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I saw the thread the other day about Indiana making the CBI, but I don't believe the information about them rejecting the invite was included. Fred Glass said, "we're Indiana. We don't play in the CBI." Unfortunately for them, they don't play in the NCAA Tourney either.
Is this the right move for them, or would it be better to let their young players get some experience?
So stupid to turn these things down. Wouldn't they get extra practices by participating compared to teams that don't play? I could be wrong. Regardless, you can't "teach" game experience. Sour grapes and goes to show that Crean is a moron.
The CBI is typically a money-loser for teams that play in it. Teams that would gain nothing from the exposure usually turn it down - which is to say, most (not all) high-major teams that get an invite.
Maybe turning down the CBI is the right thing, but doing so by saying, "We're Indiana, we don't play in the CBI" is not the right way to handle it. They could have just said that they don't accept the bid, rather than suggesting they're above it. Because if they were, they'd be playing with the big boys. Or the NIT.
Beilein, naturally, had a classier way to put it when Michigan in 2010 opted not to consider a CBI invite:
“We do not have an interest in that tournament,” Beilein said. “We’re not interested in the CBI tournament this particular year.”
He just ends up sounding defensive. Winners don't waste time posturing.
If you get a home game and sell out your arena. The $ argument goes out the window.
Plus you get extra practice time, can experiment with line ups in real game situations and to the extent you win in the Madison Square Garden at the end its not bad exposure.
If you are Duke maybe...IU is not Duke. Hell, IU isn't even Kentucky and they went last year. IU is young...and clearly the way they turned the ball over this year...they need the extra game time experience.
One correction: The NIT final four is played at MSG, but all the CBI games are played at campus sites.
Kentucky went to the NIT last year, not the CBI.
Selling out the arena is a pretty dicey proposition for the CBI - considering how not-likely fans are to shell out for another trip to watch their already extremely disappointing team play Morehead State in the first round of a tournament one level below the one you get made fun of for going to.
When you put it that way, it sounds so exclusive.
This is exactly right. In football, if you make a bowl you get 10-15 extra practices before the game.. In basketball, depending on the timing of the game, you get maybe 3 or four before your first game. Just not enough to make a huge difference. If you're not going to break even there's no point in going.
Did we not accept a NIT bid before?
Won it under Amaker one year. Played in it a few times recently.
I know this. That wasn't my question. I think we denied a NIT bid.
I believe portions of the fanbase wanted them to reject the bid in '97, but it didn't happen. Michigan went on to win the NIT, but later vacated it.
Ok. I knew it was something close to that. Anyways its probably not good to rip Indiana since we did it as well.
"Did we not accept a NIT bid before?"
The reason why commenters responded the way they did is because your statement suggests that we accepted an NIT bid before. Another way to rewrite your statement is, "Didn't we accept a[n] NIT bid before?" What you meant to write was, "Did we not DECLINE an NIT bid before?"
Just fyi for future reference.
Didn't we do this once, too?
Manny and DeShawn's final season IIRC. Finished with a 16-17 record, which you need .500+ to be invited to the NIT I believe is a requirement. Instead, turned down the CBI bid.
ED: "Teams are no longer required to have .500 or greater records to receive bids. Even with this change, however, all teams receiving invitations for the NIT have had .500 or greater records"
Partly. We didn't get uppity and say we were Michigan and too good for it
I think the Pistons will be a solid NIT team next year...
That should be "injured", weird guys and excuses.
I bet when he received the invitation, Tom Crean looked like this
/expect'd
Everytime I see this picture, I come up with another idea of what's going through his head:
"Wait...you mean the Earth travels around the SUN?"
"That chick from Crying Game is a DUDE"?
"There's no Easter Bunny either?"
"This is Indiana, ferBobbysake."
"We're Indiana. We don't play in the CBI." Apparently humble pie isn't going down so well. Some other statements he could make:
"We're Indiana. We wear ugly pants."
"We're Indiana. We don't travel well."
"We're Indiana. We've been embarrassed at better tournaments than the CBI."
"We're Indiana. Our program is wrecked."
Is that Lee Corso in black and white?
Yes. He was the HC at IU.
A friend of mine played linebacker for Corso at IU. He says not only was Corso a complete a-hole to play for, after my friend suffered a serious leg injury, Corso simply cut him and took away his scholarship. He had to transfer to a smaller school in his home state which he could afford.
who went to FSU with Corso's daughter many years ago said he got to know her REALLY well...on a few occasions. Said she was a lot nicer than he was.
I believe UM got to know Corso REALLY well...on a few occasions.
stood at a urinal next to Corso. Said he was really no big deal.
My friend and I met him and Herbie in the Spartan Stadium press box in '97. My friend started giving him shit about something or other and he was a good sport about it. He laughed about it and gave him a smart ass comment back.
"Hey Lee, nice watch you got there."
look who we're talking about. Since they currently employ the one of the most classless coaches in NCAA basketball, it looks like showing class isn't high on their list of priorities.
They wouldn't have to worry about all this if Jeff Meyer hadn't come along and destroyed everything.
I suppose that, as a consolation prize, the Big Ten could go the traditional "Thanks for playing" route and give Tom Crean and Indiana a year's supply of Rice-A-Roni and the board game version of the conference season as well as various other door prizes that will simply be shoved in the front closet when they finally get home from wherever. Somehow, that would be only fitting.
LOL that's pretty funny
did they not get an NIT bid?
Maryland didn't get in either (they were both 17-15). The NIT seemingly wanted to go with high-acheiver mid-majors this year rather than middling teams from power conferences.
Because they weren't good enough? There are a lot of auto bids to the NIT (mid major conference champs who lose their conference tourney) and so they simply weren't selected as an at-large for the NIT based on their body of work. Minny is a 1 seed and Illinois a 2 in the NIT, so lol at Indiana is definitely in order.
Regular season champions who didn't win their conference tournaments and did not make the NCAAs, get an auto bid into the NIT.
There were 13 of those this year. Maryland also did not get in.
.
.
Top 10 KenPom Teams Left Out of NIT
| KenPom | Team | Conf | W-L | |
| 1 | 43 | Maryland | ACC | 17-15 |
| 2 | 62 | Marquette | BE | 17-15 |
| 3 | 72 | Miami YTM | ACC | 17-16 |
| 4 | 74 | Indiana | B1G | 17-15 |
| 5 | 79 | St Mary's | WCC | 22-11 |
| 6 | 80 | Boise St | MWC | 21-13 |
| 7 | 82 | Penn St | B1G | 15-17 |
| 8 | 83 | Middle Tenn | CUSA | 24-9 |
| 9 | 84 | Texas Tech | B12 | 14-18 |
| 10 | 85 | Cleveland St | Horz | 21-11 |
Was robbed!
Because they're a poorly coached bunch of underachievers...plus the coach is an asshole and at this point pretty much everyone knows it including their own fans.
I think most other high level basketball programs would turn down an invitation to the CBI.
I think it's about the way the AD phrased it that is causing the uproar. You're a grown man making millions to represent a big time university. Maybe you should take a second to think before you open your mouth and offend people with your superiority. Turning down the CBI isn't the issue for me. It's the "We are Indiana" stuff.
either last year or the year before.
I'm too lazy to look it up - sorry.
Last year.
Purdue became the first B1G team last year to accept a CBI bid.
Penn State is in it this year. You have to pay to play in the tournament.
Michigan did decline the 2010 CBI invitation.
I didn't really like not getting ready for battle when called upon at the end of the 2009-10 season, but since they didn't accept the invitation, I'll GLADLY take how things have been since 2010-11.
http://www.gazellegroup.com/events/cbi/teams_past.htm
"The CBI provides a meaningful opportunity for teams that are deserving of a postseason experience."
Penn State is participating this year
Yep, and you don't play in the NCAA tournament either.
Enjoy watching from the couch.
or the NIT
Had it not been for all the upsets in the conference tournaments (as well as Indiana's loss to Illinois in the Big Ten tournament), Indiana probably would’ve been playing in the NIT this year. The College Insider Tournament is for the lower level conferences, so Indiana would not have been playing there. That left the CBI for Indiana.
The CBI is organized by the Gazelle Group, a sports marketing firm that runs other college basketball tournaments, including one in which Michigan will participate next season, joining Villanova, VCU and Orgeon in the Legends Classic at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn. (Indiana won the 2012 Legends Classic, beating UCLA in the semis and Georgetown in the finals.) Indiana also participated in the Gazelle Group’s 2K Classic this season, and lost to Connecticut in the championship game at Madison Square Garden in November.
But once you get beyond the 100 teams that are playing in the NCAA and NIT tournaments, the quality of opponents in the other post-season tournaments is not so good that any additional practice sessions and games would translate to success in the following season. So, choosing not to play in the CBI should have little to no impact on Indiana's play next season.
Only three teams in the 16-team 2014 CBI field are from the so-called power conferences – Oregon State, Penn State and Texas A & M. Only three teams from the 16 that played in the 2013 CBI tournament are in the 2014 NCAA tournament – Western Michigan, Tulsa and Texas.
A more tolerable response from Indiana might have been: "We appreciate the invitation and thank the promoters of the CBI Tournament; but our players have decided that they would like to use this time to rest, recover from some injuries and concentrate on their studies." It might've seemed like a complete lie, but it would've been far more palatable than the real response.
It will be interesting to see whether Indiana will be invited to any more early season tournaments organized by the Gazelle Group.
It makes sense for him to turn down the tourney from an administrative and cost stance, but when you limped through a mediocre season, acting like you are "above" playing more basketball is silly. You finished 7-11; you aren't "better" than a bunch of other teams that finished with about the same record from different conferences.
it was meant as a prelude to firing Crean. I don't think that's likely, though.
Tommy clown face, enjoy your last summer as IU head basketball coach.
Hey now...EMU is in the CBI thing this year. I went to the game tonight and it was a sell out by EMU standards. The sad part was that I didn't know about it until I found EMU was going to be in it.
373 people is a sellout by EMU standards? One of the players expressed his displeasure with the turnout on Twitter: 373 People Came to Watch EMU Beat Norfolk State Tuesday Night, Glenn Bryant Isn't Happy
Here's one of his tweets:
We FORSURE got the top 5 worst support in the NCAA, it's almost 30,000 students go to this school smh, y'all at ALL the parties tho
— FLIGHT2⃣3⃣ (@GlennSanity23) March 19, 2014
Well it seemed like more than that. Not by much though. And honestly, I don't blame Glenn for being upset by that.
But I got some cool pictures:
http://eagletotem.net/blog/2014/03/18/eastern-michigan-vs-norfolk-state-pictures/7408/
