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BYU Basketball: The pros and cons of the CBI

By Adam Gibby

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 12: Basketballs are shown in a ball rack before the championship game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament between the Saint Mary's Gaels and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 12, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Gaels defeated the Bulldogs 60-47. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 12: Basketballs are shown in a ball rack before the championship game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament between the Saint Mary's Gaels and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Orleans Arena on March 12, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Gaels defeated the Bulldogs 60-47. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images)
(Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images) /

The Cons

Have you seen the teams in the CBI from last year? UT Rio Grande Valley, UVU, Mercer, Seattle, Colgate and Canisius were just some of the teams that played in it last year. The most nationally recognized team from the list is probably North Texas from the C-USA.  This isn’t to attack or say those teams are necessarily awful, it just sounds like the kind of games BYU plays in the preseason.

Another con is what if BYU loses a game to a team in the CBI in the first few rounds? This is a perfect example of why good SEC teams tend to avoid playing BYU in football. They are the type of teams that if you beat it’s whatever, but if you lose you look bad and the CBI is full of teams that finish well in their small conferences but don’t win the conference championship in either the tournament or the regular season (they go to the NIT). In other words it is a bunch of second/third place finishing teams from the Southern, Big South, Big Sky and other conferences you have never heard of unless you watch ESPN+.

To play in the CBI teams have to pay. In fact it is a $50,000 fee and it is unclear whether teams also have to cover their travel costs when playing in other gyms. There is very little exposure with the championship series (best of three) being played on ESPNU. The other games may be on ESPN+.

As mentioned before, humility and being humbled is a good thing, but there is also a point of going TOO FAR. Had Rocky decided to go back to the small underground fight club he fought in at the beginning of Rocky I, that would have been too far and would have made him look worse than it actually was. Last year, more recognizable teams like Maryland, VCU and Toledo declined offers to play in the CBI.

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