Bracket Buster Teams Announced

[Raider Country]

Updated: Aug. 22, 2006
Teams announced for February Bracket Busters
ESPN.com news services

Even more teams will get the chance to prove they can be just like George Mason.

The field of teams eligible to participate in the fifth annual BracketBusters event was announced Tuesday, with the pool of NCAA Tournament hopefuls expanding to 102.

Growing by two teams from 2006, the event will feature 13 nationally televised games between Feb. 16-17.

The field will feature 12 teams from the Mid-American Conference and Colonial Athletic; 11 from the Ohio Valley Conference; 10 from the Missouri Valley and Metro Atlantic Athletic; nine from the Western Athletic Conference and Horizon League; eight from the Big West; four the Big Sky and Southern; three from the Big South and Patriot; two from the America East, Mid-Continent and Southland; and San Francisco from the West Coast Conference.

Included in the pool are all 19 teams that qualified for the NCAAs after participating in this event last season. The most notable team from that group is George Mason, which upset Connecticut -- the top seed from the Washington, D.C. Region -- en route to a surprising trip to its first Final Four.

The Patriots were the first No. 11 seed to reach the Final Four since Louisiana State in 1986 and first mid-major since Indiana State in 1979.

Also in the group is Wichita State, who upset second seed Tennessee to reach the regional semifinals for the first time since 1981.

All 13 of the BracketBusters home teams, as well as the remaining 38 home squads, will play a "return" game at their opponents' home facilities in November or December of the following season.

This year's BracketBusters pool features teams with 70 appearances in the last five NCAA Tournaments, including a team in the Final Four (George Mason, 2006); one in the Elite Eight (Kent State, 2002); and six Sweet 16 squads (Bradley and Wichita State, 2006; Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2005; Nevada, 2004; Butler, 2003; and Southern Illinois, 2002).

For the second consecutive year, the event will feature five BracketBusters games exclusively on ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, and two on ESPN360, ESPN's customized broadband service. ESPN2 will televise six contests.

The matchups for the event will be announced Jan. 29.

sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2557619

[Raider Country]

Home:
Akron, Boise State, Bucknell, Buffalo, Butler, Cal Poly, Cal State Northridge, Creighton, Coastal Carolina, Delaware, Drake, Eastern Michigan, Fairfield, Fresno State, George Mason, Georgia State, Hofstra, Idaho, Illinois-Chicago, Illinois State, Indiana State, Long Beach State, Loyola (Illinois), Marist, Missouri State, Montana, Morehead State, Nevada, New Mexico State, Niagara, Northeastern, Northern Arizona, Northern Illinois, Oral Roberts, Rider, Samford, San Francisco, Siena, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Toledo, UC Santa Barbara, UNC Greensboro, Virginia Commonwealth, Western Michigan, Wichita State, Wright State, Youngstown State

Away:
Albany, Appalachian State, Austin Peay, Ball State, Bowling Green, Bradley, Cal State Fullerton, Canisius, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Colgate, Detroit, Drexel, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Washington, Elon, Evansville, Hawaii, Holy Cross, Iona, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Kent State, Liberty, Louisiana Tech, Loyola (Maryland), Maine, Manhattan, Miami (Ohio), Murray State, Northern Iowa, Northwestern State, Ohio, Old Dominion, Pacific, Portland State, Saint Peter's, Sam Houston State, San Jose State, Southern Illinois, Towson, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UNC Wilmington, Utah State, Valparaiso, William & Mary, Winthrop, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee

[Willie]

UNC-Wilmington would be an interesting match up.

[Doliboabros]

All nine Horizon League teams placed into ESPN's BracketBusters pool
Expanded event to feature 102 teams eligible for one of 13 telecasts on Feb. 16-17; pool includes last year's BracketBusters and NCAA Tournament teams George Mason and Wichita State


Aug. 22, 2006

The fifth annual BracketBusters event, a two-day men's college basketball extravaganza pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other on February 16-17, will feature 13 nationally televised games selected from an expanded pool of 102 teams. The field is highlighted by the return of last year's BracketBusters participants George Mason and Wichita State, a Final Four and Sweet Sixteen team, respectively, who met in last year's event and the NCAA Tournament. Last year's field included a potential 100 teams (vying for 13 BracketBusters games), while the 2005 event featured 64 teams (vying for 11 BracketBusters games).

For the second consecutive year, the event will feature five BracketBusters games exclusively on ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, and two on ESPN360, ESPN's customized broadband service. ESPN2 will televise six contests. The 13 BracketBusters matchups will be announced January 29, while game time and network assignments will be announced February 5.

BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in NCAA Tournament play over the past few years, will provide the 26 televised teams an opportunity to play other top non-conference opponents three weeks prior to Selection Sunday. The 76 teams not selected for BracketBusters will compete against each other over the same two days.

The 102-team field will feature 12 teams from the Mid-American Conference and Colonial Athletic; 11 from the Ohio Valley Conference; 10 from the Missouri Valley and Metro Atlantic Athletic; nine from the Western Athletic Conference and Horizon League; eight from the Big West; four the Big Sky and Southern; three from the Big South and Patriot; two from the America East, Mid-Continent and Southland; and San Francisco from the West Coast Conference.

As part of the agreement, all 13 of the BracketBusters home teams, as well as the remaining 38 home squads, will play a "return" game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the following season.

BracketBusters is an example of ESPN college basketball franchise programming. Others include Rivalry Week, Feast Week, Holiday Hoops, Judgment Week and Championship Week.

This year's BracketBusters pool features teams with 70 appearances in the last five NCAA Tournaments, including a team in the Final Four - George Mason (2006); Elite Eight - Kent State (2002); and six Sweet Sixteen squads - Bradley (2006), Wichita State (2006), UW-Milwaukee (2005), Nevada (2004), Butler (2003) and Southern Illinois (2002).

Match-ups and nationally televised games will be determined January 29, 2007.

Horizon League home teams: Butler, UIC, Loyola, Wright State, Youngstown State.
Horizon League visiting teams: Cleveland State, Detroit, UW-Green Bay, UW-Milwaukee.

Other teams:
Mid-American Conference (12 teams)
Home: Akron, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan. Road: Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Ohio.

Colonial Athletic (12)
Home: Delaware, George Mason, Georgia State, Hofstra, Northeastern, Virginia Commonwealth. Road: Drexel, James Madison, UNC Wilmington, Old Dominion, Towson, William & Mary.

Ohio Valley Conference (11)
Home: Morehead State, Samford, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech. Road: Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Murray State.

Missouri Valley Conference (10)
Home: Creighton, Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Wichita State. Road: Bradley, Evansville, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois.

Metro Atlantic Athletic (10)
Home: Fairfield, Marist, Niagara, Rider, Siena. Road: Canisius, Iona, Loyola (Maryland), Manhattan, Saint Peter's.

Western Athletic (9)
Home: Boise State, Fresno State, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico State. Road: Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State, Utah State.

Big West (8)
Home: Cal Poly, Long Beach State, Cal State-Northridge, UC Santa Barbara. Road: UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Cal State-Fullerton, Pacific.

Big Sky (4)
Home: Montana, Northern Arizona. Road: Eastern Washington, Portland State.

Southern (4)
Home: UNC Greensboro, Tennessee-Chattanooga. Road: Appalachian State, Elon.

Big South (3)
Home: Coastal Caronlina. Road: Liberty, Winthrop.

Patriot League (3)
Home: Bucknell. Road: Colgate, Holy Cross.

America East (2)
Road: Albany, Maine.

Mid-Continent (2)
Home: Oral Roberts. Road:) Valparaiso.

Southland (2)
Road: Northwestern State, Sam Houston State.

West Coast (1)
Home: San Francisco.


Below are statistics of this year's BracketBusters pool of 102 teams in NCAA Tournament play from 2002 - 2006:

2006 NCAA Tournament: 19 Berths - Albany, Bradley, Bucknell, George Mason, Iona, Kent State, Montana, Murray State, Nevada, UNC-Wilmington, Northern Iowa, Northwestern State, Pacific, Oral Roberts, Utah State, Southern Illinois, UW-Milwaukee, Winthrop and Wichita State. A 12-19 overall record: Bradley defeated Kansas and Pittsburgh to reach the Sweet Sixteen; Bucknell defeated Arkansas; George Mason defeated Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and Connecticut to reach the Final Four; Montana defeated Nevada; Northwestern State defeated Iowa; UW-Milwaukee defeated Oklahoma; and Wichita State defeated Seton Hall and Tennessee to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

2005 NCAA Tournament: 15 berths - Bucknell, Chattanooga, Creighton, Eastern Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, Niagara, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Old Dominion, Pacific, Southern Illinois, Utah State, UW-Milwaukee and Winthrop. A 6-15 overall record: Bucknell defeated Kansas; Nevada defeated Texas; Pacific defeated Pittsburgh; Southern Illinois defeated Saint Mary's (California); and UW-Milwaukee defeated Alabama and Boston College to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

2004 NCAA Tournament: 12 berths - Eastern Washington, Illinois-Chicago, Liberty, Manhattan, Murray State, Nevada, Northern Iowa, Pacific, Southern Illinois, Valparaiso, Virginia Commonwealth and Western Michigan. A 4-12 overall record: Manhattan defeated Florida, Nevada defeated Michigan State and Gonzaga to reach the Sweet Sixteen; and Pacific defeated Providence.

2003 NCAA Tournament: 11 berths - Austin Peay, Butler, Central Michigan, Creighton, Holy Cross, Manhattan, UNC-Wilmington, Sam Houston State, Southern Illinois, Utah State and UW-Milwaukee. A 3-11 overall record: Butler defeated Mississippi State and Louisville to reach the Sweet Sixteen; and Central Michigan defeated Creighton.

2002 NCAA Tournament: 13 berths - Creighton, Kent State, Hawaii, Holy Cross, Illinois-Chicago, Montana, Murray State, Southern Illinois, UNC-Wilmington, Siena, UC Santa Barbara, Winthrop and Valparaiso. An 8-13 overall record: Kent State defeated Oklahoma State, Alabama and Pittsburgh to reach the Elite Eight; Creighton defeated Florida; UNC-Wilmington defeated USC; Siena defeated Alcorn State; and Southern Illinois defeated Texas Tech and Georgia to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

horizonleague.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/082206aaa.html

[Bomber]

I'd like to see us play any of the following teams:

Ball State
Drexel
Evansville
Holy Cross
Kent State
Manhattan
Murray State
Ohio
Old Dominion
Southern Illinois
UNC Wilmington
Utah State

[Raider Country]

BracketBusters can be boom for those small, hungry schools
Aug. 23, 2006
By Gary Parrish


Jim Larranaga remembers the first time he heard about the event. He was scanning a newspaper, saw an article and read it.

Then he picked up the phone. He wanted in BracketBusters.

"I immediately called (Colonial Athletic Association commissioner) Tom Yeager and asked how we could get the CAA involved," recalled Larranaga, the coach at George Mason. "It's a way to move your program into a national venue."

ESPN does lots of things. Some are wrong. Some are right. I've made a short list.


Three things ESPN does wrong
Bonds on Bonds (more like Crap on crap).
Coverage of the Little League World Series (just give me the title game, and that's plenty).
Cheap Seats (I'd rather suffer through Bonds on Bonds).

Three things ESPN does right
Pardon the Interruption (if you're watching Kornheiser, this is the place to do it).
Poker's card camera (second only to TiVo in television inventions this decade).
BracketBusters (I'm with Larranaga on this one).
"It's just a great idea," Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon said. "It's been great for college basketball."

ESPN announced this week the pool of NCAA Tournament hopefuls taking part in the fifth annual BracketBusters, a made-for-TV event designed to create quality non-league games and give national exposure to teams from conferences that typically have a difficult time getting either. A record 102 schools from 16 non-BCS leagues will participate in 2007.

In a world where college athletics is built so the rich get richer while holding the little guys down, BracketBusters presents one of the few instances where the little guys actually get their due. For two days in February, it's all about the little guys, thanks to 61 games -- each of which will be scheduled in January -- between schools that would otherwise never play. Of those 61 games, 13 will pit teams having really good years against other teams having really good years, and those will be on national television for the entire world -- or at least the entire world with access to cable -- to watch and enjoy.

One of the featured matchups last season was George Mason at Wichita State.

Heading in, the Patriots had yet to play a game on national TV. They were very much an unknown commodity, one sitting squarely on the bubble and in need of a quality win to boost its resume for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. After 40 minutes of basketball, George Mason had a 70-67 victory, and that impressive road triumph propelled the Patriots toward the Big Dance.

Then they danced. All the way to the Final Four. But Wichita State did OK, too. The Shockers advanced to the Sweet 16, only to be eliminated by those pesky Patriots again.

BracketBusters, indeed.

"Because our game last year with George Mason became a Sweet 16 game -- and then (fellow BracketBusters participant) Bradley moved into the Sweet 16, too -- I believe more people around the country will now be in tune to these games knowing that one of these teams will have a chance to make it to a Final Four," Turgeon said. "BracketBusters has helped our league and our program get to where it is today. It's a great concept."

As is the case with anything, there are some negatives to this massive event, particularly that the 76 teams that agree to be in the pool but are not rewarded a national TV game essentially get suckered into playing a likely inconvenient non-league contest in February. Of those 76, 38 must travel, meaning a scenario -- an admittedly extreme scenario, though a scenario just the same -- where Manhattan is forced to fly to San Francisco to play a game without the benefit of national exposure could unfold.

That's not good.

But the good is so good you have to risk the bad. Because if you don't ...

"You (can) just write off the idea that you're going to the (NCAA Tournament)," Yeager said, noting that too often non-BCS schools are in need of quality wins to impress the selection committee and that this is the perfect place to get one. "For all the politics that are involved in college basketball and everything else, here's one system where you can take all the doubt out of it by earning your way on and playing. You win some games ... and at the height of college basketball season (you might get the opportunity) to get some tremendous national exposure."

In other words, the positives outweigh the negatives.

Granted, participation in BracketBusters could produce an inconsequential, ill-timed and costly flight to a place you have no business going to, for a game you have no business playing. But the flipside is that it could serve as a precursor to the Final Four, where you can stand at a podium and laugh at the masses who believe you have no business there, either.

"The upside is the opportunity to play on national TV in February and get your team in front of not only a national audience but also the selection committee, where every one of those members is tuned-in and watching closely," Larranaga said. "It's worth the risk."

And way better than Cheap Seats.

www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/9616153

[Wolf]

Sounds like some of the UNCW fans would like to come to the Nutter Center.

www.caazone.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=49788&sid=8761517afc6945958316042218c57d69