Business as Usual…Hardly!
Ah yes. Here we are finally…the postseason and the plethora of tournaments.
The NCAAs, the NIT… Wait one… Where’s the CBI, the CIT? Huh? Only 3 postseason tourneys this year (incl the CBC)? What’s up with that? Only 108 possible Div 1 postseason bids.
- Postseason college basketball tournament bids:
- 2026 – NCAA (68), NIT (32), CBC (8) 108 bids
- 2025 – NCAA (68), NIT (32), CBI (16), CBC (16) 132 total bids
- 2024 – NCAA (68), NIT (32), CBI (16), CIT (16) 132 total bids
The College Basketball Invitational – CBI (2008-2025), with its’ 16-team format, cancelled this season (2026) due to declining (fee-based) participation. Only 14 teams entered in 2024 and 11 teams in 2025.
The College Insider Tournament – CIT (2009 -2024), a 16-team format, discontinued after a 9-team field in 2024. Revival plans were planned but did not materialize.
The College Basketball Crown tourney – CBC (2025), initially a 16-team format in 2025, has cut participation down to eight teams for 2026.
NCAA bids are where the money is. 31 Automatic (conf champ) bids, 37 At-large bids.
Who’s participating?
- P4 teams are claiming 35 (51.5%) of 68 NCAA bids, 46 (42.5%) of 108 total postseason bids.
- NCAAs: P4 teams – 35 (4 Auto bids, 31 At-large bids) Other – 33 (27 Auto bids, 6 At-large bids)
- NIT (NCAA owned): P4 teams – 4 (12.5%) , other – 28.
- Two P-4 teams (Indiana & VT) and 3 other teams (Belmont, SDSU, & Seton Hall) declined NIT bids.
- CBC: P4 teams – 7 (87.5%) (B12-3, B1G-2, SEC-1, ACC-1), Other – 1.
It is doubtful the the CBC tourney will endure permanently. Both NCAA owned tournaments will continue, most probably evolving into a haves and have nots situation. NCAA tourney for the haves and an expanded NIT for the rest. Unless of course the P4 does a, football-driven, total breakaway from the NCAA. In that scenario, the BE/WCC teams become the Big Dogs of a new, more ‘inclusive’ NCAA Tourney. All 68 Div 1 bids going to the 27 non-P4 conferences.
Some Alternatives: Relegating conferences to open up more NCAA Tourney Bids.
- Alternative #1 – is to move all Football Championship Subdivision conferences to Div. 1AA, 146 schools, with separate tourneys for national championships. An expanded NIT as the Div 1AA hoops championship. This is inclusive of approximately 14 conferences.
- Alt #2 – move all non-football conferences to Div 1AA, 145 schools, again with separate Alt #1 tourneys. This alternative is inclusive of approximately 13 conferences, including the Big East, MVC, WAC, & WCC. Perhaps exemptions for members of the BE and WCC to the NCAA Hoops Tourney? Perhaps not?
- Alt #3 – Move both FCS and non-football schools, 291 of them & their respective conferences, into Div1AA.
Jim Harvey a,k.a gtmoBlue
Note: 2025-26 is the 2nd time in 3 seasons in which the Big East has only placed 3 teams in the NCAA Tourney. The conference has avg’d 4.83 NCAA Bids a season since the reformatiion of 2013-14. Seton Hall, #4 in the BE at 21-12/10-10 was snubbed by the NCAA Selection committee. Hmmm?
Bluenotes 