Beavers accept CBI bid

The Oregon State men's basketball team accepted an invitation to play in the College Basketball Invitational yesterday.

OSU (19-14, 7-11 Pac-12) will host Western Illinois at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the 16-team tournament.

The Beavers, who had zero chance of receiving an at-large NCAA bid, did not receive an invitation to the 32-team NIT.

For about 24 hours last week, a large portion of the Oregon State University student body truly believed that the Beavers could win the Pac-12 Tournament.

And then the joyride that had Corvallis treating the Beavers and Jared Cunningham like Jimmy Chitwood and Hickory High School came to an end.

The guys simply just ran out of gas against Arizona, falling 72-61.

For now they will rest up their aching bodies and tired legs.

"We'll have days off Saturday, Sunday, probably Monday. Wait around and see if we're invited to play in anything and then start practicing then," coach Craig Robinson said Friday at Staples Center in Los Angeles. "But I might even give them an extra day off, and they deserve it. These guys come to work every day."

All season long, Robinson has talked about how hard the team practiced every day, whether they lost or won the previous weekend.

Although the team — and Beaver Nation — would have liked to see that hard work translate into a few more regular season wins, the hard work did seem to pay off in the Pac-12 Tournament.

"Usually our losses have been five points and under this year. I think we lost seven games that way," Robinson said Friday. "And each time my team came back to practice that next Monday as if they had won the game. They were working hard. So they deserve some time off."

If Oregon State beats Western Illinois, they'll advance to face the winner of Milwaukee vs. Texas Christian University on Monday, March 19.

The semifinals will take place March 21, and a best-of-three championship series will begin March 26.

Alex Crawford, sports writer

Twitter: @dr_crawf

sports@dailybarometer.com