Post by Commissioner on Mar 11, 2023 19:05:55 GMT -5
You know about the NCAA and the NIT, and by now everyone who peruses this board should know about the CBI. The CBI is not the only "third" tournament in D-1 history, however. Here are other post-season tournaments that have existed for D-1 teams:
National Catholic Invitational Tournament. The NCIT was held for Catholic Schools from 1949 through 1952. When the tournament was launched, both the NIT and NCAA were limited to just 8 teams. By 1953, the NIT was taking 12 and the NCAA 22, and the NCIT became an event only for small colleges. The Championship Games were:
1949: Regis College 51, St. Francis (NY) 47
1950: Siena 57, St. Francis (NY) 50.
1951: St. Francis (NY) 93, Seattle 79
1952: Marquette 76, St. Francis (PA) 64.
The Varsity News reported that the 20-6 Titans were invited to the 1950 NCIT and also to the NIT that year, noting that any participation had to be approved by the faculty and Trustees. They never included a follow-up report on why the Titans did not play in either tournament.
National Campus Basketball Tournament. Many people blamed the point-shaving scandal of 1951 on the evil influence of playing games off campus, and particularly at Madison Square Garden, where both the NIT and NCAA were held in 1950. There was a movement to return the post-season to college campuses. Bradley University was a major power in college basketball in the mid-20th century. They finished as runner up in both the NIT and NCAA in 1950, and at the close of the 1951 season were ranked #6 in the final AP poll. In late February the point shaving scandal broke, and spread out of New York to include players from Bradley.
Although convictions didn't come until summer, Bradley chose not to participate in the 1951 NIT (2nd ranked Oklahoma State got the MVC bid in those 1 bid per conference days), but instead invited schools to a tournament on its campus in Peoria. Eight schools participated: Bradley, Duquesne, Toledo, Western Kentucky, Syracuse, Utah, Villanova, and Wyoming. That was a strong field--Besides #6 Bradley, Toledo was ranked 14th and Villanova 20th in the final AP poll, and Wyoming, Western Kentucky, Syracuse and Duquesne had been ranked during the season. It might be noted that two schoools--never identified--turned down invitations after being barred by their conferences from playing in the tournament--in part, perhaps, because players from both Bradley and Toledo were caught up in the point-shaving scandal.
In the tournament, Syracuse overcame an early 24-3 deficit to defeat Bradley in the final, 76-75. Bradley did not host the tournament again, and no one else picked up the idea.
Collegiate Commissioners Association Tournament/National Commissioners Invitational Tournament. As part of its efforts to kill off the NIT, in 1974 the NCAA launched the Collegiate Commissioners Tournament. At the time, each conference was still limited to one representative in the NCAA tournament, so the Commissioner's tournament was designed for major conference runners-up (or champions that had not won the conference tournament, although few conferences used a tournament at that time). Indiana beat USC in the 1974 tournament final, held in St. Louis. The next year, with a name change, the tournament was held in Louisville, with Drake beating Arizona in the final. In 1975 the NCAA took the sensible move of expanding from 25 to 32 teams and inviting more than one team per conference, and so discontinued the Commissioners' Tournament.
College Basketball Invitational. The CBI was started by the Gazelle Group in 2008. Although often derided as a "pay-to-play" tournament, teams could keep most of the gate for home games, so that schools with good home attendance could make considerably more money playing in the CBI than in the NIT. At the outset, the CBI stated its intent to compete directly with the NIT for major conference teams, and early on had some success--the first CBI champion, Tulsa, was one of several teams that early on turned down the NIT for the CBI. After Tulsa, the next four winners were Oregon State, VCU, Oregon, and Pitt, which beat Washington State in the 2012 final. Butler, fresh off back-to-back Final Four appearances, was in the 2012 field. After that, however, the NCAA, and later most of the largest conferences, began to pressure teams not to compete in the CBI. Top tier competition gradually fell off, and by 2015, only Colorado represented a P6 conference. No other P6 team participated until 2019, when DePaul and West Virginia accepted bids. By that time, the CBI was filling its field with teams such as Utah Valley, Cal-Baptist, Central Arkansas, and Longwood.
Prior to 2020, games were played on college campuses, and the CBI's original gimmick was a best of three final. After cancelling the 2020 tournament due to Covid, the CBI retooled itself in 2021 to play all the games at a central location in Daytona Beach. The 2021 tournament was won by Pepperdine, and the 2022 tournament by UNC-Wilmington.
College Insider Tournament. The CIT was launched in 2009, and specifically oriented toward small and mid-majors that were not invited to the NCAA tournament. Teams from the P6 conferences, plus the Mountain West, Atlantic 10, American Athletic, and (early on) Conference USA were not considered for the CIT. The tournament was played on college campuses, with matchups in each round determined by the prior round's results, so as to minimize travel cost and hopefully maximize fan interest. The CIT was played for 11 years, with the winners, in order, being Old Dominion, Missouri State, Santa Clara, Mercer, East Carolina, Murray State, Evansville, Columbia, St. Peter's, Northern Colorado, and Marshall. In 11 years, no team made the final game more than once. The last two runners-up, in 2018 and 2019, were Horizon League teams, UIC and Green Bay. The Tournament was discontinued due to Covid in 2020 and 2021. A successor tournament, the Basketball Classic, was played in 2022.
Vegas 16. The Vegas 16 was launched in 2016 by BD Global, a sports marketing firm. The concept was a destination tournament--hold the tournament in Las Vegas over a lengthy weekend, selling the destination as well as the games to fans of participating teams. The tournament was announced with some flash, with a contract for television coverage from CBS Sports Network and a selection committee chaired by Geroge Raveling. But after that promising announcment the tournament floundered. After the 68 team NCAA and 32 team NIT, there were already the established 16 team CBI and 32 team CIT--adding another 16 teams to the post-season didn't seem necessary. Raveling turned out to be largely disinterested, but rather than water down the field, the tournement eventually invited just 8 teams. It was actually a pretty good field, with 25-win Old Dominion (the eventual champion), Horizon League runner-up Oakland, and 24-win Southern Conference runner up East Tennessee State. All 8 teams boasted at least 19 wins. But the games were played in an empty arena, as the "destination tournament" idea just didn't draw fans. Although a second tournament was originally planned, in March, 2017, it was announced that it would not be held.
The Basketball Classic. A post-Covid successor to the CollegeInsider Tournament, the Basketball Classic was played in 2022 with 18 teams, including the University of Detroit Mercy. Fresno State won the tournament, beating Coastal Carolina in the final before announced attendance of 1407 at the latter's campus. The tournament, without fanfare, was cancelled for 2023.
National Catholic Invitational Tournament. The NCIT was held for Catholic Schools from 1949 through 1952. When the tournament was launched, both the NIT and NCAA were limited to just 8 teams. By 1953, the NIT was taking 12 and the NCAA 22, and the NCIT became an event only for small colleges. The Championship Games were:
1949: Regis College 51, St. Francis (NY) 47
1950: Siena 57, St. Francis (NY) 50.
1951: St. Francis (NY) 93, Seattle 79
1952: Marquette 76, St. Francis (PA) 64.
The Varsity News reported that the 20-6 Titans were invited to the 1950 NCIT and also to the NIT that year, noting that any participation had to be approved by the faculty and Trustees. They never included a follow-up report on why the Titans did not play in either tournament.
National Campus Basketball Tournament. Many people blamed the point-shaving scandal of 1951 on the evil influence of playing games off campus, and particularly at Madison Square Garden, where both the NIT and NCAA were held in 1950. There was a movement to return the post-season to college campuses. Bradley University was a major power in college basketball in the mid-20th century. They finished as runner up in both the NIT and NCAA in 1950, and at the close of the 1951 season were ranked #6 in the final AP poll. In late February the point shaving scandal broke, and spread out of New York to include players from Bradley.
Although convictions didn't come until summer, Bradley chose not to participate in the 1951 NIT (2nd ranked Oklahoma State got the MVC bid in those 1 bid per conference days), but instead invited schools to a tournament on its campus in Peoria. Eight schools participated: Bradley, Duquesne, Toledo, Western Kentucky, Syracuse, Utah, Villanova, and Wyoming. That was a strong field--Besides #6 Bradley, Toledo was ranked 14th and Villanova 20th in the final AP poll, and Wyoming, Western Kentucky, Syracuse and Duquesne had been ranked during the season. It might be noted that two schoools--never identified--turned down invitations after being barred by their conferences from playing in the tournament--in part, perhaps, because players from both Bradley and Toledo were caught up in the point-shaving scandal.
In the tournament, Syracuse overcame an early 24-3 deficit to defeat Bradley in the final, 76-75. Bradley did not host the tournament again, and no one else picked up the idea.
Collegiate Commissioners Association Tournament/National Commissioners Invitational Tournament. As part of its efforts to kill off the NIT, in 1974 the NCAA launched the Collegiate Commissioners Tournament. At the time, each conference was still limited to one representative in the NCAA tournament, so the Commissioner's tournament was designed for major conference runners-up (or champions that had not won the conference tournament, although few conferences used a tournament at that time). Indiana beat USC in the 1974 tournament final, held in St. Louis. The next year, with a name change, the tournament was held in Louisville, with Drake beating Arizona in the final. In 1975 the NCAA took the sensible move of expanding from 25 to 32 teams and inviting more than one team per conference, and so discontinued the Commissioners' Tournament.
College Basketball Invitational. The CBI was started by the Gazelle Group in 2008. Although often derided as a "pay-to-play" tournament, teams could keep most of the gate for home games, so that schools with good home attendance could make considerably more money playing in the CBI than in the NIT. At the outset, the CBI stated its intent to compete directly with the NIT for major conference teams, and early on had some success--the first CBI champion, Tulsa, was one of several teams that early on turned down the NIT for the CBI. After Tulsa, the next four winners were Oregon State, VCU, Oregon, and Pitt, which beat Washington State in the 2012 final. Butler, fresh off back-to-back Final Four appearances, was in the 2012 field. After that, however, the NCAA, and later most of the largest conferences, began to pressure teams not to compete in the CBI. Top tier competition gradually fell off, and by 2015, only Colorado represented a P6 conference. No other P6 team participated until 2019, when DePaul and West Virginia accepted bids. By that time, the CBI was filling its field with teams such as Utah Valley, Cal-Baptist, Central Arkansas, and Longwood.
Prior to 2020, games were played on college campuses, and the CBI's original gimmick was a best of three final. After cancelling the 2020 tournament due to Covid, the CBI retooled itself in 2021 to play all the games at a central location in Daytona Beach. The 2021 tournament was won by Pepperdine, and the 2022 tournament by UNC-Wilmington.
College Insider Tournament. The CIT was launched in 2009, and specifically oriented toward small and mid-majors that were not invited to the NCAA tournament. Teams from the P6 conferences, plus the Mountain West, Atlantic 10, American Athletic, and (early on) Conference USA were not considered for the CIT. The tournament was played on college campuses, with matchups in each round determined by the prior round's results, so as to minimize travel cost and hopefully maximize fan interest. The CIT was played for 11 years, with the winners, in order, being Old Dominion, Missouri State, Santa Clara, Mercer, East Carolina, Murray State, Evansville, Columbia, St. Peter's, Northern Colorado, and Marshall. In 11 years, no team made the final game more than once. The last two runners-up, in 2018 and 2019, were Horizon League teams, UIC and Green Bay. The Tournament was discontinued due to Covid in 2020 and 2021. A successor tournament, the Basketball Classic, was played in 2022.
Vegas 16. The Vegas 16 was launched in 2016 by BD Global, a sports marketing firm. The concept was a destination tournament--hold the tournament in Las Vegas over a lengthy weekend, selling the destination as well as the games to fans of participating teams. The tournament was announced with some flash, with a contract for television coverage from CBS Sports Network and a selection committee chaired by Geroge Raveling. But after that promising announcment the tournament floundered. After the 68 team NCAA and 32 team NIT, there were already the established 16 team CBI and 32 team CIT--adding another 16 teams to the post-season didn't seem necessary. Raveling turned out to be largely disinterested, but rather than water down the field, the tournement eventually invited just 8 teams. It was actually a pretty good field, with 25-win Old Dominion (the eventual champion), Horizon League runner-up Oakland, and 24-win Southern Conference runner up East Tennessee State. All 8 teams boasted at least 19 wins. But the games were played in an empty arena, as the "destination tournament" idea just didn't draw fans. Although a second tournament was originally planned, in March, 2017, it was announced that it would not be held.
The Basketball Classic. A post-Covid successor to the CollegeInsider Tournament, the Basketball Classic was played in 2022 with 18 teams, including the University of Detroit Mercy. Fresno State won the tournament, beating Coastal Carolina in the final before announced attendance of 1407 at the latter's campus. The tournament, without fanfare, was cancelled for 2023.