CIT/CBI Bracketology Number 2 2018-19 January 4th

By: Ethan Hennessy

As the calendar year flips to 2019 and most teams have started or are beginning to start their conference play it is time to update the CIT/CBI bracketology.
I am in my second season doing CIT/CBI bracketology for Happening Hoops. I do this because I genuinely enjoy following these tournaments, and believe they do not get a ton of coverage despite some good teams playing in them each year. In both 2017 and 2018 I was the first source to publicly break the majority of the fields for both tournaments.
In my final bracketology predictions for the 2018 fields I accurately predicted:
18/20 CIT teams and 9/16 CBI Teams.

The teams that get invited to these postseason tournaments are ones that failed to make the NCAA or NIT, and sometimes we do not know who is in and out of those tournaments until later in championship week. Also, teams must pay entry and hosting fees which deters some teams. Furthermore, in the CIT you are required a .500 record, and be a mid-major. Some coaches view these tournaments as good building blocks for their programs, and others do not, so that might lead one program to be more likely to turn down or accept a bid. Geography must also be factored into selection (you don’t want to have three teams on the west coast and all the rest on the east coast).
So with attempting to factor all of that information into this I will try to tell you who I think will be heading to the CIT and CBI this year. I also factor in which teams have accepted bids in the past years to one or both of the tournaments because that would indicate (assuming they meet the selection committee criteria) they are more likely to return. If they have long postseason droughts because this might make a team more likely to accept a bid to one of these tournaments. I will not consider teams that are leading their league at the time of this because they would be heading to the NCAA or NIT tournament (however we all know standings change often). Lastly, any inside information I hear about programs expressing interest in participating will be factored into these.

This season I am starting a new element of the bracketology I will be predicting a handful of bubble teams that are on the edge of making the NIT.
Bubble NIT Teams are teams I believe as of right now would make the NIT, or just barely miss the National Invitation Tournament, and then also decline a bid to either the CIT or CBI field. These teams are arranged from most likely to be in the NIT as an at large team to least likely (top to bottom).

• Kent State (11-2 MAC)
• Central Michigan (11-2 MAC)
• Hofstra (12-3 CAA)
• New Mexico State (11-4 WAC)
• West Virginia (8-5 Big 12)
• Lipscomb (9-4 ASUN)
• UC Irvine (12-4 Big West)
• Oregon State (8-4 Pac 12)

With both the CIT and CBI teams they are not organized in any particular way just in alphabetical order of conferences.

CIT (20 teams last season)

• Vermont (10-4 America East)
• UMBC (8-7 America East)
• Liberty (11-4 ASUN)
• Winthrop (8-5 Big South)
• Delaware (10-6 CAA)
• FIU (10-4 CUSA)
• IUPUI (8-7 Horizon)
• Brown (10-4 Ivy)
• Dartmouth (9-7 Ivy)
• Akron (8-5 MAC)
• Miami (8-5 MAC)
• Valpo (8-6 MVC)
• Eastern Illinois (8-6 OVC)
• Austin Peay (9-5 OVC)
• East Tennessee (12-4 SoCon)
• Wofford (11-4 SoCon)
• Stephen F Austin (8-5 Southland)
• Pacific (10-6 WCC)
• San Diego (11-5 WCC)
• Cal Baptist (9-5 WAC)

CBI (16 teams)

• East Carolina (7-6 American)
• Fordham (9-4 A10)
• Presbyterian (8-7 Big South)
• Northeastern (7-7 CAA)
• UIC (7-8 Horizon)
• Green Bay (8-7 Horizon)
• Northern Illinois (7-6 MAC)
• Washington State (7-6 Pac 12)
• American (7-5 Patriot)
• Samford (11-5 SoCon)
• The Citadel (9-4 SoCon)
• UL Monroe (8-5 Sun Belt)
• Loyola Marymount (12-3 WCC)
• Utah Valley (11-5 WAC)
• GCU (8-6 WAC)
• UTRGV (8-8 WAC)