As the Michigan basketball team enters the Big Ten tournament this week, the mission is simple: Reach the NCAA tournament or the Wolverines’ season is done.

Michigan coach John Beilein said Monday the Wolverines do not plan to look at the College Basketball Invitational.

“We do not have an interest in that tournament,” Beilein said. “We’re not interested in the CBI tournament this particular year.”

The 16-team CBI was created three years ago by the Gazelle Group to compete with the National Invitation Tournament. Tulsa won the first CBI in 2008 and Oregon State won last year.

After looking at it Beilein said he isn’t sure if Michigan would be eligible for the NIT. A .500 record is necessary for inclusion and the Wolverines have applied to play in it, but have an RPI of 132, according to CollegeRPI.com. When it comes to NIT selection, the Wolverines’ win over Division II Northern Michigan doesn’t count, so in the eyes of the various selection committees, they are 13-16 instead of 14-16.

“I don’t think we’ll be eligible,” Beilein said. “I think if you do the math, our Division II game does not count, you have to have a winning record, and, if I’m doing the math correctly, I don’t know if we can get there. I haven’t actually looked at it, but based on our RPI, we’ve applied for the NIT. But I don’t know if we could actually get there.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.

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