NIT and WBIT Fields Shrink to 24 Teams as NCAA Tournament Expands to 76 in 2027

The ripple effects of the NCAA basketball tournament expansion are already reshaping college basketball’s secondary postseason landscape. Beginning in 2027, both the National Invitation Tournament and the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament will contract from 32 teams to 24, a direct consequence of the governing body’s May decision to grow its flagship events from 68 to 76 teams.

That May announcement marked the first expansion of the men’s NCAA tournament since 2011 and the first for the women’s bracket since 2022. By absorbing eight additional programs into the primary fields, the NCAA effectively siphoned talent away from the NIT and WBIT, forcing a structural downsizing that alters how mid-major and bubble programs approach March.

To compensate for the smaller fields, the NCAA is overhauling how teams qualify for the men’s NIT. The revised format guarantees an automatic bid to each of the top 10 conferences based on Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency rankings, alongside dedicated slots for the ACC and SEC. Those 12 guaranteed entrants will be determined using an average of multiple rating systems, including ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, and will receive the opportunity to host at least one game on their home court.

Historically, the NIT relied heavily on conference regular-season champions who failed to win their league tournaments to fill out its automatic bids. This new metric-driven model shifts leverage toward conferences with stronger overall analytical profiles rather than rewarding individual regular-season crowns. It also formalizes the influence of KenPom and BPI, metrics long used by the selection committee informally but now codified into the qualification rules.

The WBIT selection process takes a different approach. Eligibility requires a minimum .500 record, with the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) and wins above the bubble serving as the primary evaluative criteria. Unlike the men’s side, the women’s secondary tournament does not carve out specific conference guarantees, relying instead on team-specific performance data.

For both tournaments, the four programs designated as the “First Four Out” during the main NCAA tournament selection process will automatically receive No. 1 seeds. Selection Sunday for the expanded 76-team brackets will immediately precede the NIT and WBIT field announcements on March 14.

The scheduling footprint of the two events diverges significantly. The NIT will play all rounds at campus sites until its championship game, which will again be staged near the NCAA Final Four. For the current season, that finale is scheduled for April 4 at Detroit Mercy, one day before the national title game at Ford Field. The WBIT, meanwhile, funnels its final stages into a neutral-site format, with the semifinals and championship set for March 29 and 31 at Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas.

The contraction to 24 teams leaves fewer safety nets for programs hovering around the bubble. With eight more spots available in the main NCAA tournament starting in 2027, athletic directors and coaches will face intensified pressure to secure those berths, knowing the fallback options have simultaneously narrowed.