The annual tournament began on March 13 on campus sites and ended on March 29 at Madison Square Garden.

[1] Stanford defeated Minnesota in the final game, by a score of 75–51 to become NIT champions for second time (first since 1991).

The following teams were automatic qualifiers for the 2012 NIT field by virtue of winning their conferences' regular season championship but failing to win their conference tournament.

These teams also did not receive an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament.

Played on the home court of the higher-seeded team except #7 seed Iowa hosts #2 seed Dayton since Dayton is the host of the NCAA First Four and cannot host a first-round NIT game.