University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Accepts Bid to CBI, Will Play Wednesday at Longwood
3/17/2019 8:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The journey is not over yet for Southern Miss Men's Basketball. The Golden Eagles, after winning 20 games and making back-to-back Conference USA semifinal appearances, have earned a postseason bid to the Roman College Basketball Invitational and will begin play Wednesday night at Longwood (6 p.m. CT).
"Congratulations to head coach Doc Sadler, our staff and our student-athletes for being selected to participate in the 2019 CBI," said interim Director of Athletics Jeff Mitchell. "I'm thrilled for our program, and I'm especially excited for our senior class of five gentlemen who deserve to play late in March."
Sadler has won 36 games the last two seasons in its resurgence. Wednesday's game will be the first-ever meeting between Southern Miss and Longwood. The winner will play either DePaul or Central Michigan on Monday, March 25.
This marks the school's 22nd appearance in postseason play, including its 15th in the Division I era. Southern Miss last had a run of three-straight appearances from 2012 (NCAA Regional in Pittsburgh) to NIT bids in 2013 and 2014, with the latter two being vacated. All told, it will be the sixth postseason appearance for the program since 2001.
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The CBI is a single-elimination tournament up until the best-of-three Finals, with all games played at campus sites. After the First Round games, the Quarterfinal Round will take place on Monday, March 25, followed by the Semifinal Round on Wednesday, March 27 or Thursday, March 28. Prior to the semifinals, the remaining teams will be re-bracketed. The Finals series is a best-of-three in which one team will host two of the three games. Those games will be played on April 1, April 3, and April 5.
Past CBI champions include Tulsa, Oregon State, VCU, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Santa Clara, Siena, Loyola Chicago, Nevada, Wyoming, and North Texas. Teams from nearly every conference have participated in the event. Twenty-seven teams have used the CBI to springboard to the NCAA Tournament the following year, while another 19 have gone on to the NIT.
ESPN is again the official television home of the CBI. ESPNU will televise each game of the best-of-three Championship Series.
For more information, log onto www.CollegeBasketballInvitational.com.
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