CBI: More March Madness

Selection Sunday, a phrase which now seems to merit capital letters, is 25 days away. And for those inevitably jilted outfits on March 16, we have some good news: No matter how bad your RPI, no matter that you've finished 2-8, no matter about that loss to Wofford, you may still be coveted — twice, even.

To put it the way the NFL might: Are you ready for some (more) basketball?

There's a new tournament on the scene: the 16-team College Basketball Invitational. And it could well involve a team like Washington.

The fledgling CBI is being run by the Gazelle Group of New Jersey, whose Web site says it "creates, represents and consults across sports, entertainment and cultural activities." It put together the College Hoops Classic (the preseason Coaches Versus Cancer event climaxing in New York) and the CBE Classic in Kansas City won by UCLA.

Here's the most fetching part about the new event: It will actually battle with the august old NIT for teams.

"Although I don't think we'll compete with the NIT for every team, I think we'll compete on a handful of teams," Rick Giles, president of the Gazelle Group, said Tuesday. "A school might get two invitations, just like you get invited to two parties on a Saturday night."

You might try to drop in on two parties, but for this, teams will have to choose. If they pick the CBI, they'll be part of a seeded, four-region format, with seeds Nos. 1 and 2 in each hosting games. Teams will be reseeded for the semifinals, and the finalists will be in a best two-of-three series.

No TV contract has been announced. Giles says, "We hope we're in the process of finalizing that."

Why another tournament? Giles says the 32-team NIT's requirement of taking regular-season champions that don't win their league tournament has slimmed down its choices, and parity means some worthy teams are getting left out. Last year, Washington went 19-13 and was snubbed by the NIT.

"The comparison is, more than half of Division I in football plays in the postseason," Giles says.

No doubt the Pac-10 figures into this. The league figures to get no more than five or six NCAA bids, which will leave several for the NIT and CBI to fight over. That might include the Huskies (14-12, 5-8), or a team like California (15-9, 6-7).

Asked about the new third tournament, Cal coach Ben Braun said Tuesday with a laugh, "There'll probably be a fourth and a fifth. I'll say this: I think it's great. Half the teams in football can be .500 and go to a bowl. Why would you want to exclude teams?

"I've heard coaches say they'd decline it. Why would you decline? I think every coach and every player would like to extend their season in March."

There's no requirement of a winning record for the CBI tourney. The Huskies could, in theory, thus go 2-3 down the stretch, lose their opener in the Pac-10 tournament and still be eligible at 16-16.

Beaver Brilliance

Given that Oregon State has a school-record 15-game losing streak, it was going to take something of off-the-charts magnitude — or stupidity — to shine the spotlight on the Beavers.

Against all odds, they came through. The Marcel Jones-Sean Carter-led verbal challenge to Washington last week might have been the most over-the-top, off-the-court slice of boys gone bad in Pac-10 history. It included a parking-lot challenge — mandatory eight-count, presumably — at the UW team hotel.

UW coach Lorenzo Romar says he considers it a dead issue. But Tuesday, OSU coach Kevin Mouton seemed to backtrack some from his Saturday comments, when he said it was just "jibber-jabber" and media-overblown.

"There will be some disciplinary actions taken," said Mouton. "As far as going back and forth with the opposing team, you don't do that."

The Beavers next play UCLA, so the proper penalty might be leaving the offenders out there 40 minutes.

Rim Shots

• Cal just made it 30 straight years of never having swept the Arizona road trip.

• UCLA coach Ben Howland has all but conceded the Bruins will redshirt guard Michael Roll, who has a torn plantar fascia. Roll could have helped the Bruins, who are 7 for 44 (.159) in their last three games shooting the three.

• Kevin O'Neill, the Arizona coach, has vast NBA experience and gives some pause to those on the fence about an early move to the league: "It's a lot lonelier existence than people think," he told reporters in Tucson. "There's no more team meals and 'Rah-rah-rah, let's go to a frat party.' You're on your own, not only physically but emotionally." As for the physical part, he cautioned, "Ben Wallace isn't going to let Brook [Lopez] get a lob over the top, I can assure you that."

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com