The NIT runs from March 13 until March 29. It’s not the NCAA tournament, but the NIT typically features a few good games every year.

The format

The NIT is a single-elimination tournament, not unlike the Big Dance. The field has 32 teams, divided cleanly into four quadrants of eight teams apiece. The first three rounds of the tournament take place at campus sites, with games hosted by the higher-seeded team. (No. 1 vs. 8, No. 2 vs. 7, and on and on.) The games move to Madison Square Garden in New York for the tournament semifinals on March 27 and the championship game on March 29.

The stakes

The NIT gets made fun of, and that’s fine, but winning tournaments is good even if those tournaments aren’t the tournament. Playing well in the NIT can be a good way to start an offseason, and staying alive longer in the tournament means more opportunities for schools to make money. (NIT revenue is mostly pooled and then distributed to teams later.) The games aren’t a huge deal nationally, but they do count — including toward team records.

If you take a wider view, the NIT is one of the more prestigious postseason tournaments in college basketball. It’s a much bigger deal than the CBI and CIT. Anyway, it’s sports!

The bracket, scores, and schedule

All times here are Eastern. All games are on ESPN networks, which means you can stream them on WatchESPN, the network’s online platform.

The No. 1 seeds: Notre Dame, USC, Saint Mary’s, and Baylor. At least a couple of those teams had pretty good cases to make the NCAA tournament, but they’re here instead.

The basics to this schedule: The first round is March 13 and 14. The second round is March 16 and 19. The quarterfinals are March 20 and 21, and the tournament shifts to New York on March 27. All games are at night, and again, they’re all at campus sites until the semis.

Round 1: March 13

No. 1 Notre Dame 84, No. 8 Hampton 63

No. 3 Oregon 99, No. 6 Rider 86

No. 1 Baylor 80, No. 8 Wagner 59

No. 3 Middle Tennessee 91, No. 6 Vermont 64

No. 2 Louisville 66, No. 7 Northern Kentucky 58

No. 1 USC 103, No. 8 UNC Asheville 98 (2OT)

No. 4 Western Kentucky 79, No. 5 Boston College 62

No. 2 Oklahoma State 80, No. 7 Florida Gulf Coast 68

No. 1 Saint Mary’s 89, No. 8 SE Louisiana 45

Round 1: March 14

No. 2 Marquette 67, No. 7 Harvard 60

No. 3 LSU 84, No. 6 Louisiana 76

No. 4 Penn State 63, No. 5 Temple 57

No. 4 Mississippi State 66, No. 5 Nebraska 59

No. 2 Utah 69, No. 7 UC Davis 59

No. 3 Stanford 86, No. 6 BYU 83

No. 5 Washington 77, No. 4 Boise State 74

Round 2

March 17: No. 4 Penn State 73, No. 1 Notre Dame 63

March 18: No. 4 Mississippi State 78, No. 1 Baylor 77

March 18: No. 2 Marquette 101, No. 3 Oregon 92

March 18: No. 2 Louisville 84, No. 3 Middle Tennessee 68

March 19: No. 2 Oklahoma State 71, No. 3 Stanford 65

March 19: No. 2 Utah 95, No. 3 LSU 71

March 19: No. 1 St. Mary’s 85, No. 5 Washington 81

March 19: No. 1 USC 75, No. 4 Western Kentucky 79

Quarterfinals, March 20-21

March 20

No. 4 Penn State 85, No. 2 Marquette 80

No. 4 Mississippi State 79, No. 2 Louisville 56

March 21

No. 4 Western Kentucky 92, No. 2 Oklahoma State 84

No. 2 Utah 67, No. 1 St. Mary’s 58

Semifinals, March 27

No. 2 Utah 69, No. 4 Western Kentucky 64

No. 4 Penn State 75,No. 4 Mississippi State 60

Championship, March 29

No. 2 Utah vs. No. 4 Penn State, 7 p.m., ESPN2