Was curious about the fields for both tourneys, so I looked them up. Based off of Kenpom ratings on Selection Sunday:
The NIT had:
The 16th-best team from the #3 conference, KP#100 (Top 7 teams made the tourney)
The 5th, 8th and 10th-best teams from the #5 conference, KP#47, 82, 94 (Top 4 teams made the tourney)
The 8th-best team from the #6 conference, KP#165 (Top 3 and 5th-best teams made the tourney)
The 3rd and 4th-best teams from the #7 conference, KP#57, 65 (Top 2 teams made the tourney)
The 2nd through 7th-best teams from the #8 conference, KP#74, 78, 79, 102, 106, 109, 113 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd and 3rd-best teams from the #9 conference, KP#119, 123 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd and 3rd-best teams from the #10 conference, KP#95, 101 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd through 5th-best teams from the #11 conference, KP#72, 103, 115, 134 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd through 4th-best teams from the #12 conference, KP#66, 107, 145 (Top team made the tourney, 4th-best team should've played in CBI)
The 1st, 2nd and 4th-best teams from the #13 conference, KP#110, 116, 137 (3rd-best team made the tourney)
The 2nd-best team from the #15 conference, KP#114 (Top team made the tourney)
The top team from the #21 conference, KP#91 (2nd-best team made the tourney, 3rd-best team was screwed out of an invite)
The top team from the #22 conference, KP#122 (2nd-best team made the tourney)
The 2nd-best team from the #23 conference, KP#136 (Top team made the tourney)
The 2nd-best team from the #24 conference, KP#111 (Top team made the tourney)
The CBC had:
The 12th and 14th-best teams from the #2 conference, KP#54, 63 (Top 8 teams made the tourney)
The 9th and 11th through 14th-best teams from the #3 conference, KP#55, 68, 70, 76, 81 (Top 7 teams made the tourney)
The 6th (declined NIT?), 7th, 8th (declined NIT?), and 10th-best teams from the #4 conference, KP#56, 77, 87, 118 (Top 5 teams made the tourney)
The 4th-best team (declined NIT) from the #6 conference, KP#50 (Top 3 and 5th-best teams made the tourney)
The 5th and 6th-best teams from the #7 conference, KP#85, 124 (Top 2 teams made the tourney)
The 8th-best team from the #8 conference, KP#113 (Top team made the tourney)
The 6th-best team from the #11 conference, KP#138 (Top team made the tourney)
Teams that were better than others postseason participants in their conference but did not play in the postseason themselves:
The 9th (declined CBC), 10th, 11th, 13th, and 16th-best (declined CBC) teams from the #2 conference, KP#39, 45, 48, 60, 75
The 8th (declined CBC), 10th (declined CBC) and 15th-best teams from the #3 conference, KP#53, 67, 86
The 9th-best team from the #4 conference, KP#97
The 6th, 7th and 9th-best teams from the #5 conference, KP#61, 71, 89
The 6th and 7th-best teams from the #6 conference, KP#80, 92
So yeah, I agree with you
@FeralFelidae that Fox seems to be the reason for the watered-down NIT. I guess it also depends on your preference, do you want the "next-best" set of teams that consists of mediocre major-conference teams who had losing records in conference play, or do you want mid and low-major teams with winning records and decent Kenpom ratings who missed out on the NCAA tourney and might be more motivated to play?
Of the teams who didn't make the NCAA tourney from the top 6 conferences, only 6 had winning conference records and 3 had .500 records. The CBC has 2 of the above .500, the NIT has 2 above and 1 at .500, and the other 4 teams opted out.
