On March 12, the NCAA canceled the tournament, along with all winter and spring championships for 2020 as a precaution with the coronavirus pandemic.
[1] The following teams were guaranteed berths into the 2020 NIT field by having the best regular season record in their conference, but failing to win their conference tournament.
Some of these teams would have been eligible to receive an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament; for instance, San Diego State was likely to be an at-large NCAA team based on their record and polling ranking regardless of their loss in their conference final.
Although Merrimack won the Northeast Conference regular-season title in their first season within the NEC, they were ineligible to play in their conference tourney or in the NCAA tournament or NIT due to their transition to Division I.
[4] Westwood One was to have exclusive radio rights to the semifinals and the championship.