River Forest, Ill. - This weekend marks the 70^th Annual Concordia Invitational Tournament for men's and women's basketball, dance, and cheer teams across four different Concordia Universities. CIT is the one of the longest running tournaments in all of college basketball. The tournament was last hosted by Concordia University Chicago (CUC) in 2020, where Concordia Nebraska (CUNE) won both the men's and women's basketball titles, Concordia Ann Arbor (CUAA) won the cheer title, and Concordia Wisconsin (CUW) won the dance title. This year it will be held at CUNE, where the Bulldogs will welcome the CUAA Cardinals, CUW Falcons, and CUC Cougars. These four teams have been the only participants since 2002.

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Men's basketball is what started the CIT in 1950, when Coach Eldon "Pete" Pederson wanted to create a platform to showcase the athletic talents of various schools under the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Don Dinkmeyer was the coach of the Cougars at the time, they finished second coming up short against Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in the championship. CUC men's basketball team has won 14 titles, with the last one coming in 2011. The Cougars are returning to action this weekend under the direction of Rashaan Surles. This season, the team is 8-2, averaging 81.7 points per game and shooting at a .472 clip, which is good for second in the conference. The Cougars have not won a CIT game since their 2011 title, losing the last game of the 2020 tournament at the buzzer to Ann Arbor, they look to break that streak as they tip-off against CUNE on Friday, January 27 at 8:00 p.m.
Concordia Chicago last met Concordia Nebraska at the 2019 CIT, where the Bulldogs 3-point shooting was too much for the Cougars, winning 77-69 in the consolation game. The lone win for CUC over CUNE came in the first round of the 2011 CIT, when the Cougars went on to win their last title.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
The women's basketball tournament got added in 1965, when CUC hosted a single game against CUNE. The women's side went to a four-team format to match the men's in 1973. The Cougars have won CIT four times, the last one coming back in 1986 under Coach Al Hermann. This season started out strong for the Cougars, behind the scoring of Katherine Benes (Oconomowoc, Wis.). In her first season at CUC, Benes has taken Division III hoops by storm, winning two NACC Student-Athlete of the Week honors and leading all of Division III in points per game since December. The Cougars are looking for their first CIT win since 2018 as they kick off the tournament against CUAA on Friday, January 27 at 1:00 p.m.
The Cougars took on the Cardinals in the consolation game of the 2020 CIT, where the Cardinals won 76-63. In all of their CIT matchups, the Cougars are 3-7, with back to back wins in 2006-2007, 2008-2009, and the latest win coming in 2015 at CUAA.

CHEER/DANCE
While the Cheer and Dance teams have always been an important aspect of CIT, creating more fan energy and school spirit, the official team competitions did not get added to the tournament until 2018. In 2020, both CUC Cheer and Dance finished second in their respective sports. Both are looking for their first titles at CIT. The Dance competition starts at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 28, and Cheer immediately follows at 9:45.

ADDITIONAL INFO
The Concordia Invitational Tournament is a great opportunity for students from all four universities to come together, compete, and show their school spirit. With this being the first one since the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be a great opportunity for those who have not had the chance to experience CIT to travel and see what the excitement is all about. Tickets are still available at cucougars.com/cit and if you are not able to make it, you can purchase the live stream at cune.edu/athletics/watch-bulldogs. All other information on Cougar Athletics can be found at cucougars.com