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Akron Zips
Zips try to find silver lining in CBI invite - 05:28 PM
By Tom Gaffney
Beacon Journal sports writer
The NCAA Basketball Championship Selection Show on Sunday on CBS had at least 16 guaranteed nonviewers. That is the number of players on the University of Akron team, which qualified for the tournament last season, but fell just short this season by losing in overtime to Ohio in the Mid-American Conference final on Saturday night. ''I didn't watch a lick of it,'' junior guard Steve McNees said Monday after practice. ''There was no excitement watching it.'' Last March, the UA players, coaches and fans gathered at the Ohio Brewing Co. in downtown Akron to watch the show. A mass celebration broke out when ''Akron'' flashed on the television screen as a No. 13-seed facing fourth-seeded Gonzaga in the first round in Portland, Ore. On Sunday, the players knew Ohio would be the MAC team to celebrate and that one play or basket along the way Saturday night in the 81-75 overtime loss to the Bobcats would have changed their viewing plans. ''I just couldn't stomach watching it,'' senior forward Jimmy Conyers said. ''Knowing we were in it last year and we were so close to being in it again and that it didn't happen, I couldn't watch.'' The disappointment was tempered soon after midnight Sunday when news came that the Zips (24-10) accepted an offer to play in the third annual College Basketball Invitational and have a home game Wednesday night against Wisconsin-Green Bay (21-12). ''The team is dealing all right with the disappointment of losing,'' senior forward Chris McKnight said. ''I think it's good to have another chance to play.'' The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a 16-team tournament run by the Gazelle Group, a sports marketing firm in Princeton, N.J. The group also runs the Legends Classic, an in-season event that included the Zips in 2008-09. It is an acknowledged major step down from the NCAA Tournament and the National Invitation Tournament, in which the Zips played in three of the past four years (NCAA in 2009; NIT in 2006 and 2008). Yet it is a tournament that features quality teams such as defending champion Oregon State, Virginia Commonwealth, Saint Louis, George Washington, Indiana State, Colorado State and Duquesne. ''It is a good tournament. Now it's not as good as the NCAA and NIT, but there are some good teams in it,'' said UA coach Keith Dambrot, whose team battled Gonzaga in the 2009 NCAA Tournament before faltering late in a 77-64 loss. ''We are approaching it as another test for our program.'' Dambrot emphasized that only 129 of the 347 Division I men's basketball programs in the country have a chance to compete in the postseason. There are 65 teams in the NCAA, 32 in the NIT, 16 in the CBI and 16 in the College Insider Tournament. ''This is not like going to a football bowl game at 6-6,'' Dambrot said. ''You're talking about teams that have good records. . .in this event and the others.'' The Zips' CBI opponent, Wisconsin-Green Bay, finished third in the Horizon League at 11-7, behind only Butler (18-0) and Wright State (12-6). The Phoenix lost in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament to Detroit 62-53. Two of their biggest victories of the season came at Kent State, 87-86 on Nov. 15, and at home against then-No. 20 Wisconsin 88-84 in overtime on Dec. 9. The winner of the Zips-Phoenix game will advance to the second round on March 22 against the Saint Louis-Indiana State winner. After that, the field of four will be rebracketed for games on March 24. The best-of-three finals will be held March 29, March 31 and April 2 (if necessary). Ticket prices, which are set by the university, are $20 (lower reserve), $15 (upper reserve), $10 (adult general admission) and $5 (youth general admission and university faculty and staff). UA students can get in free with a Zipcard.
Tom Gaffney can be reached at tgaffney@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the story>>
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