CBI 2025: Tournament Bracket, Schedule, Format and Men's Teams to Watch

Twelve men's college basketball teams will descend upon Daytona Beach, Florida from March 22-26 for the College Basketball Invitational tournament.

The CBI is one of four postseason events and its field is strictly made up of mid-major programs.

Florida Gulf Coast, UC Riverside, Jacksonville and Cleveland State all received byes in the quarterfinals.

Eight other teams have to play a first-round game. Those eight squads need four wins to capture the tournament title.

2025 CBI Bracket and Schedule

Teams to Watch

Florida Gulf Coast

Florida Gulf Coast comes into the CBI in a decent bit of form.

The Eagles reeled off a four-game winning streak to conclude the Atlantic Sun regular season. They lost in the first round of the A-Sun tournament, though, to fellow CBI participant Queens.

FGCU finished with an 18-13 overall mark and a 13-5 record in conference play. It will have an edge in its quarterfinal matchup since both Elon and Army struggled down the stretch.

FCGU should be viewed as the favorite to reach the final from the top side of the bracket because of its overall record.

The Eagles produced one of the best conference records across the 12-team field and it has one of the highest KenPom rankings in the field at 172.

UC Riverside

UC Riverside pulled off two of the best mid-major wins of the regular season when it knocked off UC San Diego and UC Irvine in consecutive days.

Those victories showcased UC Riverside's potential against top mid-major programs. UC San Diego is in the NCAA tournament and UC Irvine made the NIT as the Big West tournament runner-up.

The 21-11 Highlanders, like FGCU, did not win a conference tournament game, but they still have potential to go deep in the CBI.

UC Riverside won 21 games and was competitive out of conference with a win over Colorado State and close losses to BYU and Oregon.

The Highlanders can bank on their experience against tougher opposition to help them throughout the CBI, where they are on the tougher side of the bracket alongside Cleveland State and Jacksonville.