The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was created in 2007. It is a 16 team tournament that has no seeding, which is one of a few unique things about the CBI. One, teams can pay to have home games in the tournament. Two, the finals are a best two-out-of-three format. Also, the tournament is re-bracketed after the quarterfinal round. The initial tournament champion was Tulsa and last season Siena won the championship.
The first two rounds of the CBI have already taken place. The quarterfinal matchups had some interesting games. Colorado played Seattle in one bracket. The Buffalos were the only team from a Power 5 conference in the field this year. Seattle was the only team to knock of New Mexico St. in WAC play this season. Seattle won the game 72-65.
Mercer lost to UL Monroe in another bracket. The Bears were the first victim of Furman in the Southern Conference Tournament. Forman made a run to the championship game as the last seed before losing to Wofford. UL Monroe finished the season in third in the Sun Belt this season.
Vermont and Radford was a good game as well with Vermont winning by 7. The Catamounts were second to Albany in the America East while Radford was part of a big pack of contenders in the Big South.
The last quarterfinal matchup was Loyola Chicago and Oral Roberts. Loyola won by 8. Loyola was eliminated by eventual champion Northern Iowa in the MVC Tournament. Similarly, Oral Roberts lost to eventual champion North Dakota St. in the Summit League Tournament.
Vermont will play Loyola and UL Monroe will play Seattle for a chance to play in the finals.
The three-game finals of the CBI will take place on March 30, April 1, and April 3.
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