Delaware Men’s Basketball To Face Butler Wednesday in First Round of CBI Presented by Zebra Pen
March 11, 2012
• Delaware Game Notes
• Live Stats
• CBI presented by Zebra Pen bracket
File Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The University of Delaware men’s basketball team has been selected to participate in the fifth annual 2012 College Basketball Invitational presented by Zebra Pen and will travel to two-time national finalist Butler for a first round game on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The game, the second ever meeting between the Blue Hens and Bulldogs, will be televised live on HDNet. The winner of the Delaware-Butler game will take on the winner of the Quinnipiac-Penn game in the quarterfinals on Monday, March 19.
Delaware finished its regular season with an 18-13 record, and posted a nine-game winning streak until falling to Old Dominion in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament Quarterfinals. The Blue Hens finished fifth in the CAA regular season standings while posting thier highest win total since the 2000-01 season.
Delaware will be making its sixth ever appearance in a postseason tournament and its first since falling to Villanova in the 2000 NIT.
The Blue Hens are led by guard Devon Saddler, who averages a team-high 19.1 points and became the first sophomore in school history to surpass the 1,000-point mark during the ODU contest. Jamelle Hagins, UD’s career leader in blocked shots, ranks third in the nation with 11.3 rebounds per game while chipping in 12.6 points per contest. Saddler and Hagins were each named second team All-CAA while freshman Jarvis Threatt, who contributes 10.1 points per outing, was a CAA All-Rookie Team selection.
Butler, which made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division I national championship game during the past two years, went 20-14 this season while posting its seventh consecutive 20-win season. The Bulldogs finished in a tie for third place in the Horizon League standings before falling at top-seeded Valparaiso in the conference tournament semifinals.
The only other meeting between Delaware and Butler came on November 17, 2001 at the BP Top of the World Classic at Fairbanks, Alaska, when the Bulldogs posted a 76-59 victory over the Blue Hens.
The CBI presented by Zebra Pen, entering its fifth year, consists of 16 teams. Three of the eight first round games will be played on Tuesday, March 13, with the remaining five first round contests scheduled for Wednesday. The quarterfinal round will be held on Monday, March 19, with the semifinals set for Wednesday, March 21. A unique feature of the CBI is its best-of-three championship series, which begins on Monday March 26. All games in the CBI presented by Zebra Pen are played on campus sites.
The three first round games on Tuesday feature Princeton at Evansville, Milwaukee at TCU, and Washington State at San Francisco. Wednesday’s games feature Delaware at Butler, Quinnipiac at Penn, Wofford at Pittsburgh, Western Illinois at Oregon State, and North Dakota State at Wyoming. Prior to the semifinals, the remaining teams will be re-bracketed.
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