I wonder if Conference USA is helping subsidize the “pay to play” by FIU, Marshall, Southern Miss, and UAB. Was reading a North State Journal piece from a couple of seasons ago about Campbell and UNCA participating in the CBI/CIT and Big South helped in covering the costs.
Anyway see that Mark Gottfried and his 13-20 Cal State Northridge team is in the CBI. Guess when you don’t have to pay your players like he did at NC State, you can afford to buy a postseason experience!
More pay to play! Sorta like “bonus” Bonus Play!
C-USA in the postseason this week:
NCAA Tournament
#14 ODU (26-8) vs #3 Purdue (23-9)
Thursday, March 21 @ 9:50PM
Hartford, CT
CBI Tournament
Southern Miss (20-12) @ Longwood (15-17)
Wednesday, March 20 @ 7PM
Farmville, VA
UAB (20-14) @ Brown (19-11)
Wednesday, March 20 @ 7PM
Providence, RI
CIT Tournament
IUPUI (16-16) @ Marshall (19-14)
Tuesday, March 19 @ 7PM
Huntington, WV
FAU (17-15) @ Charleston Southern (17-15)
Thursday, March 21 @ 7PM
Charleston, SC
FIU (19-13) @ Texas State (24-9)
Saturday, March 23 @ 8PM
San Marcos, TX
Good question. Southern Miss can’t afford sprinkles on their ice cream, so this vanity tournament seems like a bad move if it comes out of their pocket.
How much do these tournaments really cost?
Probably not a coincidence that in the pay to play CBI/CIT, only Marshall among the five from C-USA is hosting a game. The Herd and ODU led the league in home attendance with an average of 6,500+ a game. Not saying that many will turn out for a contest vs the Jaguars, but certainly won’t be an empty arena as it would be Boca Raton or Miami.
Per Wiki - CBI has a $50,000 entrance fee. In the CIT, teams pay $30,000 to host a game.
Rice WBB ran the table (19-0)in CUSA and they get a 12 seed. We have to get out of this league.
Surprised by the #12 seed for the Rice Owls considering their #30 RPI.
Anyway, more postseason for C-USA WBB, including the Niners:
Charlotte WBB must have been the last team selected to the WNIT. Good for them, I guess.
Thanks to Agent49 re: whether or not C-USA subsidizes pay for play:
https://mobile.twitter.com/latechreport/status/1107808169319903232?s=21
Transfers hitting LA Tech too.
CIT - March 19th - Final
Marshall 78
IUPUI 73
C-USA MBB postseason: 1-0
In addition to becoming Marshall’s all time leading scorer last night vs IUPUI, Jon Elmore also broke a C-USA record that had been held by a Niner:
CBI - March 20th - Finals
Longwood 90
Southern Miss 68
Brown 83
UAB 78
C-USA MBB postseason: 1-2
Better fix the team and get out of this terrible conference before anyone notices 