Four of the teams that won first-round games advanced to the quarterfinals, while the other eight teams played for the right to advance to the quarterfinals in the second round March 18–19.
[1] The winner of the 2011 Great West Conference men's basketball tournament, North Dakota, received an automatic bid to the CIT.
The tournament was won by Santa Clara who defeated Iona in the championship game 76–69.
Of the twelve remaining teams, four received byes into the quarterfinals.
RPI, strength of schedule, conference ranking and geographic location determined the byes and seeding of the remaining twelve teams.