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 Cardinal (2nd title)
Runner-up	Minnesota Golden Gophers (4th title game)
Semifinalists	Washington Huskies (1st semifinal); Massachusetts Minutemen (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.

Team	Conference	Record	Appearance	Last bid
Akron	MAC	22–11	5th	2008
Bucknell	Patriot League	24–9	1st	Never
Drexel	Colonial	27–6	7th	2007
Middle Tennessee	Sun Belt	25–6	3rd	1988
Nevada	WAC	26–6	5th	2010
Oral Roberts	Summit	27–6	8th	2005
Savannah State	MEAC	21–11	1st	Never
Stony Brook	America East	22–9	2nd	2010
Texas–Arlington	Southland	24–8	2nd	1981
Valparaiso	Horizon	22–11	2nd	2003

Seeds

Washington Bracket
Seed	School	Conference	Record	Berth type
1	Washington	Pac-12	21–10	At-large
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.^[2]

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

References

^ "2012 Postseason NIT Bracket" (PDF). ncaa.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
^ "2012 NIT bracket released". ESPN.com. March 11, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2023.

[1] "2012 Postseason NIT Bracket" (PDF). ncaa.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2012.

[2] "2012 NIT bracket released". ESPN.com. March 11, 2012. Retrieved November 19, 2023.

[1]

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v t e 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments
Conference	ACC America East Atlantic 10 Atlantic Sun Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA Conference USA Great West Horizon MAAC MEAC Mid-American Missouri Valley Mountain West Northeast Ohio Valley Pac-12 Patriot SEC Southern Southland SWAC Summit League Sun Belt WAC West Coast
National	NCAA NIT CBI CIT