Will Minnesota Make the NIT or College Basketball Crown? It’s Complicated

The Gophers' Big Ten tournament run ended on Wednesday night with a 72-67 loss to Rutgers. A 15-17 overall record takes them out of consideration for an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament, and an early exit from the conference tournament puts a potential invitation to the NIT or College Basketball Crown firmly in question.

NIT vs. College Basketball Crown

For those unfamiliar, the NIT looks a lot different than it did even five years ago. FOX introduced the College Basketball Crown (CBC) last season as another postseason tournament for teams that miss out on the big dance, and it takes place in Las Vegas in the first week of April. Conferences that have a TV contract with FOX, such as the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, all opted to send their top teams to the Crown last season over the NIT. There was just one team from the Big 12, zero from the Big East and none from the Big Ten in the NIT field in 2025.

The NIT will still have 32 teams in 2026. The top 12 conferences in college basketball, based on KenPom rating, receive one exempt bid to the event. This is the second year with the format. The SEC, Big Ten and Big East did not send any teams to the NIT last year, so it could be fair to presume some now value a Crown invitation over the NIT. At the end of the day, it all boils down to TV contracts.

We will have a bracket in less than 4 days!

Here is where the top 12 conferences currently stand.

Each of the top 12 conferences as of Selection Sunday will receive one exempt bid to the NIT. pic.twitter.com/Ik76ujsvbH
— NIT (@NITMBB) March 11, 2026

Minnesota's Crown chances

To make things even more complicated, the Crown has shrunk its field from 16 teams last season to just eight teams in 2026. The event will invite two automatic qualifiers from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, which are the top two teams in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings that do not make the NCAA Tournament. There will also be two at-large invitations.

Indiana's loss to Northwestern on Wednesday at the Big Ten tournament might've ended its NCAA Tournament chances, which makes them a candidate to get invited to the Crown. Minnesota fell to No. 80 in the NET, which is behind the Hoosiers at No. 41, Washington at No. 58 and Northwestern at No. 63.

If the Gophers get invited to the Crown, it would either be as the final at-large team in the field or multiple teams would have to decline a bid. We've seen the latter become more and more common across college sports, but FOX's TV contract with the event might determine a team's flexibility to do so. Ultimately, the Gophers' chances went significantly down on Wednesday night.

NIT hopes

A smaller Crown field might help the Gophers' chances of playing in the NIT. Niko Medved sounded like a coach who's open to a postseason tournament earlier this week. A KenPom rating inside the top 80 and three Quad 1 wins still make them an interesting candidate, despite a record below .500. Oklahoma State at 15-17 and San Jose State at 13-19 both played in last year's NIT.

There are so many dominoes to fall between now and Selection Sunday that will impact the Gophers' chances of getting invited to either field. The coaching carousel and opt-outs have made the entire selection process a mess, and the Gophers are firmly in the middle of things.