HappeningHoops.com 2019-20 CBI/CIT Bracketology Number 1 – December 2nd 2019

By: Ethan Hennessy

 

Hello everyone! We are already about 1/4th of the way done with the 2019-20 season, so it is time to release the first HappeningHoops.com 2019-20 CBI/CIT Bracketology. If you are unfamiliar with my work I predict the fields of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), and the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). They may not be the NCAA Tournament, or even the NIT, but there is still high quality basketball being played in these postseason tournaments in March and April.

 

My background: I am a senior at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso Indiana originally from Columbia Maryland. In addition being a crusader fan I have been a lifelong Loyola MD fan. This is my third year being the lead national bracketologist for these tournaments. Last year I had a 93% accuracy rate correctly predicting 39 of the 42 teams in both fields. From press row I also covered all five home games of DePaul’s run to Game 3 of the CBI finals watching the South Florida Bulls claim the 2019 CBI Title. I attended Loyola MD’s 2013 CIT second round win over Kent State, and the greyhounds 2017 CBI first round win over George Mason.

 

This year I decided to organize teams by regions. For the CIT I just grouped teams by geographic area. This does not indicate who I anticipate teams will be playing; I just decided to do it this way so that fans could easily find if their team is projected in the field by just going to the geographic region instead of searching through the entire list of teams. For the CBI I decided to group teams in four team “regions”. The CBI does this for the first and second rounds before re-seeding the bracket for the semifinals and finals. Out of the 16 teams I project in the field I chose the teams that I believe the CBI would be most likely to have host game in the first two rounds (assuming said team would win their first round game). The tournament generally likes to keep these four pools grouped based on geography, but sometimes that does not happen because of which teams have a preference for hosting or traveling, team record, and the overall makeup of the 16 team field. Therefore, I try to group teams into four regions (East, Midwest, South, and West), but all of this has to be factored in, and just like the NCAA tournament could result in a team getting sent out of the region they reside in.

*As always I do not rank teams that are first or tied for first in their conference because if the season ended today they would be going to the NCAA Tournament or NIT

 

CBI (16 Teams)

 

Wake Forest Region (East)

Wake Forest (5-3 ACC)

Oakland (4-4 Horizon)

Costal Carolina (4-4 Sun Belt)

Penn (5-3 Ivy)

 

Northwestern Region (Midwest)

Northwestern (3-3 Big Ten)

Ball State (4-3 MAC)

Evansville (5-3 Missouri Valley)

Montana State (5-3 Big Sky)

 

Western Kentucky Region (South)

Western Kentucky (6-2 CUSA)

Lamar (4-4 Southland)

Alabama Birmingham (4-2 CUSA)

Central Michigan (6-2 MAC)

 

California Region (West)

California (5-2 Pac 12)

Eastern Washington (4-2 Big Sky)

Boise State (4-2 Mountain West)

Pacific (7-3 WCC)

 

 

CIT (26 teams in 2019)

East

• Loyola MD (4-4 Patriot)
• Manhattan (3-2 MAAC)
• Hofstra (5-3 Colonial)
• Fordham (5-2 A-10)
• Binghamton (4-4 America East)
• Drexel (4-4 Colonial)
• Brown (4-3 Ivy)
• Bryant (4-4 NEC)
• Army (3-3 Patriot)
• Sacred Heart (4-4 NEC)

Midwest

• Valparaiso (5-3 Missouri Valley)
• Cleveland State (4-4 Horizon)
• South Dakota State (6-4 Summit)
• Youngstown State (4-4 Horizon)

South

• Florida International (5-3 CUSA)
• Western Carolina (5-2 SoCon)
• Nicholls State (4-4 Southland
• Georgia State (4-3 Sun Belt)
• Appalachian State (4-4 Sun Belt)
• Longwood (4-4 Big South)
• North Alabama (4-4 ASUN)
• Sam Houston (4-3 Southland)
• Little Rock (5-4 Sun Belt)
• Chattanooga (5-3 SoCon)

West

• Portland (6-1 WCC)
• Southern Utah (4-4 Big Sky)