The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is the oldest tournament in college basketball. The NIT was started in 1938. It was the first postseason tournament to be played in the country. The NIT started what today is known as "March Madness". The NCAA followed 1 year later with a tournament of their own.

The tournament was originally played entirely at Madison Square Garden in New York. The opening rounds of the tournament were later moved from New York to campus sites in 1977 and MSG was reserved solely for the semifinals and the finals. This is currently how the tournament is still played.

When the tournament first started in 1938, the original field consisted of only 6 teams. It was later expanded to 8 teams in 1941, 12 teams in 1949, 14 teams in 1965 16 teams in 1968, 24 teams in 1979, and finally to 32 teams in 1980. Over the years, the NIT has provided many memories and many mid-major programs consider it a great honor to be included in the tournament.

Unfortunately, for many upper echelon teams the NIT has come to stand for the Not In Tournament. A consolation event for "also rans".

This imbalance in enthusiasm has robbed the NIT of great efforts from it`s highest seeds in recent years and for handicappers, puts the question of motivation front and center unlike the NCAA`s where everyone`s goal is clear.

For these reasons, we love dogs in the first round of the NIT, and because players continue to handicap first round games as if they were regular season non-conference games. Following the players lead, oddsmakers continue to post odds reflecting the preference of the players.

Traditionally, 4 points is assigned to the home team across the board, but that hasn`t held true in NIT games. Put simply, they are not run of the mill non-conference games and shouldn`t be handicapped that way. First round NIT games are filled with NCAA Tournament leftovers. That`s good news for some teams and nothing short of utter disappointment for others.

Some top teams who feel snubbed choose to simply not accept NIT invitations, while others do accept them physically but never embrace the opportunity emotionally, still smarting from non-inclusion in the big show.

Teams who go through the motions in the NIT typically include;

Teams who feel they`ve been wrongly snubbed

Teams who won their conference in the reg season but not the tournament

Teams who had NCAA aspirations early in the season

Teams with senior players accustomed to NCAA Tourney play

Brian Gabrielle is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League. Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Brian_Gabrielle.htm.