Great West Conference Men’s Basketball Champion to Participate in CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

Sept. 29, 2009

BOSTON, MA - CollegeInsider.com, a nationally recognized website, is proud to announce a newly formed partnership with the Great West Conference which grants an automatic qualifier bid to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Great West men’s basketball conference tournament champion will automatically be placed amongst the field of 16 teams participating in the CIT.

The agreement makes the CIT the first postseason college basketball tournament outside the NCAA tournament to agree to an automatic qualifier to any NCAA conference.

“We are very appreciative to CollegeInsider.com to be offered the opportunity for our men's basketball tournament champion to extend their season into post-season play,” said Ed Grom, Commissioner of the Great West Conference. “ We started this all-sport conference to provide student-athletes the opportunity to play for conference championships. As independent institutions, there was no carrot at the end of the season for their student-athletes to reach for. They now have not only a conference championship to play for, but also inclusion into a quality post-season basketball tournament such as the CollegeInsider.com event.”

The CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT), which was played for the first time in March of 2009, features 16 teams not participating in the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship or the National Invitational Tournament. The tournament is single elimination and consists of five rounds, all being played at on-campus sites, which will be determined by seeding.

The seven basketball playing league members of the Great West that will be vying for the bid include: Chicago State University, Houston Baptist University, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), University of North Dakota, University of South Dakota, University of Texas-Pan American and Utah Valley University.

"I think it's exciting for every school in the Great West to have a chance for post-season play,” said Dick Hunsaker, head men’s basketball coach at Utah Valley. “It's a wonderful reward for the conference tournament winner. There is no question this should generate a great deal of excitement for our fans across the conference and provide a boost to the meaning of our post-season tournament. We've had a long wait for the opportunity to earn a berth in post-season play. The CollegeInsider.com event last year had a quality field and I look for the same this coming year."

The field for the 2010 CIT will be announced on Sunday March 14, following the announcement of the fields for both the NCAA and NIT. First round action will begin on March 16. The championship game, which will be televised nationally on Fox College Sports, will be played on March 30.

Old Dominion defeated Bradley (in Peoria, Illinois) to win the inaugural CIT.