Most basketball fans are aware of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and the fact that Penn State has a good chance of being there -- but few people understand the 40-team selection process.

Even ESPN.com and SI.com made an error two weeks ago in reporting the NIT's two rule changes.

The first rule stated that each regular season conference champion would automatically receive an NIT berth, and the second explained that teams didn't have to finish at .500 to qualify.

The mistake entered the fray when the Associated Press reported that, "In the past, a team had to win at least half its games to be chosen for the NIT."

But in a phone interview with The Daily Collegian, NIT president Greg Shaheen said the old ".500 rule" was a common misconception -- it never existed in the first place.

"As we researched it, we found it was just a rumor," he said. "In all the paperwork I've seen, there hasn't been a .500 rule.

"Just to be clear, do I think there's going to be a high frequency or high quantity of teams under .500? No, I don't."

But that isn't the only surprise. Just take a look at some the NIT's selection guidelines.

There are two basic lists of criteria, one evaluating the win-loss record, and another to be used mostly in the case of tiebreakers.

This second set of criteria was outlined in an e-mail attachment sent by Shaheen. It included having a strong second half of the season, outstanding performers, injuries, potential "Cinderella" teams and margins of victory over quality opponents.

In other words, it's not just RPI or conference records that the committee uses in the selection process. The committee is actually able to access a secure Web site at 5 a.m. every day in order to view a variety of statistics.

Most of that information is used for the opening criteria, where a team's record is taken into account first and foremost.

According to the attachment, "In evaluating records, such consideration is given to the number of home games, wins at home, road record, strength of conference, common opponents, and in close calls between potential invitees, games vs. each other."

Although strength of conference weighs on the decisions of the committee, Shaheen said conference affiliation doesn't necessarily matter. It's who the wins come against.

For instance, if you're a member of the Big East and finish with a 15-10 record but 11 of those wins came over non-conference creampuffs and several conference wins came from pushovers like South Florida and DePaul -- you wouldn't have a strong case for the NIT.

Luckily for Penn State, upsets against Indiana and Illinois certainly fall under the category of "impressive wins."

Nittany Lions coach Ed DeChellis shared his opinion about the new NIT rules as well. He said he liked the idea of having automatic bids for conference champions. During his time at East Tennessee State, the coach recalled a season or two when his team won the regular season conference title -- but lost in the conference tournament and stayed at home.

Although there's 32 conferences and only 40 NIT teams, Shaheen said there'll probably only be between five and eight conference winners that actually accept the postseason invitation. Most will move on to the NCAA Tournament instead.

"We're energized by the NCAA Tournament," Shaheen said. "We're able to offer a good postseason alternative -- well, not an alternative -- but a complement to the NCAAs."