IRVING, Texas - North Texas has accepted an invitation to play in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). The Mean Green will travel to play a first round matchup at South Dakota on Wednesday, March 14, in Vermillion, South Dakota. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT in Sanford Coyote Sports Center. 

CBI Bracket

The bid to play in the CBI marks the fourth appearance in a postseason tournament for North Texas. The last appearance came in 2010, when the Mean Green went to the NCAA Tournament and lost in the first round to Kansas State, 82-62. In other postseason berths, North Texas lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2007 to Memphis, 73-58, and lost an NCAA Tournament game in 1988 to North Carolina, 83-65. 

North Texas went 15-17 on the season and finished seventh in Conference USA, its highest-ever finish. 

The CBI, which began in 2008 and is celebrating its 11th year, is a single-elimination tournament up until the Championship Series, with all games played at campus sites, providing fans the opportunity to follow and support their team. The event features eight first-round games, four quarterfinal round games, a semifinal round, and then a best-of-three Championship Series. The 16-team field consists of teams not selected for the NCAA Tournament. Teams are invited based upon performance during their conference and non-conference schedules.

Past CBI champions include Tulsa, Oregon State, VCU, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Santa Clara, Siena, Loyola Chicago, Nevada, and Wyoming. Teams from nearly every conference have participated in the event since 2008. 28 teams have used the CBI to springboard to the NCAA Tournament the following year, while another 18 have gone on to the NIT.