2025 College Basketball Invitational
The 2025 College Basketball Invitational was a single-elimination, fully-bracketed men's college basketball postseason tournament featuring eleven National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams not selected to participate in the [2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament|NCAA Division I (NCAA)|Division I men's basketball tournament], the National Invitation Tournament, or the College Basketball Crown.
The 17th edition of the tournament commenced on March 22, and concluded on March 26. All games were played at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, with the first and quarterfinal rounds streamed on FloCollege, the semifinal round telecast on ESPNU and the final telecast on ESPN2.
Illinois State defeated Cleveland State in the final by a score of 79–68 to claim their first NCAA Division I postseason title. The all-tournament team consisted of Ty Pence, Jordan Pyke, Jalen Rucker, Tahj Staveskie and Chase Walker, with Walker also being named the most valuable player.
Participating teams
Accepted bids
Note: Team records are as of the end of the regular season and prior to the beginning of the tournament.Field synopsis
Rankings, ratings and records were through March 16, 2025 Selection Sunday and prior to any additional post-season activity. This also includes a "KNIT" score, which is leveraged as a criteria and evaluation tool for the National Invitation Tournament selection committee; it is the average of the following seven metrics:BTR: Bart Torvik "T-Rank" RankingBPI: ESPN Basketball Power IndexKPR: Ken Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings KPI: Kevin Pauga IndexNET: NCAA Evaluation ToolSOR: Strength Of Record, as calculated by ESPNWAB: Wins Above Bubble, as calculated by Bart TorvikThe operators of the CBI have not publicly disclosed the criteria used to select participating teams. It is unknown whether one, some, all or none of the metrics mentioned above were considered in deciding which teams to invite.