CBI Final Preview

Schedule:
Monday, March 30, 8:00PM - Game 1: UL Monroe vs. Loyola Chicago
Wednesday, April 1, 8:00PM - Game 2: Loyola Chicago vs. UL Monroe
Friday, April 3, 8:00PM - Game 3: Loyola Chicago vs. UL Monroe

Television Coverage:
All games will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network

Road to the Finals:

• Loyola Chicago beat Rider (62-59), Oral Roberts (86-78), Seattle (63-48).
• UL Monroe beat Eastern Michigan (71-67), Mercer (71-69), Vermont (71-65).

Overview:
We're down to two in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). UL Monroe out of the Sun Belt and Loyola Chicago out of the Missouri Valley Conference have come out of the pack to get to the Championship Series. The CBI is different from the other post-season tournaments because they have a 3-game series to end their tournament. These two teams will play a best of three to determine the champion. The first of those games is Monday at 8PM.

It's a testament to the strength of the Missouri Valley Conference that Loyola Chicago has found themselves here. The Ramblers finished in 6th place in the MVC regular season at just 8-10 in conference. They have been playing well recently, though. They started MVC play 4-8 and finished the regular season 4-2. They upset Indiana St. in their first game in Arch Madness before falling to eventual champion Northern Iowa. That loss to the MVC tournament champions is the only loss in the past 7 games for Loyola Chicago. In the CBI Tournament so far, the Ramblers have only gotten better. They beat Rider by just 3, Oral Roberts by 8, and Seattle by 15. They are trending upwards heading into the championship series.

UL Monroe has had a great year. They played 5 games against NCAA Tournament teams this season, winning 1 of those games (on the road against UAB). They had two separate 6-game winning streaks during the season. They finished just a game behind Sun Belt regular and tournament season champions Georgia St. All in all, the Warhawks had a consistently solid season. Credit their defense. ULM allows just 60.3 points per game. Loyola Chicago is just a hair worse giving up 60.4 points per game, so expect this one to be low-scoring.

Prediction:
Loyola Chicago plays in the tougher conference overall, but UL Monroe has experience playing against NCAA Tournament darling Georgia St., no slouch in their own right. Both teams get after it defensively and sometimes struggle to score. UL Monroe has scored 71 points in each of their three CBI games so far. If they score 71 in any of their next three games, they should come away the winners. Each of these games should be close and come down to the wire. We expect UL Monroe to win in 3-games mostly due to the home-court advantage they will enjoy for the last two contests.