Click here for 2010 CBI bracket!
Click here for the official CBI web site!
RICHMOND, Ky. – Behind the effort of a 20-win season, the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team has earned a berth in the 2010 College Basketball Invitational. The Colonels will host College of Charleston on March 17 at 7 p.m.
This is the third postseason appearance for the Colonels (20-12) in the past six years. EKU set a program single season record by winning 15 home games this winter. The Colonels rank among the top teams nationally in both three-point shooting and three-pointers made per game. Senior
Josh Taylor, a second team All-OVC pick, helped Eastern finish in a tie for third place in the 2009-10 Ohio Valley Conference standings (11-7).
Charleston is in the CBI for the second time in as many seasons. The Cougars finished the regular season with a 21-11 overall record and a 14-4 mark in the Southern Conference. College of Charleston has won five of its last seven games overall, but fell to Appalachian State, 77-54, in the SoCon tournament semifinals.
If the Colonels win Wednesday, they will face the winner of George Washington and VCU on Monday, March 22.
The College Basketball Invitational, which is in its third year of competition, features 16 teams in a postseason tournament that were not selected to the NCAA tournament. Teams are invited based upon their performance during their conference and non-conference schedule, as well as how well the team played at the end of the regular season.
The event features eight first-round games, four second-round games, a semifinal round and then a best-of-three championship series. Bracketing is done geographically into four regions of the country (East, West, South, Midwest) to minimize missed class time. Brackets are balanced competitively within each region.
Oregon State won the 2009 CBI title as the Beavers won game three of the championship series over UTEP, 81-73.
TICKET INFORMATION: The EKU ticket office will begin taking ticket reservations for the game beginning Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. Tickets will then be available for pick up through the ticket office beginning at noon on Monday.
EKU season ticket holders will have rights to their seats but must contact the ticket office by noon on Tuesday or the seats will be released for sale. Ticket prices will be as follows – $10 lower chair back, $8 upper chair back, $5 general admission, $3 for College of Charleston students (with a student ID), and
FREE for EKU students (with a student ID). To purchase tickets, stop by the EKU ticket office between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., or call 859-622-2122.