UNC Asheville basketball: How a CBI trip 'catapulted' team to 2023 NCAA Tournament bid

ASHEVILLE — UNC Asheville men's basketball's Big South conference tournament championship put Mike Morrell in uncharted waters. He's never been the head coach of an NCAA Tournament team.

As he prepared for the week of practice leading up to Selection Sunday, however, he had a blueprint to follow, and one with proven results.

Seeking a better ending to the 2021-22 season than a heartbreaking conference tournament loss, the Bulldogs played in last year's College Basketball Invitational, an experience Morrell says was instrumental in the program clinching a trip to this year's big dance. No. 15 seed UNC Asheville plays No. 2 seed UCLA in the first round Thursday in Sacramento (approximately 10:05 p.m., TruTV).

"It was another chance to put a positive spin on that year, one that we all knew could have been better," Morrell said. "And man, I'm so thankful we did it now, because of how it turned out. … It was the single biggest moment kind of catapulting us into the offseason to grow from."

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The CBI – a pay-to-enter tournament considered the third and final tier of postseason competitions – had been on Asheville's radar since the middle of last season, Morrell's fourth with the program. The Bulldogs went 16-13 and earned the No. 5 seed in the Big South tournament, then lost on a buzzer-beater in the opening round.

Morrell believed his accomplished senior class deserved a better ending to their careers, so Asheville went to its first postseason tournament since the 2018 NIT.

"[Athletic director Janet Cone] and I really felt like our program needed that," Morrell said. "[But] It doesn't guarantee you're going to go down there and win and have a better experience."

After a good series of practices, the Bulldogs headed to Daytona Beach, Fla., and played what Morrell felt was their best game of the season to beat Stephen F. Austin 80-68, the program's first postseason win since 2011.

Morrell had achieved his goal of giving the seniors better memories to leave on, and over the course of the ensuing 12 months, he's seen the effects it had on the returners, too.

"Any time you win a game in an environment that's loser-go-home in college, where wins are so hard to come by, it's a great feeling," junior guard Fletcher Abee said. "I just remember the celebration and the joy. … It gave us a lot more closure."

Returning home after a second-round loss to Northern Colorado, Morrell saw a different team than the one that had walked off the floor in Charlotte.

"It's not that we ever had selfish guys, but that was the first time they got to experience that team success," Morrell said. "I really felt ... a sense of, 'We belong.'"

Not only does Morrell believe the postseason win helped create the culture and hunger within the team that led to a school-record 27 wins, Big South regular season and tournament championships and the program's first March Madness trip since 2011, but the CBI experience could pay dividends against the Bruins, too.

Part of the appeal of the CBI was exposing his players to a postseason tournament on a neutral floor, and it also got them used to playing in a high-pressure game after a long layoff. The win over the Lumberjacks came 17 days after Asheville had last played a game. The Bulldogs will face UCLA 11 days after beating Campbell in the Big South championship.

Of course, the NCAA Tournament is a far cry from the CBI, and UCLA is several calibers above that Stephen F. Austin team. But, as Abee said, the Bulldogs' celebration last year wouldn't have been out of place on a March Madness floor, and that taste of success helped inspire them to earn them a spot on one.

"To advance was huge," Morrell said. "And we'll draw from those experiences. It's just, we're in the NCAA Tournament, which is going to be a lot of fun."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: UNC Asheville basketball's 2023 NCAA Tournament bid built on CBI trip