Starting in 1950, teams could no longer participate in both
Posted on: October 18, 2019 at 08:18:30 CT
FIJItiger
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For example, the Utah team that knocked MU from the 1944 NCAA tournament and went on to be national champions had lost their opening round game of the NIT.
In 1950 the NCAA made a rule that you had to pick one or the other. Then in 1970 the NCAA made a rule that any team that declined an NCAA tournament invite could not participate in any postseason tournament which effectively made it the 'main' tournament forever. That was due to Marquette declined an NCAA tourney invite in 1970 because they didn't like their regional placement and went on to win the NIT instead.