CIT/CBI Bracketology Number 10 March 17th 2019 (10:00 PM Central)

By: Ethan Hennessy

Happy Selection Sunday!

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:
17/20 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). Some programs have their AD or conference commissioner on the selection committee, so they are more likely to accept. Every year there are always the handful of teams you see in these tournaments it seems annually. If teams have long postseason droughts because this might make a team more likely to accept a bid to one of these tournaments. 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.
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. 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.
Any information on teams being offered, accepting, or declining bids to either tournament can be sent to HappeningHoops@gmail.com or DM’ed to Happening Hoops on Twitter.

CIT (32 teams) It ended up being 26 teams but I got all 26 correctly

• Charleston Southern (17-16 Big South) Officially In
• Presbyterian (18-15 Big South) Officially In
• NJIT  (21-12 ASUN) Officially In and hosting Quinnipiac in the first round
• Quinnipiac (16-14 MAAC) Officially In and visiting NJIT in the first round
• Saint Francis Brooklyn (17-15 NEC) Officially In
• Marshall (19-14 CUSA) Officially In and hosting IUPUI
• UTRGV (19-16 WAC) Officially In and hosting Grambling
• Robert Morris (17-16 NEC) Officially In and hosting Cornell
• Grambling State (17-16 SWAC) Officially In and visiting UTRGV
• Southern Utah (16-16 Big Sky) Officially In and hosting
• IUPUI (16-16 Horizon) Officially In and Visiting Marshall
• New Orleans (19-13 Southland) – Officially In and hosting Texas Southern
• Seattle (18-14 WAC) – Officially In and Hosting
• FIU (19-13 CUSA) Officially In and visiting Texas State
• North Carolina A&T (19-13 MEAC) Was not in
• South Alabama (17-17 Sun Belt) Was Not In
• CSU Bakersfield (16-15 WAC) Officially In
• UIC (16-16 Horizon) Was not In
• Green Bay (17-16 Horizon)
• Kent State (22-10 MAC)
• Cornell (15-15 Ivy) Officially In and visiting Robert Morris
• FAU (17-15 CUSA)
• Texas State (24-8 Sun Belt) Officially In and hosting FIU
• ULM (18-15 Sun Belt) Officially In and hosting
• Santa Clara (16-15 WCC) Was not in
• ETSU (24-9 SoCon)
• Portland State (16-16 Big Sky) Was not in
• Hartford (18-15 America East) Was not in
• CSU Fullerton (16-16 Big West)
• Lamar (20-13 Southland) Was not in
• Drake (24-9 MVC)
• Texas Southern (21-13 SWAC) Officially In and visiting New Orleans

CBI (16 teams)

• Longwood (15-17 Big South) Officially In
• Cal Baptist (16-14 WAC) Officially In a postseason tournament and hosting a first round game on Wednesday March 20th
• Brown (19-11 Ivy) Officially In a postseason tournament and hosting a first round game on Wednesday March 20th
• West Virginia (14-19 Big 12) If they do not win the Big 12 Tournament they are in the CBI and plan to host as much as they are able to
• South Florida (19-13 AAC) Officially In Will likley host a game on Tuesday or Wednesday
• DePaul (15-15 Big East)
• UAB (20-14 CUSA)
• Cal State Northridge (13-20 Big West)
• Southern Miss (20-11 CUSA)
• Stony Brook (24-8 America East)
• Austin Peay (22-11 OVC) Was actually GCU
• Jacksonville State (24-9 OVC) Was actually Utah Valley
• Oregon State (18-13 Pac 12) Was actually Central Michigan
• Miami OH (15-17 MAC) Was actually Howard (I had Howard in the CIT)
• Loyola Marymount (21-10 WCC)
• Costal Carolina (15-16 Sun Belt)