CORVALLIS - Calvin Haynes looks at the College Basketball Invitational as the exciting new candy collected on Halloween night.

A mystery lies underneath the wrapper, but expectations are that it will be worth the experience. Haynes knows he'll want more after tasting it.

The Oregon State men's basketball team found renewed energy at Sunday morning's practice after the first bite of the candy. Being invited to a second-year postseason tournament does that to players.

"It feels pretty good to be in this tournament," Haynes said of the CBI. "We have something to play for at the end of the season. It's March Madness. "It's nerve-racking, but it's also fun."

OSU (13-17) will play Houston (21-11) in the first round of the 16-team tournament at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Gill Coliseum.

The winner moves into the quarterfinals March 23 against the winner of Green Bay and Vermont at one of the team's home sites.

"There's a sense of urgency and some nervousness about this," guard Rickey Claitt said. "None of us have been in the postseason before. It's like we are trying to prove to the nation again we can play."

Houston is coming off a Conference USA tournament semifinal loss to Memphis. The Cougars were 10-6 in conference play and finished tied for fourth in the regular season.

"We are ready for the challenge," Haynes said before he knew who the opponent will be. "Whoever we face is going to be a good, but we are going to give them everything we got."

The Beavers have a losing record and are on a four-game losing streak, so there was some doubt they would make one of the four postseason tournaments.

Athletic director Bob De Carolis worked out the details over the weekend, while the Beavers waited. First-year coach Craig Robinson found out Saturday and started scrambling to prepare.

He thought it was a long shot to get an invitation, but held out hope. The Beavers are in a major conference and became a big name due to their turnaround from going winless in the Pacific-10 Conference a year ago and the publicity the program gets from him being the brother-in-law of President Obama.

"They had such a good season and it didn't end like we wanted it to end," Robinson said. "What we have to keep reminding the players is we overshot our expectations. There's going to be some letdown. This gives us a chance to start fresh and see what we can do."

against people who hasn't seen us."

Robinson also looks as this as an opportunity to build for next season with Claitt the only regular player graduating. The opportunity to be in a tournament atmosphere is valuable to those coming back.

There will be at least two extra practices and a game. More will come if they keep winning. Six games could be played in the CBI.

"The more games we play and the more situations we were in, the better we are for next year," Robinson said.

Players have been officially off since Wednesday's loss to Stanford in the Pacific-10 Conference tournament. Fatigue was a factor in the team's recent slide.

However, they got together on their own Friday to practice in Dixon Recreation Center to be ready just in case.

"We didn't think we were done," Haynes said. "We had the possibility to play in some tournament. We kept our cool. After the game we were down on ourselves. But we've done well this year. We exceeded everybody's expectations, and we want more. We came back to practice with that Eye of the Tiger again."