College Basketball Invitational Tournament Field

Updated on March 17th:

Tuesday, March 18
Richmond at Virginia - 7 p.m.
Rider at Old Dominion - 7 p.m.
Brown at Ohio - 7 p.m.
Houston at Nevada - 9 p.m.

Wednesday, March 19
Cincinnati at Bradley - 7 p.m.
Miami (Ohio) at Tulsa - 8 p.m.
Valparaiso at Washington - 9 p.m.
Utah at UTEP - 9 p.m.

The CBI Tourney field is not out yet, even though their website said they would announce on March 16th. Some teams have confirmed they are in, but the tournament is tying up some loose ends, so maybe the field will be announced late tonight or tomorrow. The website for CBI is here.

Apparently, some schools are interested in the CBI, and some are not. To be a home team in the CBI, the host school has to pay CBI $60,000 for the rights to host the game and split the revenue with the tournament. This is probably causing lots of negotiation this evening, and therefore delays in announcing the field. However, some schools have already announced they are participating in the CBI, and eventually, the tournament might announce the field themselves--officially.

Virginia is in the CBI.

The Utah Utes are in.

UTEP is in.

The Houston Cougars are in.

Bradley is in.

Brown University is in.

Washington is in.

Illini interested in College Basketball Invitational Tourney

Here's a depressing March Madness story. The Illini are apparently interested in playing in a new tourney this March, assuming they are not invited to the NCAA or NIT. It's called the College Basketball Invitational Tourney, and most likely includes 16 teams with losing records that want to play basketball in March. I'm not sure if this tourney is to give the young guys more experience or a motivating factor for the players to get back above a .500 record, so they have a shot at the NIT.

Here's the official website for the CBI.

ESPN's take on the CBI tourney.