2025 NIT Bracket Challenge

Friends. Americans. International fans of the National Invitation Tournament.

It is my humble pleasure to welcome you again to the largest NIT Bracket Challenge on The Internet™. The NIT is all about the journey, and this journey has brought us a long way since 2017, when a text to 25 so-called friends yielded five NIT brackets. Last year’s challenge drew 1,011 participants, including college basketball institutions like Ken Pomeroy, Stanford Steve, Mark Titus, PFT Commenter, and my dog—Fargo. (She had a great year.)

Having done this for so long, we like to think we’ve got the operation pretty smooth. That said, you still have to submit your bracket through a Google Form. Here’s that link. We promised we’d upgrade our software this March, and we have broken that promise. We neither learned enough coding skills nor made enough money to make the upgrade happen. My sincerest apologies to those who are disappointed. We promise to stop promising things.

The bracket is below, for your reference. Full rules are below as well. The short version: Games start Tuesday night at 7:00 PM EDT, and the form will close right when the first game tips. One bracket per email address. Check back here on Tuesday to see the scoreboard.

Again, here’s the link to where you can submit your bracket. We’d really appreciate it if you could spread the word. Having eclipsed one thousand entries last year, anything less than one thousand this year will make us sad.

Beyond that? Not a lot to say. Let us bask in the glory of the NIT, dear friends. What a privilege it is to watch this tournament with you all.

Full rules:

1 point for every team correctly picked to advance to the second round.
2 points for every team correctly picked to advance to the quarterfinals.
4 points for every team correctly picked to advance to the final four.
8 points for every team correctly picked to advance to the championship.
16 points for correctly picking the champion.
NIT Stu’s bloodwork has ruled out the reinstatement of the frozen pizza tiebreaker from 2022. Instead, in appreciation of those willing to fight for their beliefs, we’re asking you to guess how many technical fouls will be assessed during the NIT. Any relevant ties will be broken by how many guys get T’d up and how often they do it.
All decisions by The Barking Crow regarding scoring and tiebreakers are final. By joining this challenge, you agree to this. This is even more binding than a contract with Fox Sports.
The winner, runner-up, and third-place finisher will receive prizes of decreasing value. The prizes are negotiable, but we hold final say. Past winners have received combinations of merchandise, future NIT ticket options, and fast food gift cards.
All brackets must be received before the first game of the tournament tips off. Tuesday 3/18, 7:00 PM EDT.
One entry per email address, with one exception. If you’re among those who want their kids to participate (because you’re teaching your kids life lessons about the worth of postseason college basketball), just email us at allthingsnit at gmail dot com and explain yourself. If that’s the reason, we’ll allow your extra entry or entries through. No need to create a second email address for this. The Barking Crow is run by reasonable people. You can tell by how much we like the NIT.