Tribune article on BU and the CBI

[BradleyBrave]

Playing in the CBI is already paying dividends. More press in a giant newspaper like the Tribune is nothing but a positive for BU.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/bradley/cs-080317-chicago-cbi-tournament,1,6183585.story

[BradleyBrave]

The web poll question on ChicagoSports.com is currently asking if BU or SIU will win their respective postseason tournaments. What a shafting to ISU!

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/

[Murph]

The web poll question on ChicagoSports.com is currently asking if BU or SIU will win their respective postseason tournaments. What a shafting to ISU!

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/

The Rodney Dangerfields of college basketball......

[BradleyBrave]

More love for BU in the Tribune today. A nice preview of tonight's CBI quarterfinal game against Ohio (once again proof that playing in this tournament is good exposure for the program).

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/bradley/cs-080323-bradley-cbi-tournament,1,1844424.story

[tornado]

I agree BB..I just ran into one of the Braves players from 2006, and he said exactly that...he is proud that his Braves are still playing and he was astounded that people would criticize BU and this tourney.
Heck with whoever calls this a 3rd tier tourney and heck with the people who say their team should decline the CBI, this tourney keeps Bradley playing, keeps the team in the news, and is giving us some really decent press in Chicago.
In fact...the lack of any other Illniois teams (UIUC, DePaul, etc..) still playing is giving BU and ISU really nice coverage in Chicago!
It sure can't hurt to have those nice things being said.

Wouldn't it be nice to get some other good coverage in the state?

[BUBraves06]

More love for BU in the Tribune today. A nice preview of tonight's CBI quarterfinal game against Ohio (once again proof that playing in this tournament is good exposure for the program).

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune....,1844424.story

We're gonna need DC to step up big time tonight. Their bigs really scare me. I hope David is ready to play tonight and has a big game.

[BU ICEMAN]

It's a third-tier tournament.

It is what it is. Accept it.

Now, would I rather our guys be sitting on their butts watching games instead of playing in something? He-double-hockey-sticks no!!!

Supposedly the NCAA was very displeased with this tournament and made some nasty overtures, I wonder how much of that affected the decisions of some of the "No way we're playing in that" schools?

[BradleyBrave]

It's a third-tier tournament.

It is what it is. Accept it.

Now, would I rather our guys be sitting on their butts watching games instead of playing in something? He-double-hockey-sticks no!!!

Supposedly the NCAA was very displeased with this tournament and made some nasty overtures, I wonder how much of that affected the decisions of some of the "No way we're playing in that" schools?

The fact that the NCAA doesn't like tells me that it's a good thing and that it's the right thing to do.

[Da Coach]

It's a third-tier tournament.

It is what it is. Accept it.

Now, would I rather our guys be sitting on their butts watching games instead of playing in something? He-double-hockey-sticks no!!!

Supposedly the NCAA was very displeased with this tournament and made some nasty overtures, I wonder how much of that affected the decisions of some of the "No way we're playing in that" schools?

I look at this tournament the way we looked at the Chicago Challenge, or the South Padre Invitational. It is a tournament with good competetion and a chance for our kids to play games, and for BU to get exposure. Sure it would be nice to hoist a trophy or cut some nets down, but that's not the biggest benefit here. If you are a BU fan or a fan of basketball, enjoy the games.

[MacabreMob]

It can be called 3rd tier all people want, but last time I checked Cincy of the Big East, Wash of the Pac10, and Virginia of the ACC are all 1st tier programs in 1st tier Conferences.

3rd tier suggests 3rd rate level.... as in not Major, not Mid-Major, but Low-Major.... How many teams from the bottom 10 conferences played in this tourney? 1 - Brown, but they finished 103 in the RPI (top 3rd). Or one could maybe say the WAC is a 3rd tier conference, but Nevada finished 73rd in the RPI (top 3rd).

Bottom line... this is a decent tourney with some decent teams involved.

[tornado]

Bottom line... this is a decent tourney with some decent teams involved.

I agree.........nobody used the term "third tier" when ISU was playing in the Chicago Invitational with SEMO, UNC Wilmington, Longwood, Coppin State, then losing both their games up at the Sears Center.
The average RPI of the teams in that tourney was higher then the highest RPI in the CBI!!!

As pointed out so many times before, the only times you see disparaging remarks like that are in stories about BU.

[Bravesfan]

It's a third-tier tournament.

It is what it is. Accept it.

Now, would I rather our guys be sitting on their butts watching games instead of playing in something? He-double-hockey-sticks no!!!

Supposedly the NCAA was very displeased with this tournament and made some nasty overtures, I wonder how much of that affected the decisions of some of the "No way we're playing in that" schools?

Well, regardless of what people call this, it's still a post season tournament that is allowing Bradley to keep playing. As of this moment, they are one of 36 Division I teams still playing (out of 340 teams). And the quality of teams in this tournament is still very good, even with a large number of non-BCS teams in it.

I suspect that if this tourney continues to gain a good reputation in years to come, more BCS teams will play. Now, before people get scared, some BCS teams in this tournament is a good thing in that it will enhance the reputation of the tourney. Of course, this should also be the tournament that goes after non-BCS teams that got shafted out of the other two tourneys, so I don't think you would see more than five or six BCS teams playing in any given year, but the fact that some "first tier" BCS teams are involved gives this tournament more credibility. And with most of the games going down to the wire so far, this tourney has been far more entertaining than some of the NIT games I have seen.

[tornado]

There are only 36 teams left still playing.......

16 in the NCAA - then after Thursday there'll be 12 and after Friday, only 8
12 in the NIT - and there'll be only 8 after tonight, then 6 after tomorrow, and 4 after Wednesday
8 in the CBI - and after tonight there'll be only 4 and after Wednesday, only two.

[BU ICEMAN]

3rd tier suggests 3rd rate level.... as in not Major, not Mid-Major, but Low-Major.... How many teams from the bottom 10 conferences played in this tourney? 1 - Brown, but they finished 103 in the RPI (top 3rd). Or one could maybe say the WAC is a 3rd tier conference, but Nevada finished 73rd in the RPI (top 3rd).

Bottom line... this is a decent tourney with some decent teams involved.

I disagree with the first part of your statement, but wholeheartedly agree with your second statement.

When I (and others) say third-tier, it's not the level of competition (although the perception kinda hurts when a sub-.500 team like Cincy gets in, regardless if they're better than their record shows), but compared to the other I don't think that anybody here can deny the hierarchy of:

1. NCAAs
2. NIT
3. CBI

[BUBraves2006]

It is what it is. Accept it.

Thank you Mr. McNamee, can I ask you another question?