This will be the 4nd season for the Bidwell Bash Invitational, which is named after General John Bidwell, the founder of Chico, CA, and Chico State University (also known as CSU, Chico). The tournament will be a 6-team round robin that will be played in weeks 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the non conference schedule. CSU, Chico is the tournament's host.  The defending champ from the previous year gets an automatic bid to the next tournament (to be clear, this will be on a 1 season delay, so the season 69 winner will get an automatic bid to the season 71 tourney). The remaining 4 teams in the field is invitation only based on alblack's dynasty rankings (since he doesn't have a team in the Allen world, he doesn't do dynasty rankings here, but I have his formula and will be keeping and publishing the list).

IF YOU ARE AT OR CLOSE TO THE TOP OF THE DYANSTY RANKINGS AND ARE INTERESTED IN PLAYING IN THIS TOURNAMENT, KEEP NON CONFERENCE GAMES 5-9 OPEN UNTIL THIS TOURNAMENT IS FULL.

FORMAT: 5 games, Round Robin
Game 5: DC/#5 @ Host, #2 @ #1, #4 @ #3
Game 6: Host @ #4, #1 @ DC/#5, #2 @ #3
Game 7: #3 @ Host, #1 @ #4, DC/#5 @ #2
Game 8: Host @ #2, #3 @ #1, #4 @ DC/#5
Game 9: #1 @ Host, #2 @ #4, #3 @ DC/#5

Host:CSU, Chico [CCAA]
Defending Champion: U of DC [S. Atlantic] 

Formal Invitations extended to the following schools:
Harding [Gulf South]
Wayne St. MI [GLIAC]
Lewis [GLV]
Lees-McRae [CVAC]

Next up if any of those listed above decline their invivations or do not reply in a timely fashion would be:
Findlay [GLIAC]...would need Wayne St. MI to decline
S. Arkansas [Gulf South]...would need Harding to decline
Arkansas Tech [Gulf South]...would need Harding and S. Arkansas to decline
Livingstone [Central]
Pace [N10]
Delta St. [Gulf South]...would need Harding, S. Arkansas and Arkansas Tech to decline
Glenville St. [WVIAC]
Central Arkansas [Gulf South]...would need Harding, S. Arkansas, Arkansas Tech and Delta St. to decline
Mercy [ECC]
Adams St. [Rocky Mtn]
S. Illinois, Edwardsville [GLV]...would need Lewis to decline

UDC is in!

Lees-McRae has also accepted, so 3 spots are filled.  I haven't extended an invite to Lewis since it is currently SimAI.  It's a little sad HD has fallen so hard that a top D2 program can't even fill!

Lees-McRae is in!

Lewis!

No word yet from Wayne St. MI or Harding.  Invites have been sent to others.

Since we are getting close to recruiting starting (and therefore, scheduling starting) I'm going to send out a few more invites and the first one to accept will be in.

I think S. Arkansas is going to be in, so that would leave us with just 1 spot to fill.

It looks like this will be a very strong field.  The dynasty rankings for the teams who are currently in the field are 3, 7, 8, 9 and 25 (I'm bringing up the back of the bus thanks to 2 early exits in a row from the NT despite strong teams...ugh).

Pace takes the final spot.  Schedule will be up in the next hour or so.

Here's the schedule.  Please go ahead and schedule your games.

Game 5 Schedule
U. of DC Firebirds	@	CSU, Chico Wildcats
S. Arkansas Muleriders	@	Lewis Flyers
Pace Setter	@	Lees-McRae Bobcats
Game 6 Schedule
CSU, Chico Wildcats	@	Pace Setter
Lewis Flyers	@	U. of DC Firebirds
S. Arkansas Muleriders	@	Lees-McRae Bobcats
Game 7 Schedule
Lees-McRae Bobcats	@	CSU, Chico Wildcats
Lewis Flyers	@	Pace Setter
U. of DC Firebirds	@	S. Arkansas Muleriders
Game 8 Schedule
CSU, Chico Wildcats	@	S. Arkansas Muleriders
Lees-McRae Bobcats	@	Lewis Flyers
Pace Setter	@	U. of DC Firebirds
Game 9 Schedule
Lewis Flyers	@	CSU, Chico Wildcats
S. Arkansas Muleriders	@	Pace Setter
Lees-McRae Bobcats	@	U. of DC Firebirds

Preseason rankings of teams in the field:
#7 S. Arkansas
#12 Pace
#19 CSU, Chico
#24 U of DC

Good luck to everyone in this year's bash! 

I'm traveling for work this week and am crazy busy. Didn't get a chance to get a preview up last night. My apologies. I will post game 1 results when I get time later today.

Standings
CSU, Chico 1-0
Pace 1-0
S. Arkansas 1-0
U of DC 0-1
Lees McRae 0-1
Lewis 0-1

Round One Results
CSU Chico 86, U of DC 82
CSUC: B Buggs 25 pts (POTG), D Wilson 21 pts, V Mead 17 pts, D Kadlec 10 rebs
UDC: L Weigand 26 pts/4 asts/3 stls, R Kimble 15 pts, R Orr 11 pts

Pace 57, Lees-McRae 55
PU: P Carson 13 pts/3 stls (POTG), P Helm 12 pts
LM: S Bass 14 pts, R Russell 14 pts/3 stls

S. Arkansas 76, Lewis 66
SAU: A Sharpe 19 pts (POTG), G Jefferson 17 pts/4asts, M Hereford 13 pts/7 asts, J Hunt 11 pts/10 rebs
LU: E Uchida 16 pts, P Williams 14 pts/4 asts

Round 2 games:

#15 CSU Chico (4-1) even @ Pace (3-2)
Lewis (2-3) even @ U of DC (1-4)
#5 S. Arkansas (4-1) -8 @ Lees-McRae (4-1)