Butler To Play In The College Basketball Invitational

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- The 2011-12 Butler men’s basketball season will continue.  The Bulldogs will host Delaware at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday, March 14, at 8 p.m. (ET) in the 2012 College Basketball Invitational presented by Zebra Pen.

The Bulldogs, who will be competing in the young CBI for the first time, saw their streak of consecutive years in postseason tournament play extended to seven straight with this year’s bid.  Butler, which made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division I national championship game in the past two years, has advanced to postseason tournament play in 14 of the past 16 years.

Butler is coming off its seventh consecutive 20-win season.  The Bulldogs, who won eight of their final 11 games, finished in a tie for third place in the Horizon League regular season race and then advanced to the semifinals of the league tournament, before falling at top-seeded Valparaiso.  Butler’s non-league schedule included wins over postseason teams Purdue, Stanford and Indiana State.

Delaware finished fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association this season with a 12-6 conference record and an 18-13 overall mark.  The Blue Hens had a nine-game winning streak snapped with a loss to Old Dominion in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament.

The CBI presented by Zebra Pen, entering its fifth year, consists of 16 teams competing for a national championship.  Two of the eight first round games will be played on Tuesday, March 13, with the remaining first round contests scheduled for Wednesday.  The quarterfinal round will be held on Monday, March 19, with the semifinals set for Wednesday, March 21.  A unique feature of the CBI is its best-of-three Championship Series, which begins on Monday March 26.  All games in the CBI are played on campus sites.

Oregon defeated Creighton, 2-1, in the Championship Series of last year’s CBI, while VCU topped Saint Louis in two games in the 2010 tournament.  VCU followed its CBI title with a trip to last year’s NCAA Final Four.

Tickets for Butler’s first round game in the CBI will go on sale on Monday (March 12) beginning at noon at the Hinkle Fieldhouse Ticket Office and online at TicketMaster.com.  Lower level seats will be $25, middle level will be $15 and upper level will be $10.  Youth middle or upper level tickets will be $5.  The Hinkle Fieldhouse Ticket Office will be open until 7 p.m. on Monday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and beginning at 10 a.m. on game day.

To purchase tickets online, click here.