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105-409: * Vacated by the NCAA John Vincent Calipari ( / ˌ k æ l ɪ ˈ p ær i / ; born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the University of Arkansas . He was the head coach at the University of Kentucky from 2009 until the end of the 2023–2024 season, which he led to one NCAA National Championship in 2012 . He has been named Naismith College Coach of

210-535: A "consolation" fixture has led to something of a stigma in the minds of many fans. When teams with tenuous hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth lose away from home late in the season, opposing fans may taunt the players in the closing seconds with chants of "NIT! NIT!" This is done regardless of whether the home team is headed for the NCAA Tournament or not. Irv Moss, a journalist for the Denver Post , once wrote of such

315-526: A $ 100,000 out-of-court settlement with three attorneys who represented Memphis season ticket holders and threatened a lawsuit over the vacated 2007–08 season. Also as part of the settlement, Calipari donated his near-$ 232,000 bonus to the Memphis scholarship fund. On March 30, 2009, four days after Memphis' season ending loss to Missouri in the NCAA tournament , multiple sources reported that Calipari would agree to be

420-600: A .500 or better overall record to qualify for the NIT was imposed. The NCAA announced a revamped selection process starting with the 2017 tournament. The main highlights are: In addition, the selection process was changed. ESPN no longer had a hand in the selection of the teams. Instead, a committee of former NCAA head coaches, chaired by Newton, and including Gene Keady ( Purdue ), Don DeVoe ( Tennessee ), Rudy Davalos , Les Robinson ( NC State ), Reggie Minton ( Air Force ), John Powers , and Carroll Williams among others, prepared

525-595: A 30–1 record, their only loss to Indiana by a buzzer-beater and went 16–0 in conference play. In the SEC tournament, Kentucky lost in the championship game to Vanderbilt 71–64. In the NCAA Tournament, Calipari's team was selected as the overall #1 seed in the tournament, representing as the South Region #1 seed. Kentucky avenged the early season loss to Indiana beating them in the Sweet Sixteen 102–90, and knocked off Baylor in

630-449: A banner for UCLA's 1985 NIT championship until the 1995 NCAA championship banner replaced it. However, during the recent remodeling of Pauley Pavilion a plaque was installed along the concourse of the building commemorating the Bruins' 1985 NIT Championship. For other teams, however, the NIT is perceived as a step up, helping programs progress from mediocrity or obscurity to prominence, and

735-697: A body of local New York colleges: Fordham University , Manhattan University , New York University , St. John's University , and Wagner College . This became the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA) in 1948. Originally the tournament invited a field of six teams, with all games played at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The field was expanded to eight teams in 1941 , 12 in 1949 , 14 in 1965 , 16 in 1968 , 24 in 1979 , 32 in 1980 , and 40 from 2002 through 2006 . From 2007 to 2019 and since 2022 ,

840-640: A list of potential teams in advance. Beginning with the 2016 NIT, the committee makeup was restructured; committee members will serve a maximum four-year term, and the committee will feature a mix of current athletics administrators who are actively working at NCAA schools or conferences and former head college basketball coaches. Previously, the NIT Committee had eight members, all of whom had been former head college basketball coaches or athletics directors. The previous structure had no term limits or succession plan. ESPN continues to provide television coverage of

945-484: A mundane 2–3 zone , or man to man defensive tactics to gain a defensive edge. Due to the use of four seven foot front court players, Kentucky has had the ability to display their defensive shot blocking presence. One notable statistic is that, from 2002 to 2018, all 25 players coached by Calipari who chose to enter the NBA draft after their first season were drafted in the first round. This streak started with Dajuan Wagner at

1050-409: A new NCAA Division I Men's Basketball record for most victories in a season, a record that now belongs to the 2011–2012 Kentucky Wildcats due to NCAA violations that vacated all of Memphis' wins. The nine consecutive 20-win seasons and the nine consecutive postseason appearances would have been the most in school history, though that officially stands now at seven because of the vacated 2007–08 season. He

1155-505: A respectable attendance for tournament games on their home court. The latter is one reason why New Mexico was invited virtually every year—the Lobos often had a winning season but failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Seeding considerations and home court advantage included the number of fans willing to show up to each game. In an effort to maintain some quality, a rule saying that a team must have

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1260-538: A return to MSG in 2022 , it was announced that the 2023 and 2024 semis and final would be moved away from New York. On August 12, 2022, the NCAA announced that the final rounds of the 2023 NIT would be held at Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada and hosted by nearby UNLV , and the 2024 site would be Butler University 's Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis . The status of the post-season National Invitation Tournament as

1365-518: A shooting guard with range so limited he made one 3-pointer all season (Jim McCoy), a 6-foot-3 power forward (Will Herndon), and a left-handed center who stood all of 6–7 ( Harper Williams ). Somehow, that collection of marginal talent went 30–5 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. In the Sweet 16 matchup with Kentucky in 1992, official Lenny Wirtz issued Calipari a controversial technical foul for being outside

1470-529: A taunt to a defeated team, "The three-letter word ... was far more cutting than any four-letter word they could have hollered." Because the post-season NIT consists of teams that failed to receive a berth in the NCAA Tournament, the NIT has been nicknamed the "Not Invited Tournament", "Not Important Tournament", "Never Important Tournament", "Nobody's Interested Tournament", "Needs Improvement Tournament", "No Important Team", "National Insignificant Tournament," or simply "Not In Tournament". It has also been called

1575-552: A team's appearance in the tournament or title contest. By striking the win but not the corresponding loss, vacated victories result in anomalies such as games with losers but no winners, unbalanced series records, and inconsistent measures of head-to-head streaks. The NCAA does not maintain official records between any two opposing teams, and initially it had no official policy for the treatment of vacated victories in calculating either series records or win/loss streaks between any two opposing teams. Various media outlets commented on

1680-488: A tournament to see who the "69th best team" in the country is (since there are now 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament). David Thompson , an All-American player from North Carolina State , called the NIT "a loser's tournament" in 1975. NC State, which had been the previous year's NCAA champion , refused to play in the tournament that year, following the precedent set by ACC rival Maryland the previous season after losing

1785-523: A win. By comparison, a vacated win only removes regular season and tournament wins from the record of the penalized team. The opposing, non-penalized team retains all losses corresponding to vacated games in the regular season (although tournament losses are stricken). In the process of regulating infractions, the NCAA received complaints that their punishments did not penalize the actual perpetrators. Prospective measures, like scholarship reductions or postseason bans, affected athletes who were unrelated to

1890-605: Is 57–22 (.721), and in the NIT is 15–6 (.714). His teams have made 23 NCAA tournament appearances (21 officially, due to two later being vacated), including reaching the Sweet Sixteen 15 times (13 officially, due to two later being vacated), the Elite Eight 12 times (10 officially, due to two later being vacated), the Final Four six times (four officially, due to two later being vacated),

1995-476: Is 790–251 (.759), which accounts for the 4 vacated wins (and one vacated loss) in the 1995–96 NCAA Tournament at UMass, and the 38 vacated wins (and 1 vacated losses) at Memphis in the entire 2007–08 season. Calipari's actual on-the-court record without vacated games is 855–261 (.766) ****The 2020 NCAA tournament was canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic . On February 26, 2011, after Kentucky beat

2100-613: Is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The tournament is played at regional sites with its Final Four played at Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York City up until 2022. Starting in 2023, the NIT Final Four began following the format of the NCAA Tournament by having its Final Four at different venues each season. First held in 1938,

2205-447: Is that a number one-seeded team that goes to the semifinals will have three home games, which helps ticket sales. From 2007 to 2019, the 32-team field used from 1980 through 2001 is the same, eliminating the eight-game "play-in" opening round where teams played to qualify for second round games against the top eight seeds used 2002–2006. The tournament features four eight-team regions. There's one exception: 16 teams competed in 2021 . For

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2310-403: The 1961 NCAA gambling scandal . The Saint Joseph's Hawks had four games in the NCAA tournament vacated, including their third-place finish. The first collegiate national title to be vacated was the 1971 men's soccer championship. The Howard Bison were ruled to have fielded ineligible players, although analysts and historians have argued Howard was targeted because of the racial makeup of

2415-502: The American Red Cross sponsored a postseason charity game between each year's tournament champions to raise money for the war effort. The series was described by Ray Meyer as not just benefit games, but as "really the games for the national championship". The NCAA champion prevailed in all three games. The Helms Athletic Foundation retrospectively selected the NIT champion as its national champion for 1938 ( Temple ) and chose

2520-503: The Atlantic Coast Conference championship game to the top-ranked Wolfpack. In succeeding years, other teams such as Oklahoma State , Louisville , Georgia Tech , Georgetown , and LSU have declined to play in the NIT when they did not make the NCAA tournament. One such team was Maryland ; after being rejected by the NCAA selection committee in 2006, head coach Gary Williams announced that 19–11 Maryland would not go to

2625-579: The Florida Gators in Rupp Arena , Calipari was recognized for his 500th career victory as a Division I men's basketball coach. Over the course of the next few months, the NCAA's Committee on Infractions (COI) and the University of Kentucky exchanged letters debating whether Calipari had indeed reached the 500-win milestone. Due to games vacated by the NCAA in two different seasons (the 1996 season at UMass and

2730-464: The NCAA Division I all-time winningest coaches list. Calipari lettered two years at UNC Wilmington before transferring to Clarion University of Pennsylvania , from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing. He played point guard at Clarion during the 1981 and 1982 seasons, leading the team in assists and free throw percentage. From 1982 to 1985, Calipari was an assistant at

2835-491: The National Collegiate Athletic Association purchased 10-year rights to the NIT from the MIBA for $ 56.5 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit, which had gone to trial and was being argued until very shortly before the settlement was announced. The MIBA alleged that compelling teams to accept invitations to the NCAA tournament even if they preferred to play in the NIT was an illegal use of the NCAA's powers. In addition, it argued that

2940-581: The New York Knicks and United States Senator Bill Bradley stated: In the 1940s, when the NCAA tournament was less than 10 years old, the National Invitation Tournament, a saturnalia held in New York at Madison Square Garden by the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association, was the most glamorous of the post-season tournaments and generally had the better teams. The winner of

3045-623: The Philadelphia 76ers . Calipari became head coach at the University of Memphis in 2000. In Calipari's first nine years as head coach at Memphis, he won 214 games (38 wins were vacated) and posted seven consecutive 20-win seasons, plus one more in his final season (including an NCAA record four consecutive 30-win seasons, though the third season was vacated and this record no longer holds). He also earned seven consecutive postseason bids (plus one in his final season). His 2007–2008 team's 38 victories set

3150-508: The Syracuse – San Diego State game. Syracuse won the game 80–64 with an attendance total of 26,752. The previous record of 23,522 was set by Kentucky in 1979. On October 27, 2023, the NCAA announced that conference regular season champions that do not win their conference tournaments or otherwise not selected for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament , will no longer receive an automatic bid. The NIT will now guarantee two teams, based on

3255-478: The University of Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown . Calipari had several jobs as the lowest coach in the pecking order when Ted Owens hired him as a volunteer assistant for the Jayhawks' 1982–83 season, including serving food at the training table. "I was blessed to have the chance. Can you imagine being 22, 23 and your first opportunity to be around the game is at a program like Kansas?" From 1985 to 1988, he

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3360-494: The Vegas 16 , which both folded after only one edition). St. Bonaventure , a school that, since 2014, has a policy of refusing to play in those newer tournaments, still accepted bids to the NIT, if invited. In 2024, it further began declining bids to the NIT as well, stating that the expense of a road trip of up to five games, the result of if the team were ranked in the lower half of the bracket, could not be justified. St. Bonaventure

3465-603: The dribble drive motion offense that was invented by former Pepperdine basketball coach Vance Walberg . On January 21, 2008, Calipari led the Tigers to the No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll for only the second time in school history. In 2006 and 2008, Memphis earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. In 2008 , Calipari's Tigers advanced to the national championship game , their first under his leadership. They also won 38 games,

3570-497: The "Little Dance" instead of the "loser's tournament". Former NIT Committee chair and former Alabama and Vanderbilt head coach C. M. Newton stated, "What we want to have is a true basketball event, a real tournament, one where there's no preconceived ideas of who gets to New York. We'd love to have great crowds, but this is not a financial consideration. We want good television coverage, but we're not going to play this thing for television and move games around". Another consideration

3675-404: The 1939 national champion by Helms Athletic Foundation, which was made retrospectively in 1943. In 1943 the NCAA tournament moved to share Madison Square Garden with the NIT in an effort to increase the credibility of the NCAA Tournament. In 1945, The New York Times indicated that many teams could get bids to enter either tournament, which was not uncommon in that day. Since the mid-1950s,

3780-410: The 1996 NCAA tournament and Final Four standing vacated after Marcus Camby was ruled ineligible due to his contact with a sports agent. ** ^             The NCAA vacated 38 wins and 1 loss from Memphis's 2007–08 season under Calipari due to violations of NCAA rules. *** ^ Under current NCAA official records, Calipari's record as of March 19, 2023,

3885-413: The 2008 season at Memphis), the NCAA only officially recognized Calipari's 500th all time coaching victory on March 15, 2012. Assistant coaches under Calipari who became NCAA or NBA head coaches Vacated victories A vacated victory is distinct from a forfeit , which simply reverses the outcome of a contest: when a game is forfeited, the team that won records a loss and the team that lost records

3990-510: The 8th overall NCAA Championship for Kentucky. By doing so, John Calipari became the 5th head coach to win an NCAA Championship at Kentucky (an NCAA record), and the first coach to do so at the school since Tubby Smith in 1998. Following the 2012 championship, UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart announced on May 4 that Calipari's contract had been renegotiated. Under the new contract, Calipari will make up to $ 8.0 million annually (not including bonuses), which further cements his status as one of

4095-565: The Cats to their 12th victory of the season and the program's 2,000th victory ever. Kentucky won its 44th SEC Regular Season Championship in 2009–10, with a 14–2 conference record. Calipari's team followed this up with the UK's 26th SEC Tournament Championship, with an overtime defeat of Mississippi State, 75–74, in the SEC Tournament title game. In the NCAA Tournament, however, No. 1 seed Kentucky (East Region)

4200-760: The Elite Eight 82–70, to advance to their second consecutive Final Four. In the Final Four in New Orleans , Kentucky first faced their in-state rival, the Louisville Cardinals and Rick Pitino , winning 69–61. Two days later, in the National Championship game, Kentucky played in another early season rematch against the Kansas Jayhawks , winning a hard-fought contest 67–59. The win secured Calipari his first NCAA Championship, an NCAA record 38-win season, and

4305-560: The Final Four team in Calipari's final UMass season in 1995–96 as a squad "with one superstar (Marcus Camby) and a collection of complementary parts". By winning both the Atlantic 10 regular season and conference tournament championships from 1992 to 1996, UMass became the second team in college basketball history to win 5 consecutive regular season and conference tournament championships ( NC State

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4410-408: The Final Four, UK fell to the eventual NCAA Champions, UConn , by one point, 56–55, finishing with a final record of 29–9. In this third season, Kentucky landed another No. 1 recruiting class with four consensus five star players: Anthony Davis , Marquis Teague , Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Kyle Wiltjer . Kentucky came into the season ranked #2 in the country. They finished the regular season with

4515-588: The Hall of Fame Tip-Off classic, which resulted in UMass becoming the first New England college basketball team to be voted #1 in the Associated Press poll. During Calipari's tenure at UMass, the program became one of the most dominant in college basketball despite recruiting just one McDonald's All-American ( Donta Bright ) and having only two players drafted by an NBA team ( Lou Roe and Marcus Camby ). Forde recalled

4620-577: The NCAA Championship Game three times (twice officially, with the 2008 Championship Game appearance while at Memphis being vacated by the NCAA), winning the NCAA Championship at Kentucky in 2012, and finishing NCAA Runner-Up in 2014. As a college coach, Calipari has twenty-nine 20-win seasons (28 officially) and eleven 30-win seasons (10 officially). He has also coached six teams to the NIT, winning

4725-495: The NCAA Committee on Infractions ordered that regular season games be forfeited by the offending team while NCAA tournament games be vacated. More recently, forfeits have not been used at all, and both regular season and tournament games have been vacated. The precise first use of a vacated win as punishment is unclear. According to Sports Reference , the first recorded use of the punishment in college basketball took place after

4830-577: The NCAA Midwest Regional ( Fort Worth, Texas ) instead of closer to home in the Mideast Regional ( Dayton, Ohio ). The team played in the NIT instead, which it won. This led the NCAA to decree in 1971 that any school to which it offered a bid must accept it or be prohibited from participating in postseason competition, reducing the pool of teams that could accept an NIT invitation. As the NCAA tournament expanded its field to include more teams,

4935-458: The NCAA because Camby had accepted about $ 28,000 worth of gifts, in particular a gold chain, from two sports agents who were luring him to enter the NBA draft after his Sophomore season. Calipari helped accelerate the construction of the Mullins Center , UMass' basketball and hockey facility. He also reached out to eastern Massachusetts and Boston to enlarge the fan base. Before moving on to

5040-486: The NCAA cannot take away the on-field accomplishments or memories of games. The practice of vacating victories has also been called insufficiently preventative, as schools are still able to keep money they received from their vacated accomplishments and fans still consider the on-field result to be "real". In October 2020, the NCAA stripped the UMass women's tennis team of its 2017 Atlantic 10 Conference championship over

5145-424: The NCAA grade. Compounding this, to cut costs, the NIT moved its early rounds out of Madison Square Garden in 1977, playing games at home sites until the later rounds. This further harmed the NIT's prestige, both regionalizing interest in it and marginalizing it by reducing its association with Madison Square Garden. By the mid-1980s, its transition to a secondary tournament for lesser teams was complete. In 2005,

5250-461: The NCAA tournament has been popularly regarded by most institutions as the pre-eminent postseason tournament, with conference champions and the majority of the top-ranked teams participating in it. Nevertheless, as late as 1970, Coach Al McGuire of Marquette , the 8th-ranked team in the final AP poll of the season, spurned an NCAA at-large invitation because the Warriors were going to be placed in

5355-425: The NCAA tournaments in the same season, coincidentally defeating Bradley University in the championship game of both tournaments, and remains the only school to accomplish that feat because of an NCAA committee change in the early 1950s prohibiting a team from competing in both tournaments. The champions of both the NCAA and NIT tournaments played each other for three seasons during World War II . From 1943 to 1945,

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5460-401: The NCAA's expansion of its tournament to 65 teams (68 since 2011) was designed specifically to bankrupt the NIT. Faced with the very real possibility of being found in violation of federal antitrust law for the third time in its history, the NCAA chose to settle (the first two violations were related to restrictions on televising college football and capping assistant coach salaries). As part of

5565-475: The NET Rankings from each of six major conferences: ACC , Big East , Big Ten , Big 12 , Pac-12 and SEC . The top two teams in the NET Rankings that do not qualify for the NCAA tournament from each conference, regardless of their record, will be selected for the NIT, and guaranteed the ability to host a game for the first round. After the twelve teams have been selected, the NIT selection committee will select

5670-651: The NIT Championship at Memphis in 2002 . He is one of only four coaches in NCAA Division I history to direct three different schools to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The platoon system established under John Calipari not only provided life for the University of Kentucky's basketball team in 2014, but it also provided an important defensive weapon. The platoon system was introduced in 2014, and consisted of playing 10 men in legions of five. Each platoon includes three ball-handlers and two taller players. Since 2009,

5775-410: The NIT but then proceeded to win not only the NCAA tournament, but also the subsequent Red Cross War Charities benefit game in which they defeated NIT champion St. John's at Madison Square Garden . In 1949, some Kentucky players were bribed by gamblers to lose their first round game in the NIT. This same Kentucky team went on to win the NCAA. In 1950, City College of New York won both the NIT and

5880-433: The NIT champion ahead of the NCAA champion twice (1939 and 1941) and the NCAA champion ahead of the NIT champion eight times. Between 1939 and 1970, when teams could compete in either tournament, only DePaul (1945), Utah (1947), San Francisco (1949) and Holy Cross (1954) claim or celebrate national championships for their teams based solely on an NIT championship, although Long Island recognizes its selection as

5985-546: The NIT champion over the NCAA champion once, in 1939 ( Long Island ). More recently, the mathematically based Premo-Porretta Power Poll published in the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia retrospectively ranked teams for each season prior to 1949, the year in which the Associated Press poll was implemented. For the period when the tournaments overlapped between 1939 and 1948, Premo-Porretta ranked

6090-532: The NIT was once considered the most prestigious post-season showcase for college basketball before its status was superseded in the mid-1950s by the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament . A second, much more recent "NIT" tournament is played in November and known as the NIT Season Tip-Off . Formerly the "Preseason NIT" (and still sometimes referred to as such colloquially), it was founded in 1985. Unlike

6195-648: The NIT, only to be told that the university had previously agreed to use Comcast Center as a venue for the NIT. The Terrapins were eliminated in the first round by the Manhattan University Jaspers . In 2008, however, Williams announced that if invited, the Terps would play, because it would serve as a chance to further develop six freshman players on his squad and to give senior forward James Gist more exposure. At UCLA 's Pauley Pavilion , there are individual championship banners for all 11 NCAA titles; there hung

6300-471: The National Invitation Tournament was regarded as more of a national champion than the actual, titular, national champion, or winner of the NCAA tournament. Several teams played in both the NIT and NCAA tournaments in the same year, beginning with Colorado and Duquesne in 1940. Colorado won the NIT in 1940 but subsequently finished fourth in the NCAA West Region . In 1944, Utah lost its first game in

6405-464: The New Jersey Nets, Calipari became the second winningest coach in UMass history behind Jack Leaman . In 2010, then- ESPN.com writer Pat Forde , in his "Forde Minutes" column, said of the 1992 team: Calipari's greatest strength as a coach is his ability to create teams that play together. His 1992 Massachusetts team remains one of the most overachieving units The Minutes has ever seen, featuring

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6510-499: The New Jersey Nets, Calipari directed profanities at Star-Ledger sports reporter Dan Garcia and referred to him as a "Mexican idiot". Garcia sued for $ 5,000,000 for emotional distress. Though the case was dismissed and Calipari apologized for his remarks, he was still fined $ 25,000 by the NBA. The 1997–98 season was a lone bright spot for the Nets in the late 1990s. The team played well under Calipari, winning 43 games and qualifying for

6615-522: The SEC Tournament title game. As a result, Kentucky received a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament (East Regional). During the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky would go on to defeat No. 1 overall seed Ohio State , 62–60, in the Sweet-16. In the Elite Eight, Calipari's team would avenge an early season loss to North Carolina , by defeating the Tar Heels, 76–69, securing Kentucky's first Final Four appearance since 1998. In

6720-462: The University of Kentucky Director of Athletics, Mitch Barnhart, formally introduced John Calipari as the new coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats. During the press conference, Calipari spoke at length about his relationships with former UK basketball players and coaches, and also in his difficulties in accepting the UK job, largely due to his deep emotional ties with both the city of Memphis and University of Memphis. Calipari stated, "Coming to UK

6825-476: The University of Memphis, and ended when Kentucky Wildcat Jarred Vanderbilt was not drafted until the second round. From 1988 to 1996 at UMass, Calipari led the Minutemen program to five consecutive Atlantic 10 titles and NCAA Tournament appearances, including periods where the program was ranked first nationally. He finished with a 193–71 record overall, with a 91–41 record in Atlantic 10 conference games. Calipari

6930-400: The University of Memphis. Calipari is famous for popularizing the dribble drive motion offense, developed by Vance Walberg , which is sometimes known as the "Memphis Attack". In his 31 official seasons (32 seasons overall) as a collegiate head coach, Calipari's record is 855–263 (.765). His NCAA-adjusted (the records of two appearances being removed) official record in the NCAA tournament

7035-542: The WNIT is affiliated with the NIT in name only. Neither the NWIT nor WNIT was connected with MIBA, and the WNIT was not purchased by the NCAA; it is currently being run and operated by Triple Crown Sports. In July 2023, the NCAA announced it would create a direct counterpart to the postseason NIT, the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT), with the first edition held in 2024 . Like

7140-599: The Wildcats have been on the top of the high school basketball recruiting mountain. Recruiting has always been paramount for John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats . According to The Washington Post , Calipari's teams have been a defensive powerhouse, historically ranking in the top 50 in Ken Pomeroy's defensive debate. Because of his successful recruiting John Calipari is able to bring in elite talent, and does not have to use

7245-621: The Year three times (1996, 2008, and 2015), and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. He was previously the head coach at the University of Massachusetts from 1988 to 1996, the NBA 's New Jersey Nets from 1996 to 1999, the University of Memphis from 2000 to 2009, and the University of Kentucky from 2009 to 2024. He was the head coach of the Dominican Republic national team in

7350-494: The coach's box during a crucial UMass possession. Kentucky went on to face Duke in the next round in one of the greatest games in college basketball history, won on a last-second shot by Christian Laettner . In 1993, UMass defeated defending NCAA champion and preseason #1 North Carolina in the pre-season NIT in Madison Square Garden . The following year #3 UMass defeated defending NCAA champion and #1 Arkansas in

7455-486: The country (alongside events such as the Maui Invitational and the now-defunct Great Alaska Shootout ). In the past, NIT teams were selected in consultation with ESPN , the television home of the NIT. The goal of the NIT was to sustain the MIBA financially. Therefore, schools selected to play in the NIT were often major conference teams with records near .500 that had large television fan bases and would likely have

7560-572: The first game and the team started poorly. With the Nets underachieving at 3–15, the Nets traded Cassell to the Milwaukee Bucks , while the Nets acquired Stephon Marbury from the Minnesota Timberwolves . After two more losses, Calipari was fired as head coach with the team at 3–17. He finished his tenure with an overall record of 72 wins and 112 losses and a .391 overall winning percentage. He then joined Larry Brown as an assistant coach for

7665-409: The first time since 2011, the format prevented the tournament from extending the NIT's automatic bid to any regular-season conference champion that did not make the NCAA's field of 68 ( Ohio Valley Conference champion Belmont was not invited). Seven teams earned an NIT bid that way in 2006. A new attendance record for an NIT game was set at Syracuse University 's Carrier Dome on March 19, 2007, at

7770-421: The head coach at the University of Kentucky , after UK's head coach, Billy Gillispie , was fired after two unsuccessful seasons at the school. Calipari rejected a counter offer by Memphis for Kentucky's 8 year, $ 31.65 million contract. According to university officials, John Calipari signed a written contract on March 31, 2009. The contract was worth $ 34.65 million over 8 years, plus incentives. On April 1, 2009,

7875-514: The improper reimbursement of a $ 252 phone bill, leading to a public outcry. One writer called the decision the "single worst miscarriage of justice" in the NCAA's history, as the original error was minor and the university had self-reported. The players involved disputed the punishment, arguing that vacating their victories placed them in the same category as cheaters who gained a competitive advantage from misconduct. National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament ( NIT )

7980-701: The inconsistency between opponents' series records inherent to vacated victories. In June 2009, both the ESPN.com SEC Blog and the Chattanooga Times Free Press discussed NCAA sanctions against the Alabama Crimson Tide football program ; each stated that games with vacated wins do not count at all in a series record between two teams. Later, the NCAA's rules were updated to state that "all team and coaches’ streaks (such as wins, postseason appearances, team statistical streaks, and so on) are terminated by

8085-518: The men's NIT, it features 32 teams and is directly run by the NCAA. The WBIT follows the pre-2024 NIT practice of extending invitations to all regular-season champions of Division I conferences that were not selected for the NCAA tournament (if eligible). Also, all games before the semifinals are at campus sites, with the semifinals and final at a neutral site. The announcement of the WBIT led Triple Crown Sports to reduce future WNIT fields to 48, effective with

8190-408: The most highly compensated college basketball coaches in the country. In April 2019, Calipari agreed to a "lifetime" contract with Kentucky, centered on a 10-year coaching extension, and a lifetime paid ambassadorship when he retires. On April 9, 2024, Calipari announced he would be leaving Kentucky, but did not immediately announce plans to retire or accept another job. On April 10, 2024, Calipari

8295-592: The most regular-season wins in NCAA history (his 2011–12 Kentucky team would also go on to win 38 games). His team, however, would lose to the Kansas Jayhawks , 75–68, in overtime . This team later had its entire season record vacated by the NCAA because the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which administers the SAT college admissions test, invalidated Derrick Rose 's score on that test. Despite this, Rose still denies any wrongdoing. The NCAA began to investigate

8400-401: The original violation. To remedy this, the NCAA's committee on infractions adopted the practice of vacating wins as a punishment that would be linked to the specific wrongdoers. The NCAA has broad authority to apply this punishment, but is more likely to do in cases of major systemic fraud in a program or where academically ineligible players have competed. When issuing punishments in the past,

8505-522: The playoffs on the last day of the season. The Nets were seeded eighth in the Eastern Conference and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the 1998 playoffs in three straight games. The 1998–99 season was delayed for three months due to an owners' lockout of the players. When the abbreviated 50-game season began, the Nets were a choice by experts as a surprise team. However, Sam Cassell was injured in

8610-447: The postseason NIT, its final rounds are played at Madison Square Garden. Both tournaments were operated by the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association (MIBA) until 2005 , when they were purchased by the NCAA, and the MIBA disbanded. Unless otherwise qualified, the terms NIT or National Invitation Tournament refer to the post-season tournament in both common and official use. The post-season National Invitation Tournament

8715-460: The purchase of the NIT by the NCAA, the MIBA disbanded. The 2020 edition of the NIT was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic , following the NCAA canceling all winter and spring sports for that year in its wake. In 2021 , the NIT, like March Madness, decided to play its games at a bubble location, this time being Denton and Frisco, Texas , therefore for the first time the semifinals and championship weren't played at Madison Square Garden. After

8820-427: The reputation of the NIT suffered. In 1973, NBC moved televised coverage of the NCAA championship from Saturday afternoon to Monday evening, providing the NCAA Tournament with prime-time television exposure the NIT could not match. Even more crucially, when the NCAA eliminated the one-team-per-conference rule in 1975, its requirement that teams accept its bids relegated the NIT to a collection of teams that did not make

8925-616: The response is more enthusiastic. For example, at the University of Tulsa , which won the NIT in 1981 and 2001, the Golden Hurricane 's NIT "championship tradition" is viewed with pride and as a "lure" for players to join the program. The University of Connecticut also regards the NIT as the beginning of its success. The NIT is also held in generally higher regard than the newer tournaments that have debuted since 2008 (the current College Basketball Invitational and CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament , plus The Basketball Classic and

9030-500: The selection criteria. Two teams from both the ACC and SEC would be guaranteed bids. The top twelve conferences would receive one guaranteed bid. Lastly, guaranteed bids would be given to regular season champions with an average of 125 or better across the BPI, KPI, NET, KenPom, SOR, Torvik and WAB rankings. From 1969 to 1996, a National Women's Invitational Tournament (NWIT) existed; the tournament

9135-648: The summers of 2011 and 2012, as well as the United States men's national under-19 basketball team in July 2017. Calipari coached Kentucky to four Final Fours , in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He also led UMass and Memphis to the Final Four in 1996 and 2008 respectively; those appearances were later vacated , though Calipari was cleared of wrongdoing in both cases. As a college coach, Calipari has twenty-nine 20-win seasons, eleven 30-win seasons, and five 35-win seasons. As of April 2024, with 856 official wins, Calipari ranks 9th on

9240-476: The team. As of 2018, 20 college programs have had a national title vacated. The NCAA has vacated wins as a punishment for academic misconduct, impermissible financial benefits, and player sex scandals. After making the punishment official, the NCAA requires schools to return trophies and take down any references (such as banners) to vacated achievements. The NCAA has in some instances also vacated losses in tournaments or championship games, serving to vacate

9345-616: The test and contacted the ETS. Because the NCAA had begun to investigate, ETS decided to review the test. The ETS sent three letters to Rose's family's former address in Chicago (instead of his dorm in Memphis) to ask that Rose verify some information on his test. Because he did not reply to the letters, ETS invalidated his SAT. This happened even though the NCAA investigated and reported that they could not find significant evidence to prove that Rose did not take

9450-432: The test. Because the ETS had invalidated the test, the NCAA retroactively declared Rose ineligible. To this day, the official position of the NCAA is that Rose did take his own SAT. If not for the vacated wins, Calipari would be the winningest coach in Tigers history, as he would have 252 wins to Larry Finch 's 220. On May 28, 2010, John Calipari, Derrick Rose, and University of Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson reached

9555-460: The tournament reverted to the current 32-team format; 2021 saw the field cut to 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic , where no games were scheduled the year before. In its earliest years, before 1950, the NIT offered some advantages over the NCAA tournament: From its onset and at least into the mid-1950s, the NIT was regarded as the most prestigious showcase for college basketball. All-American at Princeton and later NBA champion with

9660-463: The tournament. In 2011 the NCAA and ESPN agreed to a $ 500 million agreement through 2023–24 for rights to cover championships in several sports, including the NIT; this compares with the 11-year, $ 6.2 billion TV contract with CBS and Turner Sports for the NCAA tournament. These changes are intended to encourage participation by good college teams that would rather stay home than play in the NIT—to make it

9765-415: The twenty best teams that are available to participate in the NIT, regardless of conference. Based on the selection committee's rankings, four of the twenty teams will be selected as one of the sixteen first round hosts. The change received criticism from mid-major schools, which no longer have a fallback option should they win the regular season but not win the conference tournament. The NCAA stated that this

9870-424: The vacancy of a contest." Athletes, administrators, and sports journalists have criticized the practice of vacating wins, arguing that it is arbitrary, confusing, and disproportionate to the infractions it punishes. Those opposed to the punishment note that the NCAA is effectively asking fans and schools to pretend that the game never happened. Former competitors and fans often reject the punishment, saying that

9975-435: Was an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh under Roy Chipman and Paul Evans . From 1988 to 1996, he was head coach at the University of Massachusetts . From 1996 to 1999, he was head coach and Executive VP of basketball operations for the NBA 's New Jersey Nets . During the 1999–2000 season , he was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers under coach Larry Brown, before moving on to his next position at

10080-773: Was founded in 1938 by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association, one year after the NAIA tournament was created by basketball's inventor Dr. James Naismith , and one year before the NCAA tournament . The first NIT was won by the Temple University Owls over the Colorado Buffaloes . Responsibility for the NIT's administration was transferred in 1940 to the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Committee,

10185-560: Was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 1992, 1993, and 1996. He was also named the Naismith , NABC , Basketball Times & Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 1996. He led UMass to its first-ever appearance in the Final Four with the play of the John R. Wooden Award winner and Naismith College Player of the Year Marcus Camby , although this appearance was later vacated by

10290-837: Was named Conference USA Coach of the Year in 2006, 2008, and 2009. In 2008, he was named Naismith College Coach of the Year , receiving the honor for the second time. In 2009, he was named Sports Illustrated College Basketball Coach of the Year. He built a national program by recruiting blue chip players from the Eastern part of the country, such as Dajuan Wagner from Camden (NJ), Darius Washington Jr. from Orlando (FL), Rodney Carney from Indianapolis (IN), Shawne Williams from Memphis (TN), Joey Dorsey from Baltimore (MD), Chris Douglas-Roberts from Detroit (MI), Antonio Anderson from Lynn (MA), Robert Dozier from Lithonia (GA), Derrick Rose from Chicago (IL), and Tyreke Evans from Aston (PA). While at Memphis, Calipari popularized

10395-959: Was named the head coach at Arkansas, signing a 5-year deal worth $ 7 million a season. The deal also includes a signing bonus of $ 1 million, annual $ 500,000 retention bonuses, and incentives based on the Razorbacks' NCAA Tournament performances.        National champion          Postseason invitational champion          Conference regular season champion          Conference regular season and conference tournament champion        Division regular season champion        Division regular season and conference tournament champion        Conference tournament champion * ^     UMass had its 4–1 record in

10500-462: Was not alone in declining an NIT bid, but only Memphis accompanied them as a non-power conference team. Most schools rejecting an invitation consisted of teams from major conferences, including two teams among the first four out in Oklahoma and Pitt . The NIT Season Tip-Off carries none of the postseason tournament's stigma and is one of many popular season-opening tournaments held every year around

10605-449: Was resurrected under the same name in 1998, and has been known as the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) since 1999. The original NWIT was an eight-team tournament held in Amarillo, Texas throughout its history. The revived tournament began with 16 teams, expanded to 32 in its second season, and has since expanded further to 40, 48, and finally 64 teams from 2010 to 2023. However,

10710-538: Was the easy part, it was leaving the city of Memphis that was the hard part." He went on to refer to the University of Kentucky coaching position as his "dream job". Calipari became the 22nd coach overall at Kentucky, and just the 7th coach in the last 79 years for the Wildcats. In his first year as head coach, Calipari had a highly touted recruiting class, including the No. 1 overall rated recruit, John Wall , plus fellow 5-star recruits, DeMarcus Cousins , Eric Bledsoe , and Daniel Orton . On December 21, 2009, Calipari led

10815-558: Was the first). The Calipari Room, a classroom in the Du Bois Library at UMass, is so named in recognition of donations from the Calipari family. In the 1996–97 season , John Calipari replaced Butch Beard as head coach of the New Jersey Nets. After a 26–56 debut season, the Nets made a major draft-day trade in June 1997, acquiring Keith Van Horn , Lucious Harris and two other players in exchange for Tim Thomas . In 1997, while coaching

10920-650: Was to preempt the College Basketball Crown , Fox Sports' new tournament in 2025 for 16 non-NCAA Tournament selected teams from the Big East, Big Ten, and Big 12, to be held at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip, openly admitting that it was engaging in anti-competitive practices out of concern that a strong competitor would be a threat to the NIT's existence. The following year, the NCAA again revised

11025-570: Was upset by West Virginia in the Elite 8, to finish the season at 35–3. In his second season at Kentucky, Calipari recruited the No. 1 rated point guard in the 2010 class, Brandon Knight . In addition to Knight, Calipari also signed two other 5-star recruits, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb . In 2010–11, Kentucky finished the regular season with a record of 22–8, with a 10–6 record in SEC regular season play. UK would go on to win its second consecutive SEC Tournament Championship, defeating Florida, 70–54, in

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