Jim Hayford prophesized his team would play again. Don Verlin thought his Vandals were good enough to continue their season. Travis DeCuire said he would let his players decide.
By Sunday evening, Hayford’s Eastern Washington Eagles, Verlin’s Idaho Vandals and DeCuire’s Montana Grizzlies all accepted bids to the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), ensuring each of their seasons would continue after last week’s Big Sky Tournament in Reno.
EWU forward Venky Jois
On Wednesday, Eastern Washington will host Pepperdine at 6 p.m. PST in Cheney, Washington. Montana will play at Nevada in Reno at 7 p.m. PST. Idaho will play Seattle University at the Connolly Center by Squire Park in the Emerald City at 7 p.m. PST.
The CBI first came about in 2007 as a third tournament for teams that don’t get into the 68-team NCAA or 64-team National Invitational Tournament fields. The tournament is a single elimination tournament until the best of three championship round. All games are played at qualifying teams’ home courts. EWU and Idaho have never played in the CBI. Montana played in the tournament in 2011, losing to Duquesne in Missoula. All games are played at campus sites. The final four teams will be rebracketed. The semifinals begin on March 23.
Following his team’s 77-73 loss to Idaho in the Big Sky Tournament quarterfinals, Hayford said confidently that his team would continue its season. He said his team would accept any postseason invite it received. The Eagles got their wish and will host at least one more game at Reese Court. EWU went 10-2 at home this season, including winning 10 straight games on their home court. Eastern is 18-16 overall.
“What I’m really excited about is we are going to get to play another game,” Hayford said following the official end of his team’s reign as BSC Tournament champions officially ended. “We had a great season and we will continuing playing basketball.”
Eastern takes on Pepperdine, an 18-13 squad that posted a 10-8 mark in the West Coast Conference. The Waves lost in the semifinals of the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas to Saint Mary’s last week. They are 6-7 away from Malibu, California.
More than the draw, Hayford is excited that his star senior Venky Jois, the Eagles’ all-time leading scorer with nearly 1,800 points in his career, will get a chance to play at home one last time.
EWU forward Venky Jois
“The all-time leading scorer (Jois) in Eastern Washington history gets to play one more time at Reese Court so that’s great,” Hayford said. “I get to coach him another day and his teammates get to put uniforms on with him another day. That right there matters a lot.”
Jois is one of five Australian players on the Eagles’ roster. He and Tyler Harvey, the nation’s leading scorer who left early for the NBA following a standout junior season last winter, helped Hayford resurrect the Eastern Washington program. Jois was the Big Sky Freshman of the Year and a two-time first-team All-Big Sky selection.
“What Venky has done is he has come and given his life to is turning this program around,” Hayford said. “ When we got here as a coaching staff five years ago, 10 of the last 12 guys who had my job got fired and they probably knew more about basketball than I do. We decided we were going to build on a group of guys and turn it around and this is the two best back-to-back seasons that Eastern has had at the Division I level.”
The post-season appearance will be the fourth overall for Eastern Washington and the second under Hayford. EWU advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history last season, Hayford’s fourth at the helm. EWU played in the in the NIT in 2003 and the NCAA Tournament in 2004, Ray Giacoletti’s last two seasons in Cheney.
A night after eliminating EWU and winning its 22nd game, Idaho put forth a strong effort before falling to Montana, 81-72. The Griz converted 11 of their final 13 field goals to hold off Idaho’s late charge. Junior Perrion Callandret scored 16 of Idaho’s final 20 points and fished with 25 points but it was not enough for the Vandals.
Idaho guard Perrion Callandret
Verlin expressed confidence his team would receive some sort of postseason bid following the loss. The 20-win season was Idaho’s first since 1993. UI plays a Seattle team that posted a 7-7 record this season in the Western Athletic Conference, Idaho’s former league. Seattle U is 14-16 this season, including 10-7 at home.
“We will get to play somewhere I’m sure,” Idaho’s seventh-year head coach said after the loss to Montana
Sophomore Victor Sanders continued to build prominence as one of the Big Sky’s best players last week. He earned All-Tournament honors for his two-way play and brash style. Callandret also emerged as a star as Idaho went to the BSC final four a year after going 13-17 and losing in the first round.
“This group has a lot of character,” Verlin said after the loss to Montana. “It’s always frustrating when you lose. But when you look at the body of work that this basketball team did and the character they showed all year long, it’s second to none.”
The CBI bid will be Verlin’s fourth post-season appearance as Idaho’s head coach. The Vandals played in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2009, 2011 and 2012.
Montana failed to earn its 10th trip to the Big Dance, losing in the final for the second straight season. In DeCuire’s first year at the helm last winter, the Griz won the Big Sky regular-season title and hosted the last non-neutral court Big Sky Tournament. In April, the league decided to move to a neutral site and bring all 12 men’s and women’s teams.
UM guard Walter Wright
In Reno, Montana faced teams in Sacramento State and Idaho, two teams that had handed the Grizzlies losses during the conference season, denying UM of a second straight league banner, which would’ve been the 10th in school history.
Montana’s nearly flawless execution against Idaho gave UM a shot at advancing to the Big Dance. The Griz have long been the thorn in the side of Weber State head coach Randy Rahey. WSU’s head man has advanced to the Big Sky title game on six occasions following this season’s appearance. Saturday, he played Montana with a ticket to March Madness on the line for the fourth time. He defeated Montana to extend his season for the first time in four tries.
“I’m really glad for these guys to get a chance to celebrate,” Rahe said after his team’s 62-59 win over UM in the championship.
First-team All-Big Sky forward Martin Breunig is Montana’s lone senior. Following the championship game loss, DeCuire said he would leave it up to his players whether the 23-12 Griz would accept a post-season bid.
“The team is going to decide that,” DeCuire said. “That’s not my decision. I think they need to come together and have a team meeting and decide whether they want to put another week or two or three into committing into the way they committed for this. It’s a separate season and I’ve seen a lot of teams go flat because they didn’t reach their No. 1 goal.
UM forward Martin Breunig
“I’d like to see this team go out and compete for Martin because he’s the one who doesn’t have that opportunity again.”
During a hellacious trip home from Reno — the Grizzlies’ flight home from Reno was delayed three hours due to wind, then had to be grounded in Salt Lake City, where the team got on a bus and drove home to Missoula — UM accepted a bid to return to the Biggest Little City in the World.
Montana will play the hometown Wolfpack, the fifth-place team out of the Mountain West. Former Sacramento Kings head coach Eric Musselman led the Wolfpack to a 19-13 record in his first season, a 10-game turnaround from last winter.
Montana and Eastern Washington are on the same side of the bracket and would play in the second round if each team won. Two wins and Montana and Idaho would have a rematch in the CBI semfinals.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
