Exclusive coverage of the entire 76^th National Invitation Tournament (NIT) begins on Tuesday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN, and continues across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 with coverage of all 31 games. In addition to 5 exclusive ESPN3 games during the first round, every game will be available on WatchESPN.

The NIT Semifinal games from Madison Square Garden will air on ESPN2, Tuesday, April 2,beginning at 7 p.m., and The NIT Championship will follow on Thursday, April 4 at 9 p.m. on ESPN. Play by play commentator Bob Wischusen will be joined by analysts Bill Raftery for the semifinals and Bob Knight for the final game of the tournament.

The 32-team field for the oldest tournament in college basketball was announced Sunday, March 17, during the ESPNU NIT Selection Show and includes teams representing 22 conferences, led by the ACC, Pac-12 and SEC with three selections each. First Round action airs from campus sites with the No.1 seeds Alabama, Southern Mississippi and Virginia competing at home. Defending National Champions, Kentucky, also joins the field as a No. 1 seed, but will play on the road at Robert Morris in Pittsburgh – Coach Calipari’s hometown – due to the unavailability of Rupp Arena.

Seven teams in the 2013 field played in the 2012 tournament, including the defending NIT Champions, Stanford. Three teams are making their first appearance in the tournament – Charleston Southern, Mercer and Norfolk State. St. John’s is making its 29^th appearance, the most all time. Eight teams in this year’s field have previously won an NIT title, including St. John’s, which has won a record six championships. Stanford has a chance to join St. John’s (1943, 1944) and South Carolina (2005, 2006) as the only teams to repeat.

2013 NIT First Round Schedule:

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