Enjoy the NIT, sports fans. The National Invitation Tournament, which is made for regular season champs that don’t win their conference tournaments and major-conference programs that missed out on at-large berths, faces an uncertain future. Teams are declining NIT bids to start worrying about the transfer portal and limit travel costs, plus the coaching carousel often has an impact, like it did for Belmont, who declined an NIT invitation because head coach Casey Alexander was heading to Kansas State.

The CBI – College Basketball Invitational – was cancelled for this season, though that tournament does feature almost exclusively low-major and mid-major teams and the financial expense is simply not worth it. The College Basketball Crown, which is an NIL-based tournament sponsored by Fox Sports and Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), is down from 16 teams last season to eight teams this season. Last year’s CBC saw skeleton rosters thanks to the portal and opt-outs, much like we see in college football bowl games.

Perhaps the NIT has enough of a pedigree and enough sponsor money for it to continue to be worthwhile, but when you consider that the champs dating back to 2017 have been TCU, Penn State, Texas, Memphis, Xavier, North Texas, Seton Hall, and then last season’s championship game was between Chattanooga and UC Irvine, you wonder about the tournament’s lifespan. Seton Hall was among the teams that declined an opportunity to play in the NIT this year, as well as West Virginia, Cincinnati, Florida State, Indiana, Oklahoma, San Diego State, and Virginia Tech.

Nevertheless, we have a 2026 NIT bracket, futures odds, and some teams worth discussing.

It should be noted that the First Round, Second Round, and Quarterfinal Games are held on campus sites. The Semifinals and Finals are no longer at Madison Square Garden in New York, rather in Indianapolis, Indiana, with the Semifinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse and the Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which is where the Pacers play. The only exception is that Dayton is playing their first-round game in Peoria, Illinois because their arena is hosting the First Four.

The campus sites wrinkle is an interesting one. Like we have Saint Joseph’s playing at Colorado State in the first round in the Albuquerque region. The Hawks played at UNLV in non-conference, but didn’t play any games at elevation like they will in Fort Collins. It’s the same thing for George Washington going out to play Utah Valley or Murray State going to play Nevada in Reno.

Auburn, New Mexico, Wake Forest, and Tulsa are the four No. 1 seeds.

2026 NIT Futures Odds

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  • Auburn +350
  • New Mexico +380
  • Wake Forest +550
  • Tulsa +1000
  • Oklahoma State +1200
  • Nevada +1300
  • Dayton +1700
  • California +2000
  • Wichita State +2500
  • Yale +2800
  • George Washington +3000
  • Colorado State +3500
  • George Mason +4000
  • Utah Valley +5000
  • Illinois State +6000
  • St. Thomas (MN) +6000
  • Wyoming +6000
  • UNLV +6000
  • Illinois Chicago +7500
  • UC Irvine +7500
  • Stephen F. Austin +7500
  • UNC Wilmington +10000
  • Bradley +10000
  • Saint Joseph’s +10000
  • Seattle +12000
  • Murray State +12000
  • Sam Houston +12000
  • Kent State +15000
  • Liberty +15000
  • Davidson +15000
  • Navy +20000
  • South Alabama +25000

Odds from DraftKings as of 3/17, 7:30 a.m. PT

Motivation can be a factor in the NIT. Teams that felt like they should be in the NCAA Tournament or lost their conference tournament final don’t always show well in this event, as they’re not playing in the tournament that they’d rather be playing in. In the portal era, it is also going to be extremely important to make sure who is actually in the lineup. Some guys may opt-out because of injuries. Others may opt-out because they’re about to get a bag from another school.

Make sure you are double and triple-checking the rosters to find out who is in and who is out. A lot of these teams don’t get any mainstream media coverage, so you’ll have to do some deeper Google searches to find what local beat writers and reporters may be saying.

2026 NIT Futures Picks

Here are a couple of teams that I feel are worth a futures bet and a long shot to consider.

Tulsa +1000

Efficient offensive teams are at the top of my list for the NIT, especially early. We usually see tempos increase as players are out there looking to fill the stat sheet. Defense goes out the window until you get really deep into the tournament when the chance to win some hardware becomes real.

Tulsa is a team that finished the regular season 17th in eFG% and fourth in 3P% at 39.4%. An injury suffered by senior David Green is a real concern, as he averaged better than 16 PPG, but as this tournament goes along, hopefully he’ll be healthy enough to play. As a senior, I’m sure he doesn’t want his college career to end with five points in just 12 minutes in the American Tournament loss to Wichita State.

Tulsa had to play a back-to-back in that conference tourney after playing a three-overtime game with North Texas the day before, hence the loss to Wichita State. This is a team that won 26 games and has to have a chip on their shoulder, feeling like they deserved a better fate. As a No. 1 seed, they’ll be at home through the quarterfinals if they keep advancing.

Colorado State +3500

Another very efficient offense under the spotlight for me. While I don’t love that they’re likely to have to go play at Cal in the next round, the Rams were 10th in eFG%, seventh in 3P%, and 28th in 2P% per Bart Torvik. They do play very slowly under head coach and Northern Iowa legend Ali Farokmanesh, but I bet they increase the pace a little bit in this tournament and their offensive ability makes them very dangerous if that’s the case.

Defensively, the Rams are not good at all, so that’s why they’re priced like they are and one of the big worries. But, they were 3-5 in Quadrant 1 games and won eight straight and nine of 11 to finish out the season with a loss to San Diego State in the MWC Tournament where the Aztecs had 42 free throw attempts and only scored 49 of their 71 points from the floor.

The Rams also won at New Mexico late in the season if they make it to the quarterfinals and end up in Albuquerque.

UNC Wilmington +10000

Here’s a long shot bomb on a team that is not good on offense, but they shoot 3s well, take care of the basketball, and win in the physical elements of the game. Also, it helps that the Seahawks draw what is probably a reeling Yale program off of the devastating loss to Penn in the Ivy League title game on Sunday. Now the Bulldogs have a super-quick turnaround with a team that they haven’t planned for at all.

The Seahawks have played excellent defense under Takayo Siddle since he took over the program. They are a top-five team in 3P% against and a top-25 team in eFG% against. They’re also a top-40 caliber team on both the offensive and defensive glass. They won’t get outworked and Siddle said that they’re really excited to keep playing. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, but they can get by Yale, setting up a date with Dayton or Bradley. If they win that game, perhaps a Big Brother game against Wake Forest shows up in the quarters and the chance to beat a power-conference opponent would be very appealing.

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