CBI and other postseason tournaments

[Da Coach]

Evansville (16-17, 6-14 in the MVC) has accepted a bid to play in the CBI in Daytona Beach - https://gopurpleaces.com/news/2024/3...itational.aspx

[Tommy]

I thought the CBI was pay to play?

[Nashville Cat]

Evansville (16-17, 6-14 in the MVC) has accepted a bid to play in the CBI in Daytona Beach - https://gopurpleaces.com/news/2024/3...itational.aspx

IMO these tertiary tournaments are going to become more important in the near future as NIL/ Easy transfer rules make ncaa/ nit bids rare for mid majors.

[Da Coach]

The CIT (CollegeInsider.com Tournament) was started in 2009. Bradley played in the inaugural CIT in 2009, beating Austin Peay, Oakland (recall the 75' game-winning shot by Chris Roberts), and Pacific, before losing a heartbreaker to Old Dominion in the championship game. All 4 games were hosted by Bradley at Carver Arena.
The CIT continued yearly through 2019. But it was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid. It was rebranded in 2022 as The Basketball Classic, but it disappeared after that year and was not played in 2023.

This year, CollegeInsider.com has announced they will resume their tournament as the 2024 CIT, a 16-team tournament with an entirely new format. - https://www.collegeinsider.com/tourn...le-results.php

The previous CIT and The Basketball Classic tournaments were hosted in arenas of the participants. This year's CIT will be held as four 4-team pods, and each 4-team pod will be hosted at a selected campus site. Then the 4 winners of each pod advance to the semifinals and final to be played at the site of the highest remaining seed.

Two MVC teams have won the CIT- Missouri State won in 2010 and Evansville won in 2015.

[Da Coach]

I thought the CBI was pay to play?

According to Wikipedia, each of the 16 teams pays an entry fee of $27,500 -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Basketball_Invitational

The entire CBI is now played at a neutral site, and all participating schools pay the same entry fee.
Prior to 2020, the games were played on campus sites, the hosting teams had to guarantee a specific amount of money. When Bradley played in 2009, the guarantee was $40,000, which Bradley was able to raise by ticket sales. In later years, I believe the guarantee rose to $60,000.

[ManMythLegend]

I believe the CBI is also paying out NIL money to the top 4 teams. At one point they had a rule that no teams under .500 would be invited. But considering Evansville got invited, that must not be the case anymore.

[BUFAN1]

I want to know How Evansville, the 10th team in a 12 team league, who is under .500 gets an invite to play in the post season.... If that is the case, Belmont and UNI at least should be playing somewhere. Maybe there are some other tournaments that need to wait until after the NCAA and NIT selection, but I am not that well versed.

[Fetz86]

Maybe they were invited and said no?

[Stryker]

I want to know How Evansville, the 10th team in a 12 team league, who is under .500 gets an invite to play in the post season.... If that is the case, Belmont and UNI at least should be playing somewhere. Maybe there are some other tournaments that need to wait until after the NCAA and NIT selection, but I am not that well versed.

Those tournaments aren't really "post-season" events. They are just events that offer more playing time for teams to get and possibly a bit of money/exposure. They aren't comparable at all to anything normal people think in regards to post-season or playoffs etc. Those events will invite just about any decent looking team that will say yes, and the teams often have to pony up entrance fees, as pointed out in this thread earlier.

[Da Coach]

The CBI has released their 15-team field. I am not sure why just 15 teams. Maybe that's all they could get?
Anyway, they named High Point as the #1 seed, and gave them a bye in the first round. There are 14 other teams playing in 7 first round games, then High Point moves into the bracket in the 2nd round, along with the 7 first round winners.

The College Basketball Invitational starts Saturday, March 23 with 15 teams, and all games will be played in the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Teams and Schedule- https://dknetwork.draftkings.com/202...-daytona-beach

[Da Coach]

...
This year, CollegeInsider.com has announced they will resume their tournament as the 2024 CIT, a 16-team tournament with an entirely new format. - https://www.collegeinsider.com/tourn...le-results.php

The previous CIT and The Basketball Classic tournaments were hosted in arenas of the participants. This year's CIT will be held as four 4-team pods, and each 4-team pod will be hosted at a selected campus site. Then the 4 winners of each pod advance to the semifinals and final to be played at the site of the highest remaining seed....

The CIT has announced the teams and the 4 pods for their 2024 tournament. They also appear to be having a hard time getting enough teams to fill their bracket. Only one of their pods has 4 teams, two have only 2 teams, and one has just 1 team, so far.
One of their teams, Alabama A&M, is a horrible team (11-22) - https://www.collegeinsider.com/tourn...le-results.php

LOU HENSON CLASSIC
Tuesday March 19
Abilene Christian (15-17) vs Texas A&M Corpus Christi (21-12)
Texas Southern (16-16) vs. Tarleton State (23-9)

JIM PHELAN CLASSIC
Wednesday March 20
Purdue Fort Wayne (21-12) vs Bowling Green (20-13)

HUGH DURHAM CLASSIC
Wednesday March 20
Alabama A&M (11-22) vs. Austin Peay (19-15)

JOHN MCLENDON CLASSIC
TBA
vs. Norfolk State (22-11)