After a stellar postseason run to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game, the Arkansas State men’s basketball team is set for its first postseason tournament since 1999, accepting an invitation to the Ro College Basketball Invitational (Ro CBI).
The Red Wolves (18-16) are seeded fourth in the 15-team field and will face Bethune-Cookman in their opening-round game at noon CT on Saturday, March 23, at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla. The tournament runs from March 23-27, and the first two rounds of games will be streamed live on FloSports, with the semifinals and finals to be carried nationally on ESPN2.
Saturday’s meeting against the 13th-seeded Wildcats (17-16) will be the first in program history, and mark A-State’s first postseason appearance since the 1999 NCAA Tournament. It is also just the third postseason tournament for the program since 1990.
A-State has won 18 games under first-year head coach Bryan Hodgson – one of five Division-I head coaches this year to lead a team to the conference final in their first season as a head coach. The Red Wolves have won their most games since 2016-17 and finished fourth in the conference standings after being picked ninth and battling multiple injuries throughout the campaign.
The CBI Format
The current CBI format features 15 mid-major basketball teams playing in a single-elimination tournament across five days. The first round will be held on both March 23 and 24, with the quarterfinals on March 25, followed by the semifinals on March 26 and the championship on March 27.
All 14 games will be played inside the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, with broadcasts handled by FloSports and ESPN2.
