BracketBusters

 

Each week, CollegeHoops.net's Greg Mengelt presents a different College Basketball List. This week, Greg ranks the 10 best BracketBusters games and predicts the results.

 

Score two wins for the Colonial Athletic Association, with VCU winning at Wichita State and Drexel defending their home floor with a win over Kent State in Friday's Sears BracketBusters contests. VCU needed a pair of Joey Rodriguez free throws with eight tenths of a second remaining to win a game they nearly handed over after leading by nine at the half. Rodriguez racked up 11 assists to go along with 15 points. Bradford Burgess scored 17 to lead the Rams, and Joe Ragland scored 15 to lead the Shockers.

Monday was an important day for a number of teams in non-BCS conferences as the eleven televised matchups for the ESPNU BracketBusters event were announced. The remainder of the teams in participating leagues will find out their assignments later this week but there are some very good matchups on the televised schedule, beginning on Friday, February 18th. The eleven matchups are as follows:

Fri., 2/18
7 p.m. VCU at Wichita State (ESPN2)
9 p.m. Kent State at Drexel (ESPNU)
Sat., 2/19
11 a.m. Hofstra at Wright State (ESPNU)

Going into Saturday's game at Butler it would have been fair to assume that Siena's "big three" of Alex Franklin, Ronald Moore and Edwin Ubiles would play well in their biggest game of the season. But on a day that saw Clarence Jackson come out hot on his way to 24 points none of them got going as Butler used a second-half push to win going away in impressive fashion 70-53. Shelvin Mack led the Bulldogs with 23 points while Gordon Hayward added 15 points and 12 rebounds, but it was the cold shooting of Siena's three stars that played a major role in the outcome.

FRIDAY RECAP
Northern Iowa 71, Old Dominion 62
The Panthers won their second straight without center Jordan Egleseder, knocking off the Monarch in Cedar Falls behind a 23-point night from Ali Farokhmanesh. Farokhmanesh hit five of nine shots from behind the arc and Kwadzo Ahelegbe added ten points. Gerald Lee led the Monarchs with 19 points but it wasn't enough to prevent ODU's first loss in the BracketBusters event.

Iona 69, William & Mary 53

Butler (24-4, 17-0)

Cornell (21-4, 7-1)

Northern Iowa (23-3, 14-2)

Old Dominion (21-7, 13-3)

Siena (22-5, 15-1)

Utah St (21-6, 11-2)

Other (Louisiana Tech, Murray St, Northeastern, Wichita St, William & Mary, etc)

 

 

In the seventh annual ESPNU BracketBusters, the strongest mid-major teams in the country do battle in thirteen televised games.  This preview features the premier Saturday games that are televised on ESPN or ESPN2.

 

 

Northeastern @ Wright State, ESPN2

In the seventh annual ESPNU BracketBusters, the country's strongest mid-majors do battle in thirteen televised games. Although most of these games are played on ESPNU, a few get big-time exposure on ESPN and ESPN2, a rarity for these publicity starved teams. For some, it might be their only remaining shot to impress America, and have basketball fans keeping them in the back of their mind in March. Here's a complete rundown of the televised games.

Any Luster To ESPN’s Bracket Buster?

 

My wife thinks I’m a College-Hoop-aholic.  The evidence is somewhat convincing:

 

*On February 14th, she asked, “Do you have any idea what today is?  I responded, “Yeah, it’s Wisconsin’s turn to host College GameDay.”