Seattle U. hopes to get bid for CBI, CollegeInsider.com tournaments

Seattle University has reserved the room for Tuesday night. Now it's just hoping for an invitation to the party it would like to host.

The Redhawks, in their first season of Division I basketball since 1980, will be as anxious as any other bubble team on Selection Sunday, even if it's not the NCAA tournament or NIT it hopes comes calling.

Instead, the Redhawks are avidly pursuing bids in the two newest postseason tournaments — the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).

Each selects 16 teams and plays its games at home sites.

Seattle U., which went 17-14 this season in its first year under coach Cameron Dollar, has secured KeyArena for a game Tuesday night if either tournament comes calling.

Seattle U. athletic director Bill Hogan has been on the phone all week with representatives of both tournaments, letting them know the Redhawks are not just interested, but enthusiastic, about participating.

"We are on the board for consideration for the two tournaments," Hogan said. "We are anxiously awaiting. But we also realize that there are a lot of other teams that are out there jockeying for position."

In fact, the CIT has already invited George Mason and also has a commitment to take the Great West Conference champ, meaning it's already down to just 14 available slots.

Hogan is stating a case for Seattle U. as having finished with one of the best records among Independents (teams not affiliated with any conference) and also having a potential NBA draft pick in Charles Garcia, who has already announced he will turn pro after this season. He also said the school is promoting the fact that it had attendances of 4,876 and 4,765 in its last two home games. The team also has won eight of its last nine.

Hogan said Seattle U. would be eligible for the NIT — there had been some debate about that since the school isn't eligible for the NCAA tournament until 2013 while making the move to Division I. But he said, realistically, the school's hopes of a postseason rest with the CIT and CBI.

"I think Cameron Dollar deserves it, the team deserves it and the school deserves it," he said. "We just hope one of the tournaments agrees with us."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com