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Not every team gets invited to the “Big Dance.” For the teams that almost made it to the Final 68 on Selection Sunday, there is the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
A total of 32 teams comprise the NIT. The first four teams left out of the 2017 NCAA tournament field will be the top-seeded teams in the 2017 NIT. They were California, Illinois State, Iowa and Syracuse.
21 teams in the field have 20 or more wins and a total of 20 Division I conferences (out of 32 available) are represented in this year’s NIT.
31 games will be played in this 80th annual edition of the tournament from March 14-30. The NIT Semifinals (Mar. 28) and Final (Mar. 30) will be held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. All of these tournament games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU. The NIT will be available through ESPN’s digital platform WatchESPN, accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
The following are the scheduled game start times (all times Eastern; start times subject to change), locations and respective networks for the first two days of tournament action:
First Round: Tuesday, March 14, 2017
7:00 p.m. on ESPN: Illinois State/Illinois Quadrant
(#2) Illinois vs. (#7) Valparaiso
Announcers: Doug Sherman, Sean Harrington
7:15 p.m. on ESPN2: Syracuse/Georgia Quadrant
(#4) Monmouth vs. (#5) Ole Miss
Announcers: Jay Harris, Rob Kennedy
8:00 p.m. on ESPNU: Iowa/Clemson Quadrant
(#2) Clemson vs. (#7) Oakland
Announcers: Roy Philpott, Stephen Howard
9:00 p.m. on ESPN: Syracuse/Georgia Quadrant
(#3) Indiana vs. (#6) Georgia Tech
Announcers: Mike Morgan, Paul Biancardi
9:00 p.m. on ESPN3: California/Houston Quadrant
(#4) Colorado vs. (#5) College of Charleston
Announcers: Trey Bender, Richie Schueler
9:15 p.m. on ESPN2: Iowa/Clemson Quadrant
(#3) Alabama vs. (#6) Richmond
Announcers: Dave Neal, Dalen Cuff
10:00 p.m. on ESPNU: Illinois State/Illinois Quadrant
(#3) Utah vs. (#6) Boise State
Announcers: Sam Farber, Corey Williams
11:15 p.m. on ESPN2: California/Houston Quadrant
(#1) California vs. (#8) CSU Bakersfield
Announcers: Roxy Bernstein, Miles Simon
First Round: Wednesday, March 15, 2017
7:00 p.m. on ESPN2: Syracuse/Georgia Quadrant
(#1) Syracuse vs. (#8) UNC-Greensboro
Announcers: Rich Hollenberg, Mark Plansky
7:00 p.m. on ESPN3: Syracuse/Georgia Quadrant
(#2) Georgia vs. (#7) Belmont
Announcers: Dave Weekley, Stan Lewter
7:00 p.m. on ESPN3: Illinois State/Illinois Quadrant
(#4) Central Florida vs. (#5) Colorado
Announcers: Drew Fellios, Mark Wise
7:30 p.m. on ESPNU: California/Houston Quadrant
(#2) Houston vs. (#7) Akron
Announcers: Alex Faust, Reid Gettys
8:00 p.m. on ESPN3: Iowa/Clemson Quadrant
(#4) TCU vs. (#5) Fresno State
Announcers: Jim Barbar, Mike O’Donnell
9:00 p.m. on ESPN2: Iowa/Clemson Quadrant
(#1) Iowa vs. (#8) South Dakota
Announcers: Kevin Brown, Bryndon Manzer
9:30 p.m. on ESPNU: Illinois State/Illinois Quadrant
(#1) Illinois State vs. (#8) UC Irvine
Announcers: Mitch Holthus, Mark Adams
11:00 p.m. on ESPN2: California/Houston Quadrant
(#3) BYU vs. (#6) Texas-Arlington
Announcers: Eric Rothman, Corey Williams; BYU Radio: Greg Wrubell, Mark Durrant
