The Drake men's basketball team has accepted an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational held March 19-23 in Daytona Beach, Fla. The top-seeded Bulldogs will play No. 16 seed Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday, March 19 at 11 a.m.
The CBI suggests the first four first-round games on March 19, with the remaining four opening-round games on March 20. The quarter-final round is on March 21, followed by the semi-final round on March 22. The championship game takes place on 23 March.
Prior to 2021, the CBI consisted of a 16-team field with games to be played on campus sites. Once the tournament was down to two teams, a best-of-three series was played, moving between two home complexes, to determine the champion. The 2020 CBI was canceled due to the pandemic, but returned in 2021 with eight teams playing a single-elimination tournament at Daytona Beach, with Pepperdine winning with an 84-61 decision over Coastal Carolina. This year, CBI has fielded 16 teams seeded 1-16 for the first time, and it will retain the single-elimination format introduced last year.
Flow Sports will broadcast the first three days of the tournament and ESPN2 will broadcast the semifinals and championship game.
UNI Men: Northern Iowa will make its second appearance in the men's national invitational tournament as the Panthers travel to St. Louis to play St. Louis University at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN+).
Wednesday's winner will play either BYU or Long Beach State in the second round.