CBI Bracket

[Tommy]

Good job, Redbirds!

Now, back to hating you.

 

[Da Coach]

Illinois State boasting "Today, they won the national championship" - https://x.com/MVCmigos/status/1905033684677247482

They beat:
Presbyterian- NET 240, RPI 268
Incarnate Word- NET 249, RPI 259
Cleveland State- NET174 RPI 142

 

[Da Coach]

Yes. The CBC (College Basketball Crown) has 16 teams, 5 of them have losing records, and another one is .500. Only 1 team has more than 20 wins (Boise State, 24-10, who turned down an NIT bid for this tournament). They have some really awful teams, like DePaul (14-19), Colorado (14-20), and Butler (14-19).
It's sponsored by Fox Sports, so all the games are on Fox or FS1, and they claim to give some of the media revenue back to the players as NIL.
Participating teams - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_College_Basketball_Crown#Participating_teams

Nebraska won this new postseason tournament, the College Basketball Crown. It was sponsored by Fox Sports with money from several Las Vegas sources as well. For winning, Nebraska got a $300,000 prize.
Head Coach Fred Hoiberg announced that the $300,000 will be split between the players as NIL- https://x.com/kevinsjuts/status/1910004849443242399
If this tournament continues, and with this kind of money, a lot more teams that would get NIT bids next year will probably opt for the CBC.

 

[Nashville Cat]

Nebraska won this new postseason tournament, the College Basketball Crown. It was sponsored by Fox Sports with money from several Las Vegas sources as well. For winning, Nebraska got a $300,000 prize.
Head Coach Fred Hoiberg announced that the $300,000 will be split between the players as NIL- https://x.com/kevinsjuts/status/1910004849443242399
If this tournament continues, and with this kind of money, a lot more teams that would get NIT bids next year will probably opt for the CBC.

I completely agree. I think all "for profit" tournaments will take on new value as the NCAA big dance becomes more and more out of reach for smaller conferences.

 

[Steve Zalutsky]

Joe Lunardi has Illinois State as the AQ in the Valley for this coming season. It will be interesting if they are voted to be the MVC favorites this fall.

 

[yoda]

The early hype is centered on ISU & UNI from what I’ve seen. But teams aren’t done reloading & finishing their rosters, so I think Bradley will get picked in the upper half.
Used to be that the team who RETURNED the most production would be the best team.

But the last two years, that was not the case - it was, instead, the team that blended the best transfer talent (not the most highly rated in the preseason) with their returning players. Bradley can hopefully be that team this year,

 

[LittleBrave]

The early hype is centered on ISU & UNI from what I’ve seen. But teams aren’t done reloading & finishing their rosters, so I think Bradley will get picked in the upper half.
Used to be that the team who RETURNED the most production would be the best team.

I don't get the hype for UNI and ISU-red. UNI lost their top 2 scorers (and main rebounders) who were seniors and were not that great despite a strong run at the end of the season. They seem to be slightly overrated nearly every season, but start slow with a mediocre non-conf. run, though I can't knock their sustained success under Jacobsen.

ISU red didn't do anything special this past season (and please - winning the CBI with that level of competition is NOT impressive) but maybe their 3 incoming freshmen are expected to make an impact right away, but certainly aren't head and shoulders above BU's freshmen recruits. I really like Pedon and think he's done a great job so far, and glad that ISU-red is rising to make the Valley stronger.

BU definitely is stronger than both of them on paper and from recent success, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[BUfan17]

I don't get the hype for UNI and ISU-red. UNI lost their top 2 scorers (and main rebounders) who were seniors and were not that great despite a strong run at the end of the season. They seem to be slightly overrated nearly every season, but start slow with a mediocre non-conf. run, though I can't knock their sustained success under Jacobsen.

ISU red didn't do anything special this past season (and please - winning the CBI with that level of competition is NOT impressive) but maybe their 3 incoming freshmen are expected to make an impact right away, but certainly aren't head and shoulders above BU's freshmen recruits. I really like Pedon and think he's done a great job so far, and glad that ISU-red is rising to make the Valley stronger.

BU definitely is stronger than both of them on paper and from recent success, but maybe I'm missing something.

The valley is just wide open this year with how much each team has lost. I think we'll be picked in the top half for sure but I think losing so much production in Deen, Hannah, CD, and Zek is going to prevent us from being picked #1. Our transfers and freshmen do look promising though, but those are unknowns until we actually see this team play.

 

[yoda]

has there been any mention of any Valley team making a summer foreign tour in 2025?
The only team I have heard that is taking a foreign tour is Indiana - LINK
Normally, a team can go only every four years, but because he's changed jobs twice, now Darian DeVries
gets to take his THIRD pre-season European tour in the last three years.

 

[KillerB]

The early hype is centered on ISU & UNI from what I’ve seen. But teams aren’t done reloading & finishing their rosters, so I think Bradley will get picked in the upper half.
Used to be that the team who RETURNED the most production would be the best team.

But the last two years, that was not the case - it was, instead, the team that blended the best transfer talent (not the most highly rated in the preseason) with their returning players. Bradley can hopefully be that team this year,

I think all the hype can be attributed to Kinzinger and Walker. If Walker improves at all he could turn into a huge problem for every team in the Valley.

 

[Tommy]

I think all the hype can be attributed to Kinzinger and Walker. If Walker improves at all he could turn into a huge problem for every team in the Valley.

Oddly enough, he struggled against our bigs last year. That being said, who do we have to play the 3 and 4 this coming year? Timo, AJ, and Wol seem to be the only forwards on the roster unless we're planning on using CT there. I guess we're likely to run with 3 guards most of the time, though.

 

[LukeBob]

Oddly enough, he struggled against our bigs last year. That being said, who do we have to play the 3 and 4 this coming year? Timo, AJ, and Wol seem to be the only forwards on the roster unless we're planning on using CT there. I guess we're likely to run with 3 guards most of the time, though.

Dietrich potentially, he seems like he has the size to break into the wing rotation. Not sure how much experience he has there though

 

[yoda]

I think all the freshmen will get good minutes - not just because I think they are good enough, but also because Coach knows it would be bad if they got discouraged about playing time & checked in to the portal