SMU, Dayton, UC Irvine and San Francisco are No. 1 seeds in the national invitation tournament in 2025, the organizers revealed Sunday evening.
Only four of the 32 teams in the field-SMU, Stanford, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma State come from one of the five power conferences, marking a potentially sharp decline in the quality of traditional second tournament.
The programs that declined tournament invitations included Indiana, Northwestern, Rutgers, Wake Forest, Pitt, LSU and South Carolina. Indiana was among the first four teams from the NCAA tournament field. However, LSU (3-15 in the Southeastern Conference Play) and South Carolina (2-16) were the only two Secs teams of 16 who missed the NCAA tournament.
It was intended to be exempt from two teams from ACC and Sec. SMU and Georgia Tech represent ACC.
This also marks the first year nit is facing the competition from College Basketball Crown, which was promised two teams from Big Ten, Big East and Big 12 conferences in their first 16-team field.
When it comes to nit, teams will play at campus places before the semi -finals and the final are held in Indianapolis. Games will start this Tuesday.
SMU will open to northern Iowa and can meet No. 4 Frö Oklahoma State in the second round, which cowboys meet Wichita State.
Dayton will host the former NCAA tournament Darling’s Florida Atlantic in the opening game for their region, which also includes No. 2 seed George Mason, an Atlantic 10 rival. George Mason came close to stealing the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament from VCU on Sunday.
UC Irvine finished 28-6 this season and fell to UC San Diego in the Big West Tournament final. The anteaters open to northern Colorado and were able to draw No. 4 seed Georgia tech in the second round.
San Francisco will meet Utah Valley and can meet a regional rival in the second round, no. 4 Frö San Jose State. Stanford is also in this West Coast-focused region, a No. 2 seed opening against Cal State Northridge.
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