The 2016 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2016 NCAA tournament. The annual tournament was played on campus sites for the first three rounds, with the Final Four and championship game being held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The tournament began on Tuesday, March 15 and ended on Thursday, March 31. An experimental rule allowing players six personal fouls instead of five was approved for use in all national postseason tournaments except for the NCAA Tournament. The NIT Selection Show aired at 8:30 PM EDT on Sunday, March 13, 2016 on ESPNU. George Washington were the champions over Valparaiso 76–60. The Colonials victory was their first-ever NIT title.
Participants
Automatic qualifiers
The following 15 teams earned automatic berths into the 2016 NIT field by virtue of having won their respective conference's regular season championship but failing to win their conference tournaments or receive an at-large NCAA bid.
The NIT began on Tuesday March 15. The first three rounds were played on campus sites. The Final Four began on Tuesday, March 29 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and ended there with the championship game on Thursday, March 31.
Bracket
^Florida was not able to host home games at the O'Connell Center due to arena renovations.[2]
First round
Second round
Quarterfinals
1
Monmouth
90
8
Bucknell
80
1
Monmouth
71
4
George Washington
87
4
George Washington
82
5
Hofstra
80
4
George Washington
82
2
Florida^
77
2
Florida^
97
7
North Florida
68
2
Florida^
74
3
Ohio State
66
3
Ohio State
72*
6
Akron
63
First round
Second round
Quarterfinals
1
St. Bonaventure
75
8
Wagner
79
8
Wagner
54
4
Creighton
87
4
Creighton
72
5
Alabama
54
4
Creighton
82
2
BYU
88
2
BYU
97
7
UAB
79
2
BYU
80
3
Virginia Tech
77
3
Virginia Tech
86*
6
Princeton
81
First round
Second round
Quarterfinals
1
South Carolina
88
8
High Point
66
1
South Carolina
66
4
Georgia Tech
83
4
Georgia Tech
81
5
Houston
62
4
Georgia Tech
56
2
San Diego State
72
2
San Diego State
79
7
IPFW
55
2
San Diego State
93
3
Washington
78
3
Washington
107
6
Long Beach State
102
First round
Second round
Quarterfinals
1
Valparaiso
84
8
Texas Southern
73
1
Valparaiso
81
4
Florida State
69
4
Florida State
84
5
Davidson
74
1
Valparaiso
60
2
Saint Mary's
44
2
Saint Mary's
58
7
New Mexico State
56
2
Saint Mary's
77
3
Georgia
65
3
Georgia
93
6
Belmont
84
Semifinals March 29
Final March 31
1
Valparaiso
72
2
BYU
70
1
Valparaiso
60
4
George Washington
76
2
San Diego State
46
4
George Washington
65
* Denotes overtime period
Media
ESPN, Inc. had exclusive television rights to all NIT games. It will telecast every game across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN3 (ESPNews was used for the Valparaiso-Florida State game). Since 2011, Westwood One had exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and championship. In 2016 Scott Graham and Kelly Tripucka provided the call.