For the second straight season, the Green Bay Phoenix (21-12) will play in the postseason, as the school accepted an opportunity to play in the 16-team College Basketball Invitational on Sunday evening. The Phoenix will play at the Akron Zips (24-10) on Wednesday night in the first round of the event.
Akron, a member of the Mid-American Conference, fell to Ohio (81-75) in overtime of the MAC Championship game on Saturday night. The Zips went 12-4 in the league during the regular season. Green Bay is 4-3 all time against Akron, but the teams have not met since 1992.
The Phoenix also played in the 2009 College Basketball Invitational, a tournament now in its third year. Green Bay dropped its opening-round game to Vermont by a 76-72 final score at the Resch Center.
This marks the first time the school has reached the postseason in consecutive years since it advanced to three straight NCAA Tournaments from 1994-96. It is the eighth postseason berth (4 NCAA, 2 NIT, 2 CBI) for the Phoenix since becoming a Division I program in 1981-82.
The CBI features eight first-round games on Tuesday and Wednesday. All quarterfinal contests will be played on Monday, March 24, with the semifinals to follow two days later. The final two teams will play a Best-of-3 Championship Series with games on March 29 and 31 and April 2.
Release courtesy of Green Bay Sports Information.