This will be the 3nd season for the Bidwell Bash Invitational (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. In future seasons, the defending champ from the previous year will get an automatic bid to the next tournament (to be clear, this will be on a 1 season delay, so the season 68 winner will get an automatic bid to the season 70 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:/Defending Champion CSU, Chico [CCAA]

Formal Invitations extended to the following schools: (I'm late getting this together due to a very busy work schedule, so I apologize to those that would have received inivations but won't be able to this time as they have already started scheduling for next season)
Wayne St. (MI) [GLIAC]
U. of DC [S. Atlantic]...will unfortunately not be able to participate as they already have started scheduling for next season
Harding [Gulf South]
Lewis [GLV]
Livingstone [Central]

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
Central Arkansas [Gulf South]...would need Harding, S. Arkansas and Arkansas Tech to decline
American International [N10]
Glenville St. [WVIAC]
Mercy [ECC]
Fairmont St. [WVIAC]...would need Glenville St. to decline
Pace [N10]...would need American International to decline
Kentucky Wesleyan [GLV]...would need Lewis to decline

Lewis has accepted.  I will give coaches who currently have invites until tonight at 10pm CT to accept or I will need to keep moving down the list.

Wayne St. MI passes, so Findlay now gets an invite.

American International is in.

Findlay passes.  Fairmont St. will now get an invite (tried to invite Glenville St. to no avail).

Harding declined

S. Arkansas and Livingstone have accepted their invites.  Waiting on one more.  I have an invite out to Fairmont St.  I will give him until 10pm CT to accept or I will move on to the next one on the list.

I haven't heard anything from from Fairmont St., so I've invited Mercy.  If I haven't heard from either of them by tomorrow morning sometime I will move on down the list.

Queens U NC has taken the final spot.  Schedule will be up soon.

Here is the schedule.  As a reminder, this is a 5-game round robin tournament.

UPDATE: Wait on scheduling.  American International has to be replaced.

UPDATE 2: Pace is replacing American International.  We are all set.

Game 5:
Queens U NC Royals @ CSU Chico Wildcats
Lewis Flyers @ S. Arkansas Muleriders
Pace Setters @ Livingstone Blue Bears

Game 6:
CSU Chico Wildcats @ Pace Setters
S. Arkansas Muleriders @ Queens U NC Royals
Lewis Flyers @ Livingstone Blue Bears

Game 7:
Livingstone Blue Bears @ CSU Chico Wildcats
S. Arkansas Muleriders @ Pace Setters
Queens U NC Royals @ Lewis Flyers

Game 8:
CSU Chico Wildcats @ Lewis Flyers
Livingstone Blue Bears @ S. Arkansas Muleriders
Pace Setters @ Queens U NC Royals

Game 9:
S. Arkansas Muleriders @ CSU Chico Wildcats
Lewis Flyers @ Pace Setters
Livingstone Blue Bears @ Queens U Royals

Time for the start of the Bidwell Bash, and this season's field is absolutely stacked.

Pre-tournament rankings of teams in the field:
#1 Queens U NC
#5 S. Arkansas
#14 Livingstone
#23 Pace

Players to watch:
Michael Hunter, PF, 6'10", 220 lbs, SR - S. Arkansas: Preseason 1st team AA
James Terry, C, 6'9", 237 lbs, SR - Queens U NC: Preseason 1st team AA
Benjamin Dawson, SG, 6'1", 186 lbs, SR - Pace: Preseason 2nd team AA
Jared Steward, C, 6'10", 248 lbs, SR - Lewis: Preseason 3rd team AA
Gary Seegmiller, SG, 6'1", 184 lbs, SR - S. Arkansas: Preseason honorable mention AA

Round 1 games:
#1 Queens U NC (4-0) -8 @ CSU Chico (3-1)
Lewis (3-1) +8 @ #5 S. Arkansas (4-0)
#23 Pace (3-1) even @ #14 Livingstone (3-1)

Standings
Queens U (NC) 1-0
Lewis 1-0
Livingstone 1-0
CSU, Chico 0-1
S. Arkansas 0-1
Pace 0-1

Round One Results
Queens U NC 69, CSU Chico 61
QUNC: Ja Terry 14 pts (POTG), B Hughes 14 pts, E Gardner 11 pts
CSUC: V Rodrigue 20 pts, J Turner 11 pts, B Buggs 10 pts
Game notes: CSU, Chico lead 32-29 at the half, but the second half was all Queens U. NC.  Chico shot 10-18 in the first half, but in the second half the Wildcats could muster just 9 made baskets in 23 attempts as the Royals defense proved too much to overcome.  Chico led the game 50-49 with 7:30 minutes to play, but Queens went on a 14-2 win over the next 5 and a half minutse of game time to secure the win.

Lewis 73, S. Arkansas 61
LU: P Williams 26 pts/4 asts (POTG), J Steward 14 pts/13 rebs, A Jones 11 pts/6 asts, T Mayer 10 pts
SAU: G Seegmiller 13 pts, A Sharpe 13 pts, E Alber 11 pts, M Hunter 10 pts, M Hereford 6 asts
Game notes: Lewis' Jared Steward won the battle of the big men against SAU's Michael Hunter and Peter Williams poured in 26 points to lead Lewis to the surprising road win over previously #5-ranked SAU.  Steward picked up 12 of his 14 points after the intermission to help Lewis come back from a 32-27 halftime deficit.  Lewis lit up the nets from deeps, connecting on 10 of 22 three-point attempts and it won the battle of the boards 35-26 in the win.

Livingstone 77, Pace 59
LIV: B Ambler 10 pts/3 stls (POTG), S Palma 10 pts
PU: J Lathrop 17 pts/9 rebs, B Dawson 11 pts, P Helm 10 pts
Game notes: Livingstone was the only home-team to protect its home floor on the opening night of The Bash, collecting a relatively easy 18-point win over visiting Pace behind a team effort.  Look up "team effort" in the dictionary and you will see a description of Livinstone's play in this contest: all 12 Livingstone players played, and all 12 scored with no one player scoring more than 10 points and 5 guys scoring 8-10 a piece.  Pace dominated the glass (42-29, including 18 offensive boards), but it didn't matter because it turned the ball over an eye-opening 29 times (a tournament record).

Standings
Livingstone 2-0
S. Arkansas 1-1
Queens U (NC) 1-1
Lewis 1-1
Pace 1-1
CSU, Chico 0-2

Round Two Results
Pace 64, CSU Chico 62
PU: B Dawson 20 pts (POTG), J Lathrop 10 pts
CSUC: V Mead 14 pts
Game notes: CSU Chico's Vernon Rodrigue shook off a bad game to hit a 3 pointer with 10 seconds to go, seemingly putting the game into OT, but Pace's Johnny Lathrop drew a foul attemping a fadeaway from the FT line with one second left in regulation and made both free throws to get the Setters a W.

S. Arkansas 71, Queens U NC 51
SAU: M Hunter 21 pts (POTG), J Hunt 15 pts, G Seegmiller 10 pts
QUNC: Ja Terry 22 pts, A Reese 12 pts
Game notes: Battle of the big men, round 2, went to SAU's Michael Hunter, who put up 21 points and 8 boards to lead SAU to a surprising 20-point win over Queens U NC.  Queens' James Terry put up 22 points in the loss and Alex Reese added another 12, but the rest of the Royals forgot to get off the bus as the Muleriders cruised to the surprisingly easy road win.

Livingstone 73, Lewis 62
LIV: D Dumas 13 pts, G Hayes 5 asts, E Lassiter 4 blks.
LU: P Williams 11 pts, T Armstrong 10 pts
Game notes: Livingstone put up another great team effort, with all 12 players playing and scoring for the second consecutive night.  This one was close at the half and Lewis opened up a 47-41 lead with 13:55 to play, but it was baseically all Livingstone from there.  The game was still tied with 6:10 to play, but Livingstone outscored Lewis 18-7 from that point on to secure the win.

Round 3 games:
#5 Livingstone (5-1) -9 @ CSU Chico (3-3)
#6 S. Arkansas (5-1) -4 @ Pace (4-2)
#10 Queens U NC (5-1) -5 @ Lewis (4-2)

Standings
Livingstone 2-1
Queens U (NC) 2-1
Pace 2-1
S. Arkansas 1-2
Lewis 1-2
CSU, Chico 1-2

Round Three Results
CSU Chico 71, Livingstone 66
CSUC: V Mead 24 pts/9 rebs (POTG), V Rodrigue 18 pts
LIV: D Dumas 12 pts, B Fellman 11 pts
Game notes: CSU, Chico finally got off the losing train behind a big 24 point, 9 rebound night from SO PF Vincent Mead.  This was a close contest the entire way, with neither team holding a lead of more than 8 points (CSU, Chico with 7:44 to play in the first half).  Livingstone spread the ball around nicely yet again, with all 12 players scoring at least 2 points and no one scoring more than Danny Dumas' 12.

Pace 68, S. Arkansas 57
PU: M Smith 11 pts (POTG), B Dawson 12 pts
SAU: G Seegmiller 11 pts, M Hunter 10 pts
Game notes: This game was all about defense, with Pace holding SAU to just 43% from the floor and forcing 15 Mulerider turnovers.  Pace's Michael Smith came off the bench to score 11 points and receive player of the game honors in a game that really didn't have a standout player, but rather 2 solid teams giving good team efforts in a hard fought contest.

Queens U NC 70, Lewis 52
QUNC: Ja Terry 26 pts/9 rebs (POTG), Je Terry 4 asts
LU: P Williams 14 pts
Game notes: Queens' C James Terry reminded everyone why he was chosen as preseason 1st team AA with an impressive 26 point, 9 rebound showing as Queens won with ease on the road, which is never easy to do in the Bidwell Bash.  Queens pounded the paint in this game, taking just 4 three-pointers (and making them all).