Paladins accept bid to CIT tournament

The Furman men’s basketball team has accepted a bid to play in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) for the second straight year, it was announced on Friday by Furman Athletics Director Mike Buddie.

The Paladins will play on the road in this season’s CIT, which opens with first round games on March 13-15. Furman’s first round opponent, location and game time, along with the complete CIT field, will be announced at the end of the weekend.

The Paladins, who are 21-11 overall and claimed a share of their first Southern Conference regular season title in 26 years with a 14-4 league mark, will be playing in their third CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and 10th postseason tournament overall. Furman earned five NCAA Tournament bids during the 1970’s and made the program’s sixth and most recent NCAA trip in 1980. In 1991, the Paladins captured a share of the Southern Conference regular season title before earning a bid to the NIT. Furman dropped a 76-63 decision at ETSU in its first CIT appearance during the 2011 campaign.

Last season, Furman earned its first postseason victory in 40 years when it topped Louisiana Monroe, 58-57, in the opening round of the CIT at Timmons Arena on Daniel Fowler’s buzzer-beating putback before falling to Louisiana Lafayette, 80-72, in the second round.

The 32-team CIT field is made up of non-Power 5 programs, not selected to participate in the NCAA or NIT (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-12 and SEC teams are not considered). All 31 games are played on campus sites. In an effort to minimize travel and limit missed class time, the CIT uses the old NIT model, with future round opponents determined by results of the previous round, ensuring geographic stability. The 2009 and 2010 tournaments were contested by 16 teams. The 2011 CIT consisted of 24 teams and the field expanded to its current 32-team format in 2012.

2017 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Schedule

First Round

March 13-15

Second Round

March 17-20

Quarterfinals

March 23-26

Semifinals

March 29 (CBS Sports Network)

Championship

March 31 (CBS Sports Network)

Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information