Playing the Waiting Game

After its 68-63 loss to Montana in the Big Sky semifinals, the Northern Colorado men’s basketball team’s future is up in the air.

UNC will not advance to the NCAA Tournament, but is waiting on word from college basketball’s three other postseason tournaments.

A berth in the NIT would be preferable, but there are obstacles. Weber State, the conference’s regular season champion, receives an automatic berth to the NIT and the tournament is unlikely to take two Big Sky teams.

More likely destinations for UNC are the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).

The CBI was founded in 2008 by The Gazelle Group, Bradley won the CBI in its inaugural year and UTEP won last season. The CBI is unique as it does not end with a championship game, but a best-of-three championship series.

The CIT was set up last season by CollegeInsider.com exclusively for mid-major teams. The champion of the Great West Conference receives an automatic bid to the CIT, as the league does not yet receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Old Dominion won last year’s inaugural CIT, and the Monarchs are headed to this year’s NCAA tourney.

The Bears will find out their fate when all three tournaments announce their fields Sunday night.