NIT know-how: 10 things to know before biting the Big Apple

By making the NIT semifinals, TCU basketball is in uncharted territory. The Horned Frogs have never played this far into a postseason tournament, been to New York City for a tournament or played in Madison Square Garden.

Update your Google Maps if necessary.

But there’s a lot to learn about the National Invitation Tournament. It’s coming up on 80 years old. It used to be the biggest deal in college basketball. It has an amazing history.

And now TCU will be part of it. To get you ready for the trip, or the watching if you can’t make it, here is a rundown of the NIT basics and how it got to where it is today:

1. The NIT began in 1938, started by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association. In time, the event came to be operated by a group of five New York schools known as the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association. Its members were St. John’s, Manhattan, Fordham, NYU and Wagner. A preseason NIT was added in 1985.

2. The NIT semifinals are played at Madison Square Garden, perhaps the most famous arena in basketball. Capacity is 19,830 for basketball and 18,024 for hockey. There have actually been four Madison Square Gardens. This one was opened Feb. 11, 1968, with a salute to the USO starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

3. The NIT eclipsed the NCAA tournament in prestige for decades, thanks to New York’s destination status, concentration of media, and exposure to top high school recruits. Every team played every game in the Garden until the 1970s, when some early round games began moving to campuses.

4. The NCAA tournament began the year after the NIT. Until the 1950s, it was possible for a team to play in both the NIT and NCAA events. City College of New York is the only team to win both in the same year (1950). But the same team was part of a point-shaving scandal that hurt the NIT’s reputation for years.

5. Until 1971, a school could choose either the NIT or NCAA if invited by both events. Eighth-ranked Marquette and coach Al McGuire opted to play in the NIT in 1970 and won it because it could play its opening round closer to home. The following year, the NCAA legislated that any team not accepting its invitation could not play in another postseason event.

6. The NCAA bought the NIT events from the MIBA in 2005 in a settlement of an antitrust lawsuit brought by the MIBA, which accused the NCAA of trying to monopolize postseason events and aiming to kill the NIT. The sale was for $56.5 million, and the MIBA disbanded.

7. The first NIT was won by Temple, which beat Colorado. The tournament began with a six-team field, and all the games were played at the Garden. The first expansion was to eight teams in 1941. By 1980, it was 32 teams. From 2002 to 2006, it invited 40 teams. It’s been at 32 teams since 2007.

8. The NIT most valuable player list includes George Mikan of DePaul in 1945, Lenny Wilkens of Providence in 1960, Walt Frazier of Southern Illinois in 1967, Bill Chamberlain of North Carolina in 1971, Ralph Sampson of Virginia in 1980 and Reggie Miller of UCLA in 1985.

9. St. John’s has won the most NIT championships, five. Bradley has four. Dayton and Stanford have three. St. John’s also has made the most semifinal appearances, 15. Bradley and Dayton have eight semifinal appearances each.

10. TCU has played in seven NITs. Every Big 12 school has played in the NIT, led by West Virginia with 16 appearances and Oklahoma State with 11. Kansas’ two are the fewest NIT appearances among the Big 12 schools.

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 9:33 AM with the headline "NIT know-how: 10 things to know before biting the Big Apple."