Colleges. Almost all colleges fiels teams at the freshman, junior varsiyt, and varsity levels. Basketball is also played extensively on an intramural basis. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) organized its first intercollegiate tournament in 1938. The annual NCAA playoffs, culminating in a championhip tournament, produce the generally recognized national champion from the hundreds if conference and major nonconference teams. There is also an annual National Invitation Tournament (NIT), which has been staged each year since 1938 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.