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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Selection Sunday


Greetings from the Trentonian newsroom, where my day job is preventing me from doing as much blogging I'd like on this important day in college hoops.

The NCAA Selection Show is at 6 p.m., with the NTI brackets to be unveiled shortly after and the CBI and CollegeInsider brackets to come after that.

First, we'll see where Siena is headed and as what seed. I'm hoping the committee will put the Saints in Philadelphia and I'll be able to make the short drive down 95 to see them play. Most projections have them as a 10 seed, but a 9 is certainly possible.

NITology.com has Niagara listed as a 6 seed in the NIT and Fairfield as a likely CBI or CIT team. Rider isn't listed, but the Broncs are expecting to be invited by at least one of the two sub-NIT tournaments.

It'll be interesting to see how the CBI field looks compared to the CIT field. The CBI, like last year, is requiring a $60,000 check from teams hosting first-round games, while the CIT is asking for only $28,500.

Why the difference? Essentially, because the Princeton-based Gazelle Group, which runs the CBI, is looking to turn a big profit. The CollegeInsider folks are looking to cover their expenses and put on a good tournament, which I think they'll get.

We'll probably see at least a few mediocre BCS conference teams like Seton Hall (who might be willing to fork over $60K) in the CBI, and a lot of mid-majors with RPIs near 100 in the CIT.

Last year, the CBI bracket wasn't released until well after midnight. With the adition of the CIT this year, we could be waiting until 2 or 3 a.m. before the entire postseason field is clear.

Fortunately, I should be done with print newspaper work by around midnight, and I'll turn my attention to brackets after that.

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