CBI Basketball Tournament 2015: Bracket, Times, Dates, TV Schedule and More

College basketball fans have various opinions regarding the College Basketball Invitational, many of which are likely negative. You have to say this for the tournament, though: It's well aware of its place in the game's hierarchy.

In the press release revealing this year's field, The Gazelle Group openly touted the upward mobility that can be afforded by the CBI:

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Past CBI champions include Tulsa, Oregon State, VCU, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Santa Clara, and Siena. Teams from nearly every conference have participated in the event. Twenty-four teams have used the CBI to springboard to the NCAA Tournament the following year, while another 15 have gone on to the NIT.

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Sixteen teams comprise the 2015 CBI, which is played over three rounds and culminates in a best-of-three championship round. You can view the full first-round schedule below, in addition to when the three subsequent stages tip off.

Date	Matchup
Tuesday, March 17	Rider at Loyola Chicago
Wednesday, March 18	Gardner-Webb at Colorado
Wednesday, March 18	Pepperdine at Seattle
Wednesday, March 18	Stony Brook at Mercer
Wednesday, March 18	Eastern Michigan at Louisiana Monroe
Wednesday, March 18	Vermont at Hofstra
Wednesday, March 18	Radford at Delaware State
Wednesday, March 18	UC Santa Barbara at Oral Roberts

Round	Date	TV Info
Quarterfinals	March 23	N/A
Semifinals	March 25	N/A
Championship (Best-of-Three)	March 30, April 1 & 3	CBS Sports Network

It's safe to say that the 2015 CBI isn't littered with a wealth of major programs. As Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette joked, if the CBI could've pulled in all of the teams afforded an invite, then the tournament could've been something special:

The Colorado Buffaloes are among this year's headliners. Although they have a losing record (15-17) heading into the CBI, they rank 95th on KenPom.com. Victories over UCLA and Stanford were among Colorado's 2014-15 highlights.

In Askia Booker, the Buffaloes would've had a dynamic scorer for the CBI. He's averaging 17.2 points a game, which was third in the Pac-12.

Unfortunately for Colorado, Booker decided he won't be playing. At least that's what head coach Tad Boyle said Sunday, per Brian Howell of BuzzZone.com:

His absence will arguably make the Buffaloes even more interesting to watch. How will they compensate for his lost production?

Also in contention for the CBI title are the Pepperdine Waves. They didn't have a lot of opportunities to prove themselves outside of the West Coast Conference, but wins over BYU and Saint Mary's showed how good the Waves can be on their best day.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Stacy Davis can be a force inside for Pepperdine. He leads the team in points (15.9 PPG), rebounds (7.8 RPG) and blocks (1.1 BPG). He had 22 points and seven rebounds in the victory over BYU and dropped a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) on Saint Mary's in a winning effort.

Both Pepperdine and Colorado are firmly in that class of teams that could really use a strong run in the CBI.

Although the Buffaloes are no strangers to the NCAA tournament, they haven't made it past the third round since 1969. Nobody expects Colorado to be a national title contender, but perhaps Boyle can use both the CBI and Booker's no-show to galvanize his players and inspire some confidence in his team.

Meanwhile, the Waves were tournament mainstays in the 1980s and early 1990s, but they haven't been to the Big Dance since 2002.

It's tough for teams to succeed in the WCC with Gonzaga casting such a big shadow, but both BYU and Saint Mary's have proven that it's possible to break the glass ceiling and at the very least earn an at-large bid.

The CBI isn't the most optimal way to close out a season, but taking home any sort of postseason trophy is better than finishing a year empty-handed. Plus, success—or failure, for that matter—could be used as a jumping-off point going into the next campaign.