland Eastern Shore
 8-15

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