The 2025 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was a single-elimination, fully-bracketed men's college basketball postseason tournament featuring eleven National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams not selected to participate in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament (NCAA), the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), or the College Basketball Crown (CBC).
The 17th edition of the tournament commenced on March 22, and concluded on March 26. All games were played at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, with the first and quarterfinal rounds streamed on FloCollege, the semifinal round telecast on ESPNU and the final telecast on ESPN2.
Illinois State defeated Cleveland State in the final by a score of 79–68 to claim their first NCAA Division I postseason title. The all-tournament team consisted of Ty Pence (Illinois State), Jordan Pyke (Incarnate Word), Jalen Rucker (Army), Tahj Staveskie (Cleveland State) and Chase Walker (Illinois State), with Walker also being named the most valuable player.
Participating teams Accepted bids TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLastbidArmyPatriot2nd2021Cleveland StateHorizon3rd2024ElonCoastal1st—Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun1st—Illinois StateMissouri Valley2nd2014Incarnate WordSouthland1st—JacksonvilleAtlantic Sun1st—ManhattanMetro Atlantic1st—Northern ArizonaBig Sky1st—PresbyterianBig South2nd2024QueensAtlantic Sun1st— Note: Team records are as of the end of the regular season and prior to the beginning of the tournament.
Returned bids TeamConferenceRecordAppearanceLastbidUC RiversideBig West1st—
Field synopsis
Rankings, ratings and records were through March 16, 2025 Selection Sunday and prior to any additional post-season activity. This also includes a "KNIT" score, which is leveraged as a criteria and evaluation tool for the National Invitation Tournament selection committee; it is the average of the following seven metrics:
BTR: Bart Torvik "T-Rank" Ranking BPI: ESPN Basketball Power Index KPR: Ken Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings (aka "KenPom") KPI: Kevin Pauga Index NET: NCAA Evaluation Tool SOR: Strength Of Record, as calculated by ESPN WAB: Wins Above Bubble, as calculated by Bart Torvik
The operators of the CBI have not publicly disclosed the criteria used to select participating teams. It is unknown whether one, some, all or none of the metrics mentioned above were considered in deciding which teams to invite. KNITSchoolConferenceConferenceplaceConferenceW–LDivisionIW–LOverallW–LBTRBPIKPRKPINETSORWABRoadW–LNeutralW–LHomeW–LQuad1W–LQuad2W–LQuad3W–LQuad4W–LNonD-IW–L136Illinois StateMissouri ValleyT–5th131124140123121155164163Cleveland StateHorizonT–2nd173170168150174157154175JacksonvilleAtlantic SunT–4th190225179172181167152182Florida Gulf CoastAtlantic Sun3rd165178172176173276186185Queens *Atlantic Sun6th192231203188199183171213ElonCoastalT–9th228208197208184276219242ManhattanMetro AtlanticT–4th259264236242243276197247PresbyterianBig SouthT–5th256226231258240276281248Incarnate WordSouthlandT–7th245258248257249276237252Northern ArizonaBig SkyT–6th247248247277248276235295ArmyPatriotT–3rd312301324286307276231213Average5th218221185212211236202* Ineligible for NCAA-sponsored postseason play, including the NCAA tournament and the NIT, due to being within reclassification period for transition from NCAA Division II
Schedule GameTimeMatchupScoreBoxscoreAttendanceTelevisionFirst round – Sunday, March 23112:00 pmManhattan vs. Incarnate Word832FloCollege22:00 pmElon vs. Army34:30 pmQueens vs. Northern Arizona46:30 pmIllinois State vs. PresbyterianQuarterfinals – Monday, March 24512:00 pmJacksonville vs. Incarnate Word 611FloCollege62:00 pmFlorida Gulf Coast vs. Army74:00 pmCleveland State vs. QueensSemifinals – Tuesday, March 2587:00 pmIllinois State vs. Incarnate Word632ESPNU99:00 pmFlorida Gulf Coast vs. Cleveland StateFinal – Wednesday, March 26105:00 pmIllinois State vs. Cleveland State541ESPN2Game times are Eastern Daylight Time
Bracket
Game summaries First round
Quarterfinal round
Semifinal round
Final round
See also 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament 2025 National Invitation Tournament 2025 College Basketball Crown
References