Wednesday, March 19th, 7:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Carver Arena (11,300) -- Peoria, Illinois. Television: FSC. CBI Record: Cincinnati 0-0, Bradley 0-0. Series Record: Cincinnati leads, 19-13.

GAME NOTES: The Cincinnati Bearcats and the Bradley Braves continue their campaigns tonight, as they duel in the first round of the inaugural postseason College Basketball Invitational (CBI). The winner of this game will move on to face either Ohio University or Brown in the Midwest Regional finals. For those who aren't familiar with this tourney, the CBI is a 16-team event that is broken down into four regions. This tourney is single-elimination, except for the championship, which will be a best-of-three format. Cincinnati is certainly lucky to have a tourney like this, as their 13-18 overall ledger wouldn't be accepted anyplace else. Despite that mark, the Bearcats have already won seven more games than a year ago and that is certainly something to be proud of. As for Bradley, it overcame a mid-season slump by going 10-4 down the stretch. The late surge pushed the Braves' mark to 17-15 overall and helped them land a spot in this event. In terms of the all-time series, Cincinnati owns a 19-13 edge over Bradley, but this is the first meeting between the former Missouri Valley Conference rivals since 1981.

The Bearcats don't have many weapons to utilize at the offense end of the court and that is displayed in their mediocre 64.5 ppg average. Cincinnati though, does have one elite scorer in Deonta Vaughn, who paces the squad with 17.1 ppg. The versatile Vaughn has carried the squad at times and he is also dishing out a team-high 4.0 apg and shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc. John Williamson has helped to take some of the pressure off Vaughn and he chips in 11.5 ppg, to go with a team-leading 6.3 rpg. Williamson and Vaughn have combined for 55 steals, helping Cincinnati to limit its foes to 67.7 ppg.

The Braves are a team that likes to bomb away from three-point range, as they are averaging 24.2 attempts per game. Bradley has connected on 37.9 percent of those tries for an average of 73.3 ppg. Jeremy Crouch is shooting 41.6 percent from downtown and he tops the roster in scoring with 15.5 ppg. Daniel Ruffin checks in with 14.8 ppg and he has been in charge of running the show, dishing out a team-high 5.8 apg. Theron Wilson has given the Braves some sort of option in the low post, as he puts forth 11.4 ppg and 6.4 rpg.

Bradley, with its three-point shooting and homecourt advantage, should prove to be too much for Cincinnati to handle in this one.

Predicted Outcome

Bradley 74, Cincinnati 69