College Basketball Experience adopts new format

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College Basketball Experience adopts new format

by Mike Waters Wednesday April 23, 2008, 1:10 PM


Syracuse University will serve as one of four host schools for the College Basketball Experience next November.
In recent years, the CBE (or the Guardians Classic as it was formerly known) was a 16-team tournament with first- and second-round games played at four different campus sites with the four winners moving on to the semifinals in Kansas City.
Rick Giles, the CEO of the Gazelle Group which organizes the CBE and several other early season tournaments, said the 2008 CBE will look a little different.
The CBE will consist of just 12 teams. The four host schools, including Syracuse, will advance to Kansas City regardless of how they fare in their first two games. The other three host schools will be Florida, Kansas and Washington.
For example, Syracuse will serve as a host school. The Orange will play two pre-determined opponents at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse can go 2-0, 1-1 or 0-2, but the Orange will go and face one of the other four host schools in the semifinals in Kansas City.
The eight schools in the CBE that aren't host schools will go on to play two separate 4-team events at sites to be determined. The idea is instead of St. Joseph's or Siena coming to Syracuse, each going 1-1 and not advancing to the semifinals, every team in the tournament will be guaranteed four games.
Dates for the first round of games aren't set yet, but expected to be played between Nov. 14 and 20. The semifinals and finals in Kansas City will be played on Nov. 24-25.
So if you're a Syracuse fan living in or near Kansas City, you don't have to wait and see if the Orange can avoid an early upset at home before making plans to see Syracuse next November.
Mike Waters
mwaters@syracuse.com