This year’s Bracket Buster is loaded
with talent on the side of the designated home teams. That will make for an
unpredictable announcement of scheduled games come January 29th,
however it may make for some less than competitive games as well.
Nonetheless, I’ll take a stab at predicting what I think are fair and
interesting match-ups for ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday.
Bucknell at Northern Iowa
This is the cream of the crop right here
and could actually bust a bracket. UNI should be in either way, but Bucknell
could use another big road win to leave little doubt if they stumble heading
into the NCAAs.
George Mason at Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Colonial Athletic Association is
eyeing two bids into the NCAAs. A good conference showing on February 18th
is a necessity and George Mason winning on the road against a Sweet Sixteen team
from a year ago would be the marquee victory.
Northwestern State at Southern
Illinois
The Demons of Northwestern State have
victories in Starkville and Stillwater, but if we’ve learned anything over the
last few years, it is that nobody comes away from Carbondale with a win. It
would be huge for the Devils and the Southland Conference, but at the least, it
gives an underappreciated team like Northwestern State some much deserved
television exposure.
Oral Roberts and Montana
This one might be down the list a ways
according to the RPI, but these are two teams you might see in March. Both
teams are currently second place in their respective conferences, but have
plenty of firepower to overtake the leaders, or at least win the conference
tournament. Despite an overall generally disappointing season for ORU, they
still have the dynamic duo of Caleb Green and Ken Tutt, who are a must watch if
this game makes it on the family of networks.
Akron at Utah State
Akron may be the team to beat in the MAC
and there is no better way to prove that than with a win in Logan. Utah State
doesn’t have much room for error and another quality win would help out the old
RPI coming down the stretch. It isn’t a must win for the Aggies, but it will be
for Akron if they slip in Cleveland and still plan to have higher aspirations
than the NIT.
And the rest of the projected games:
Niagara at Austin Peay
Delaware at Ball State
Santa Clara at Boise State
Youngstown State at Bowling Green
Buffalo at Bradley
Tennessee Martin at Cal State Fullerton
Eastern Michigan at Canisus
Georgia State at Cleveland State
Morehead at Central Michigan
Idaho at College of Charleston
La Tech at Creighton
Southeast Missouri State at Detroit
Wright State at Drexel
Cal Poly at Eastern Illinois
Fairleigh Dickinson at Eastern Kentucky
Tennessee State at Evansville
Toledo at Hawaii
Illinois-Chicago at Hofstra
Drake at Iona
UC Santa Barbara at Jacksonville State
Illinois State at Kent State
Long Beach State at Louisiana Lafayette
Albany at Loyola (IL)
Vermont at Loyola (MD)
Butler at Manhattan
Fairfield at Miami (OH)
Cal State Northridge at Montana State
Rider at Murray State
Northern Illinois at Nevada
Indiana State at Northeastern
Samford at Ohio
Missouri State at Old Dominion
Eastern Washington at Pacific
New Orleans at San Jose State
New Mexico State at St. Mary’s
Arkansas State at St. Peter’s
Northern Arizona at UC Irvine
Stephen F. Austin at UC Riverside
UNC Asheville at Wisconsin Green Bay
High Point at Valparaiso
Marist at Virginia Commonwealth
Tennessee Tech at Western Kentucky
UNC Greensboro at Western Michigan
Fresno at Wichita State
Siena at Winthrop
Check out Joel Welser's new
Broadcast Basketball
blog, a comprehensive guide to watching college basketball.
