2007 Bracket Buster Teams

    
August 28th, 2006 by Shawn Siegel
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* Games officially announced on January 29th, at 5:00 est. 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).  

            HOME                                           

            Mid-American

            Akron

            Buffalo

            Eastern Michigan

            Northern Illinois

            Toledo

            Western Michigan

           

            Ohio Valley

            Morehead State

            Tennessee-Martin

            Samford

            Southeast Missouri State

            Tennessee State

            Tennessee Tech

           

            Missouri Valley

            Creighton

            Drake

            Illinois State

            Indiana State

            Missouri State

            Wichita State

            Metro Atlantic Athletic

            Fairfield

            Marist

            Niagara

            Rider

            Siena

 

            Horizon

            Butler

            Illinois-Chicago

            Loyola (Illinois)

            Wright State

            Youngstown State

 

                        Western Athletic

            Boise State

            Fresno State

            Idaho

            Nevada

            New Mexico State

           

                        Big West

            Cal Poly

            Long Beach State

            Cal-State Northridge

            UC Santa Barbara

 

                        Colonial Athletic

            Delaware

            George Mason

            Georgia State

            Hofstra

            Northeastern

            Virginia Commonwealth

 

            Big Sky

            Montana

            Northern Arizona

 

       HOME TEAMS

            Big South

            Coastal Carolina

 

            Mid-Continent

            Oral Roberts

 

            Southern

            Tennessee-Chattanooga

            UNC Greensboro

 

            West Coast

            San Francisco

                                               

            Patriot

            Bucknell

           

 

 

           VISITING

            Mid-American

            Ball State

            Bowling Green

            Central Michigan

            Kent State

            Miami (Ohio)

            Ohio

           

            Ohio Valley

            Austin Peay

            Eastern Illinois

            Eastern Kentucky

            Jacksonville State

            Murray State

                                                                                               

            Missouri Valley

            Bradley

            Evansville

            Northern Iowa

            Southern Illinois

 

            Metro Atlantic Athletic

            Canisius

            Iona

            Loyola (Maryland)

            Manhattan

            Saint Peter’s

 

            Horizon

            Cleveland State

            Detroit

            Wisconsin-Green Bay

            Wisconsin-Milwaukee

           

            Western Athletic

            Hawaii

            Louisiana Tech

            San Jose State

            Utah State

 

                        Big West

            UC Irvine

            Pacific

            UC Riverside

            CS-Fullerton

 

                        Colonial Athletic

            Drexel

            James Madison

            UNC-Wilmington

            Old Dominion

            Towson

            William & Mary

           

            Big Sky

            Portland State

            Eastern Washington

 

            Big South

            Winthrop

            Liberty

 

            America East

            Albany

            Maine

 

         VISITING TEAMS

            Mid-Continent

            Valparaiso

           

            Southern

            Elon

            Appalachian State

 

            Southland

            Northwestern State

            Sam Houston State

 

            Patriot

            Colgate

            Holy Cross

 

 
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