ESPN Announces Exclusive Coverage of NIT Men's College Basketball Tournament

ESPN's exclusive coverage of the entire 77th National Invitation Tournament (NIT) will begin with all 16 first-round games across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 over Tuesday, March 18, and Wednesday, March 19. The networks will follow the first round with all eight second-round matchups (March 20-24), the four quarterfinals (March 25-26), both semifinals (April 1) and Championship (April 3).

Every NIT game on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 will also be available via WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members and on Apple TV to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.

The 32-team field for the oldest tournament in college basketball was announced Sunday, March 16, during the ESPNU NIT Selection Show and includes teams representing 23 conferences. The field includes 23 programs with at least 20 wins, and 13 teams that qualified automatically for winning their regular-season conference title without receiving an NCAA Championship bid. The top seeds are Florida State, Minnesota, St. John's and SMU.

St. John's, making its NIT record 30th appearance, is one of six teams in the 2014 event that appeared in the 2013 NIT: Florida State, Indiana State, Louisiana Tech, Robert Morris and Southern Miss. Florida Gulf Coast, which reached the Sweet Sixteen in last season's NCAA Championship, will be one of three teams to play in the NIT for the first time: High Point and Utah Valley.

2014 NIT First Round Schedule:

Date Time (ET) Game Network

Tue, March 18 7 p.m. NIT First Round: West Virginia at Georgetown Mike Patrick & Dan Dakich ESPN 7 p.m. NIT First Round: Florida Gulf Coast at Florida State Mark Jones & Darrin Horn ESPN2 7 p.m. NIT First Round: Robert Morris at St. John's Dave Pasch & Tim Welsh ESPNU 8:15 p.m. NIT First Round: High Point at Minnesota Clay Matvick & Mark Wise ESPN3 8:15 p.m. NIT First Round: Belmont at Green Bay Jim Barbar & Sean Harrington ESPN3 9 p.m. NIT First Round: Indiana State at Arkansas Brad Nessler & Jimmy Dykes ESPN 9 p.m. NIT First Round: Davidson at Missouri Bob Wischusen & Malcolm Huckaby ESPN2 9 p.m. NIT First Round: Georgia State at Clemson Tom Hart & Bob Valvano ESPNU 11 p.m. NIT First Round: Utah at St. Mary's Dave Flemming & Sean Farnham ESPN2

Wed, March 19 7 p.m. NIT First Round: Illinois at Boston University Sean McDonough & Tim Welsh ESPN2 7:30 p.m. NIT First Round: Iona at Louisiana Tech Brett Dolan & Daymeon Fishback ESPN3 8 p.m. NIT First Round: Vermont at Georgia Joe Davis & Dino Gaudio ESPNU 8:30 p.m. NIT First Round: Toledo at Southern Miss Roy Philpott & Joe Dean ESPN3 9 p.m. NIT First Round: UC Irvine at SMU John Saunders & Fran Fraschilla ESPN2 10 p.m. NIT First Round: LSU at San Francisco Roxy Bernstein & Bill Walton ESPNU 10:30 p.m. NIT First Round: Utah Valley at California Trey Bender & Jon Crispin