2024 NIT Odds and Predictions
The NCAA Tournament draws all of the attention and all of the fanfare, but there will be some good college basketball betting opportunities in the 2024 NIT. Unfortunately, the NIT looks a lot different this season. In the past, regular season champions that didn’t win their conference tournaments served as automatic qualifiers, but tournament officials did away with that to bring programs with bigger backing into the field.
There are 32 teams in the field, which is missing some of the top schools, like St. John’s, Oklahoma, and Pittsburgh, who all missed out on the NCAA Tournament. The other weird thing about the NIT is that the college basketball transfer portal opened on Monday Mar. 18, so there will be some teams that are a little shorthanded.
2024 NIT Bracket
2024 NIT Odds
Wake Forest +600
Ohio State +700
Villanova +800
Indiana State +800
Cincinnati +900
Seton Hall +1000
Butler +1200
Utah +1400
Iowa +1600
Virginia Tech +2000
Princeton +2200
Providence +2500
UNLV +3000
UCF +3500
Bradley +3500
North Texas +4500
Kansas State +4500
Georgia +5000
Xavier +5000
San Francisco +5500
LSU +5500
VCU +6500
Boston College +6500
Appalachian State +9000
UC Irvine +10000
South Florida +10000
SMU +10000
Minnesota +10000
Richmond +13000
Loyola Chicago +13000
Saint Joseph’s +25000
Cornell +25000
2024 NIT Format
Games in the first round, second round, Sweet 16, and Elite Eight will be played on campus sites before moving to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis for the Final Four and Championship Game. Keep an eye out for arena conflicts that could lead to a higher seed going on the road. It happens more frequently in the CBI, CIT, and lesser tournaments, but it can happen in the NIT if there is a concert or a women’s NCAA Tournament game.
2024 NIT Tournament Analysis
Some of the top snubs for the NCAA Tournament opted out to “focus on the transfer portal”, but Seton Hall, Indiana State, Providence, and others did not. Coaches will say all the right things about being excited to play, but not all teams will be invested or excited in the early rounds. After a game or two, though, then it becomes about winning the whole thing and you can throw the motivational angles out the window.
This year’s NIT doesn’t feature nearly as many small-conference teams with the automatic qualifiers no longer considered for regular season conference champs, so that’s a bummer, but it does change the handicapping angles. Many of those small-conference teams had played awful schedules, so there was a little more guesswork involved on that front.
There are still some unique travel spots, like UNLV going all the way to Princeton, San Francisco going to Cincinnati, or UC Irvine playing in elevation against Utah.
2024 NIT Top Seeds
Wake Forest is the favorite at +600, but they got a really tough game against Appalachian State. The Mountaineers beat James Madison twice during the regular season. That’s hardly a gimme game for the Demon Deacons. Villanova and Indiana State get interesting assignments early as well.
Ohio State seems to have the best draw as a No. 2 seed, which is reflective in their price at +700. The Big East is really well-represented here with several high seeds and several teams in the field. If Butler can somehow make the FInal Four, Hinkle Fieldhouse is their home venue, so they’d likely have an advantage and they do start there against Minnesota.
2024 NIT Futures Predictions
I think Providence at +2500 is really interesting. If Kim English can get his team over the disappointment of missing out on the NCAA Tournament, I like their draw a good amount, especially with a very familiar No. 1 seed in Seton Hall in their bracket. English seems like the kind of motivator to get his team invested in this thing.
Appalachian State at +9000 intrigues me, too. The loss to Arkansas State was devastating, but they’ve had a lot of time to get over it. They stay in-state to play Wake Forest in the first game and they’re a legitimately good team with outstanding defensive numbers.
Of the favorites, Indiana State has a really nice path and runs a very efficient offense. As long as Josh Schertz can keep his team from being too down about not making the NCAA Tournament, this is a team that can make a really deep run at +800 and their draw is very reasonable.
