BEARCATS Dancin'!

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by OSUredsFAN

Thats fine if you have a winning record. No football team below .500 goes bowling, so how can a losing team be playing post-season hoops.

Good point. I don't see why they can't find 16 .500 or better teams to fill its field

[UKFlounder]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

Good point. I don't see why they can't find 16 .500 or better teams to fill its field

I think some teams declined bids to it (Alabama, New Mexico St, perhaps) so their pool of choices was quite limited.

Maybe a "name" school like UC was worth it even with their record.

(And I think it's probably better for any young kids on the roster than for the seniors - any extra practice time might help in the long run, like the extra weeks before bowl games)

[paintmered]

Sure, this tournament has little to no relevancy in the greater basketball world. But, it does have some relevancy for UC. They've gotten a chance to rest their legs after running the Big East gauntlet and now Cronin gets a chance to build his young players a little more this season.

UC is in this tournament because they beat 5 NCAA tourney teams this year and played a top 5 schedule. They ran out of gas down the stretch and were simply awful. If they'd won a few games out of their last 6, they'd be in the NIT with little argument (and a losing record). Also, the NIT reduced the number of teams in the tourney, so the CBI formed to fill the void. There might be 8 or so more teams in postseason play, not 16 because of the reduced NIT field.

[paintmered]

Originally Posted by OSUredsFAN

Thats fine if you have a winning record. No football team below .500 goes bowling, so how can a losing team be playing post-season hoops.

For what it's worth, the NIT dropped their requirement that teams must go at least .500 to play in the tournament.

[lo ryder]

Sorry to be very negative, but this is a real pet peeve of mine regarding this generation of youngsters.

I dont consider myself real old at 40 years and I played organized sports from the age of 6 until today. During my youth, there was always a winner and a loser. Now, some leagues dont keep scores of games and everyone gets a trophy at the end of the year. Pretty weak in my opinion.

This joke of a tournament emphasizes the philosophy that the final results dont matter and you are rewarded for a losing season. The NCAA and NIT have served us well for many years, now let the lower echelon of times spend time in the classroom after a losing season. After all, this is the real reason they are on campus if I am not mistaken.

Dont mean to get down on anyone, but this is not the way I was raised. I find this way of thinking and this newly formed tournament absurd.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by paintmered

Also, the NIT reduced the number of teams in the tourney, so the CBI formed to fill the void. There might be 8 or so more teams in postseason play, not 16 because of the reduced NIT field.

NIT doesn't have 32 teams anymore? How many do they have now? Is it 16 or do they have byes?

[KronoRed]

It was 40 for a few years now it's back to 32.

[redsfan1966]

Is WLW going to broadcast this garbage?

[GoReds33]

Originally Posted by redsfan1966

Is WLW going to broadcast this garbage?

Yes. It will also be on FSN Cincinnati.

[redsfan1966]

good lord, 50000 watts down the drain for a night...

[SeeinRed]

A few thoughts about tonight. I love the fact that UC gets the chance to play some more games. Maybe just because I'm a UC fan, but I think the CBI just wanted a team with a big name. I also think that UC is a team that will play at %100 because they are just happy to still be playing. I love UC basketball. There are many more out there like me. After going through what we have gone through in the last few years, I am just excited to see some post season basketball. Its a type of reward for sticking with this team despite what has happened. There for, I guaruntee you that 700 WLW isn't just wasting the air time as someone else stated. Wether or not they deserve to be in the CBI, or wether or not the CBI should even be around can be debated. I promise you, there are a lot of fans that are just happy to see their favorite team still playing. I will enjoy the game. I know many others will also.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by GoReds33

Yes. It will also be on FSN Cincinnati.

That's been changed. Look for them on channel 99

The UC-Bradley basketball tournament game at 7 p.m. Wednesday has been moved to new Time Warner and Insights channels, due to technical difficulties.

The Bearcats' inaugural College Basketball Invitational tournament game will be seen on Time Warner Channel 99 in the Cincinnati area, including the former Adelphia systems, not Channel 43 as announced Monday.

The NHL Columbus Blue Jackets will play Detroit on Fox Sports Net Ohio, Channel 43. FSN Ohio could not split the feed to show the hockey game in Columbus, and the UC game in Cincinnati, says Kent Walsh, FSN Ohio program director.

[Cedric]

Originally Posted by SeeinRed

A few thoughts about tonight. I love the fact that UC gets the chance to play some more games. Maybe just because I'm a UC fan, but I think the CBI just wanted a team with a big name. I also think that UC is a team that will play at %100 because they are just happy to still be playing. I love UC basketball. There are many more out there like me. After going through what we have gone through in the last few years, I am just excited to see some post season basketball. Its a type of reward for sticking with this team despite what has happened. There for, I guaruntee you that 700 WLW isn't just wasting the air time as someone else stated. Wether or not they deserve to be in the CBI, or wether or not the CBI should even be around can be debated. I promise you, there are a lot of fans that are just happy to see their favorite team still playing. I will enjoy the game. I know many others will also.

I don't think most people even know that UC is playing or what the hell this tournament is. PTI and Rome were completely bashing it for the past two days. And UC wasn't originally offered a spot in this game. They were only offered after other teams rejected bids.

[dabvu2498]

Originally Posted by Cedric

I don't think most people even know that UC is playing or what the hell this tournament is. PTI and Rome were completely bashing it for the past two days. And UC wasn't originally offered a spot in this game. They were only offered after other teams rejected bids.

Western Michigan would have taken a bid.

Fuming Western Michigan coach Hawkins: New CBI 'a joke'
by Graham Couch
Kalamazoo Gazette
Tuesday March 18, 2008

KALAMAZOO -- Steve Hawkins isn't so much bothered that he's been left out of the postseason.

The "rotten, rotten feeling" eating at Western Michigan University's men's basketball coach is a sadness for his players and a system he sees as flawed and, worse yet, corrupt.

Despite a 20-12 record and a Mid-American Conference West Division title, the National Invitation Tournament and inaugural College Basketball Invitational passed on the Broncos Sunday night.

Hawkins knew the NIT was a long shot, given the recent reduction of teams from 40 to 32 and the mandatory inclusion of regular-season conference champions that don't win their league tournament.

He's not as diplomatic when it comes to the CBI's 16-team field, which includes two other Mid-American Conference teams -- Ohio and Miami-Ohio -- with lesser league resumes, one program with a losing record (Cincinnati), two teams with higher RPIs and five with a worse Sagarin Rating.

"It wasn't based on merit and accomplishment," Hawkins said. "So as excited as I was to see another tournament come along, now it's been dampened by the fact that the (Gazelle Group) that's running it is not basing it completely on accomplishment.

"What appears to be obvious at this point is they have gone with some teams that have gone with them in the past to some of their (preseason) exempt tournaments. So teams that have spent money on them in the past, they've rewarded again by rewarding them spots in the CBI.

"And we've never gone with the Gazelle Group for any of their tournaments, so we're getting punished by not being able to get into postseason play."

The Big 12 Conference, and several other programs, refused bids from the CBI, which required a $60,000 guarantee on ticket sales and 60 percent of any additional gate receipts.

The CBI claimed that it didn't see a need to take a team with a sub-.500 record with "too many teams out there with good records," Gazelle Group president Rick Giles said in November. And yet, Cincinnati, at 13-18, is in the field.

It's believed that the Bearcats, like Ohio -- which finished with 19 wins, three fewer conference victories than WMU and lost a round earlier in the league tourney -- lobbied for a bid, using long-standing financial ties to the Gazelle Group.

"Ohio loses their first-round game (at the MAC Tournament) and (league commissioner) Rick Chryst told me after the game that would probably seal Ohio's fate," Hawkins said. "Then (Sunday) night I talk to (MAC director of basketball operations) Rick Boyages and Rick Boyages says, 'Well, we're hearing that Ohio has brokered a deal to get into the CBI.'

"I said, 'What do you mean? I didn't know brokering a deal was allowed. Should we have been doing something here? Who should have we been talking to, to broker a deal to get into postseason play? I thought this was all based on merit and accomplishment.' And then we find out that it's really not and here we are. I'm going to walk into our postseason meaning in 20 minutes and say, 'Well, guys, the season's over.'"

Hawkins said the MAC office told him the Broncos' No. 119 RPI could be its downfall, though Virginia and Old Dominion both are in the CBI with higher RPIs.

If it's wins and losses that matter, he points out, how is Miami-Ohio in the field after a 17-15 season that included an Ohio-like 9-7 league mark and a loss in its only meeting with WMU.

"I mean, basically, it's a joke," Hawkins said of the CBI. "There's a team that's 13-18 in postseason play."

The CBI, which claimed it would be "100 percent accountable" for the teams it chose, did not return multiple messages left by the Gazette.

"I know I'm going to be coaching for another 20, 25 years," Hawkins said. "And so I can get back into more NCAA Tournaments and NIT Tournaments. I hope there's never another CBI tournament. Whatever it is that's out there, I know I'm going to have postseason play in my future. These seniors have no shot. These other players have a limited shot.

"You're messing with people's dreams, and in the back of smoke-filled rooms, you've got deals being brokered. Meanwhile you've got kids and their families sitting at home."

http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.s...gan_coach.html

[Redlegs23]

I tried passing out CBI brackets at the office to start an office pool. Most people didn't find it near as funny as I did. I got a lot of blank stares and confused looks.