College Basketball Crown vs. NIT: Key differences, history and 2025 predictions

March Madness is underway, and this year, there are more teams to watch than ever. Fox Sports is hosting the inaugural College Basketball Crown, allowing 16 more teams to participate in postseason basketball.

However, it's important to note that this new tournament is different from the NIT, which has long allowed teams that fell short of an NCAA Tournament bid to continue playing into March. Let's take a look into the key differences between the two tournaments, their histories and 2025 predictions.

What is the College Basketball Crown?

The College Basketball Crown is a new postseason tournament presented by Fox Sports. It is set to take place from March 31 to April 6 in Las Vegas. The tournament will feature 16 teams from seven conferences: the Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, WCC, Mountain West, A-10 and AAC.

What is the NIT (National Invitation Tournament)?

The NIT dates back to 1938 and invites 32 competitive teams that didn't make the NCAA Tournament to compete for the title. The tournament will begin on Tuesday and will conclude on April 3. The top seeds of the NIT often include teams that fans believe were snubbed from the NCAA Tournament. This year, the top seeds are SMU, Dayton, San Fransisco and UC Irvine.

College Basketball Crown vs. NIT: Key differences

The NIT features 32 teams, while the new College Basketball Crown includes just 16. While Fox Sports is hosting the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas, the NIT takes place at a variety of locations all over the United States, much like the NCAA Tournament.

The College Basketball Crown awarded automatic bids to the top two non-NCAA Tournament teams from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East. This season, the NIT gave automatic bids to the top two non-NCAA Tournament teams from the ACC and SEC.

Which Tournament is more competitive?

While it would be easy to automatically assume that the NIT is more competitive due to its history, the two tournaments are evenly matched this year. The College Basketball Crown includes big basketball schools such as Nebraska and Villanova.

However, Kenpom rankings highlight some discrepancies in the two tournaments.

The highest-ranked NIT team is SMU, which comes in at No. 47 on Kenpom. The highest-ranked College Basketball Crown team is Boise State at No. 50. Even so, the College Basketball Crown has four teams ranked above No. 60 in Kenpom, while the NIT only has two.

It seems that the two tournaments are equally competitive, and fans will need to tune in to see which produces better matchups.

Predictions for the 2025 College Basketball Crown and NIT

SMU seems to be a clear favorite for the NIT. The Mustangs spent much of this season on the bubble but didn't receive an NCAA Tournament bid. In their first season in the ACC, the Mustangs went 23-10.

SMU entered the ACC Tournament as a six seed and fell to No. 3 seed Clemson, which will be a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Mustangs held their own in a power conference this season. As a one seed in the NIT, they will host their first three rounds. Things look promising for SMU this postseason.

Boise State will play in the College Basketball Crown after coming up just short of an NCAA Tournament bid as the fourth team out. The Broncos finished fourth in the Mountain West and pulled off a conference tournament upset over top-seeded New Mexico. Boise State will likely be many people's choice to win the inaugural College Basketball Crown, but Nebraska could give it a run for its money.

Nebraska also came close to an NCAA Tournament bid and competed in a much more competitive conference. Ending the season with five straight losses was not good for the Cornhuskers' March Madness hopes, but Nebraska picked up four ranked wins this season and made an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024.

The Cornhuskers stayed competitive with some of the nation's top teams this season and could win the College Basketball Crown.