2026 NIT Bracket Challenge

Do you hear them?

Do you feel them?

Are you one of them yourself?

If the answer to that last question is “not yet,” you’ve come to the right place. Those people you’re hearing are NIT fans, every last one of them, and the chant on their lips (N–I–T! N–I–T!) is a sacred call, the rallying cry of a people who will not be silenced by guns, or by knives, or by a stern yet gentle glance from Greg Kampe. Soon, you too will be chanting—nay, hollering!—those three letters tattooed on every basketball fan’s heart.

It’s NIT time, friends.

Let’s fill out some brackets.

The rules are the same as always. The tiebreaker this year is how many Atlantic 10 teams will play in next year’s NIT. I know. I know. That tiebreaker will take a long time to play out. Best to just win this bracket challenge outright.

Please note that the NIT tips off an hour earlier this year. Get your brackets in before 6:00 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday. The people simply could not wait.

Those rules are below. Here’s the link to submit your bracket, and here’s a bracket to print out and slide under your own bedroom door tonight. When you find it in the morning, blank and crisp and full of enchantment, you will remember anew everything that is sacred about this sport called college basketball, and you will commune in your spirit with all the greats whose names grace the NIT grail, from Al McGuire to Trey Bonham to the unassailable Walter Dukes.

God bless all of you.

God bless college basketball.

God bless the NIT.

Rules:

No funny business.
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.
Any relevant ties will be broken by how many Atlantic 10 teams play in the 2027 NIT.
All decisions by The Barking Crow regarding scoring and tiebreakers are final. By joining this challenge, you agree to this.
We might send prizes to the top three finishers. No promises. There are still some prizewinners from previous NIT Bracket Challenges I’ve yet to successfully contact.
All brackets must be received before the first game of the tournament tips off. Tuesday 3/17, 6:00 PM EDT. This is one hour earlier than normal.
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 moral standing of various postseason college basketball tournaments), 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.