Last Edited: Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009, 8:07 PM CDT Created On: Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009, 7:24 PM CDT MARK BERMAN HOUSTON - The company that owns and runs the two-year old College Basketball Invitational post-season tournament accused the NCAA of trying to impede it's growth. Rick Giles, President of the Gazelle Group, the company that owns the CBI, told FOX 26 Sports Wednesday the NCAA threated his company with lawsuits prior to its first tournament and has pressured schools from the BIG 12 and the SEC into not accepting invitations to the CBI. "The NCAA clearly didn't want us to create the CBI," Giles said. They viewed it as competition and they have always been adverse to competition. "In fact in year one when we came in for selection weekend, I had cease and desist letters (from the NCAA) sitting on my desk, fax machine and e-mail." Giles said the NCAA never pursued a lawsuit against his company, but stepped up its efforts to keep schools from participating. "They've also in a very subtle, and behind the scenes way, discouraged teams from participating in the CBI," Giles said. "They've certainly discouraged them from choosing the CBI over the NIT, but have also suggested to teams it would be better if they did not play in the CBI even if they were not invited to the NIT, which is mind-boggling of course." Giles said he did not want to identify which schools disclosed this information to him or point out which schools actually turned down the CBI because he didn't want to put them on the spot. "Teams have told us they were told not to play, teams particularly in the BIG 12 and the SEC," Giles said. "Selected schools from both of those conferences told us in both years that they wouldn't play even if they were not invited to the NIT." The NCAA owns the National Invitation Tournament. Giles said the NCAA actions are disappointing and unfair not just to his company, but also to those schools who may have participated otherwise. "We've really seen this tremendous benefit for the teams that have played," Giles said. "Both Oregon State and UTEP this year had phenominal experiences.. Oregon State and UTEP met in the 2009 CBI best-of-three championship series with the Beavers taking the title. "Oregon State, in the championship series, game one, their first day back from spring break, they had the second largest crowd of the season," Giles said. "Second only to in-state rival Oregon who is 30 miles away. Bigger than when UCLA, Arizona, Arizona St., Washington came into Corvalis this year. "UTEP, the only two sellouts they've had, not just this year but the year before and the year before," Giles said. "They hadn't sold out in the past three seasons and they had an environment down there for games two and three of the finals that people said hadn't existed since 20 years ago, the sort of (former coach) Don Haskins days. "Those experiences for the kids, the players and the fans, they are terrific. There is no reason to withhold those experiences from anybody who is interested and wants to play." The Gazelle Group, based in Princeton, N.J., also runs three other college basketball tournaments, Coaches versus Cancer, College Basketball Experience, and The Legends Classic. Giles acknowledged his CBI has not been a threat to the NCAA's sister tournament, the NIT. "To date we really haven't been fierce competition for them," Giles said. "However, I think they fear that our existence makes their mission of trying to invite teams (to the NIT) a little more difficult. "We offer a very different set-up. So we offer a choice. A choice to have more home games and a chance to make more money. So if I'm sitting in the NIT's shoes, I would prefer to have no competition as well." Giles said he hopes he is not forced into suing the NCAA because of its actions.. "Suing the NCAA can be a very waring process," Giles said. "So we would prefer not to have to do that. However, if they do anything that did threaten our existence, then we would consider that." Giles said the NCAA has gone way beyond wanting the whole cake and not sharing it with anyone. "They don't want anyone else to bake their own cake," Giles said. Calls to NCAA officials were not returned to FOX 26 Sports.
