College basketball postseason tournament shockingly canceled originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The postseason is in full swing in college basketball, with various programs already winning their respective conference tournaments.
The action will continue on Saturday and Sunday with more teams hoping to be the last ones standing. Once Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament championship game concludes, teams will look ahead to the next leg of the postseason, where they’ll receive another chance to compete for titles in tournaments featuring squads from different conferences.
However, a particular postseason tournament has been shockingly canceled.
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, the CBI (College Basketball Invitational) will not be held this year,” the CBI’s official X/Twitter account announced Thursday. “We will see you next year!”
With the CBI non-existent in 2026, the NCAA Tournament, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), and the College Basketball Crown (in its second season) will be the premier post-conference tournament events.
The CBI was created in 2007 and held its first-ever tournament in 2008. Of course, the CBI was canceled in 2020, like every other postseason event, due to the unfortunate pandemic.
For the most part, though, the tournament has been run smoothly since its initial launch, with Illinois State defeating Cleveland State in the latest installment of the CBI.
While high-major programs have competed in the tournament before, it’s always been designed to help low and mid-major schools that missed the Big Dance and NIT get another crack at a late-season championship. Unfortunately, it won’t happen this year.
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