ESPN's Bracketbusters Schedule Announced

ESPN has announced their line-up for Bracketbusters, which will take place on Feb. 20th and 21st. Over 100 teams are taking part in Bracketbusters, but there are five games that you should take note of. For anyone that fills out a bracket, this is the perfect opportunity to get a chance to scout watch some potential upset picks, as each of these games will be nationally televised on the ESPN family of networks.

The best game of the bunch will take place in Belk Arena on the campus of Davidson College as the Wildcats host the Butler Bulldogs. While it should be fun to see the young Bulldogs take on Steph Curry and company in their first national game this year, this is far from the only intriguing match-up:

• Utah State @ St. Mary's: This is the other game I am going to keep a close eye on as it is pretty tough to get a chance to see teams from the WAC play when you are living on the east coast. This game lost a lot of its sparkle, however, when news broke that Patty Mills will actually be getting surgery and is most likely out until the WCC tournament.
• VCU @ Nevada: While these may not be the two best teams in the Bracketbusters event, it may be the only game with two legitimate NBA prospects in VCU's Eric Maynor and Nevada's Luke Babbitt.
• Northern Iowa @ Siena: Both of these teams look like they are going to run away with their conference regular season title, but could really use some help for their resume on the chance they lose during the conference tournament.
• George Mason @ Creighton: Mason once again has a solid squad for Lim Larranaga, but P'Allen Stinnet and Booker Woodfox are a tough 1-2 punch to handle.
  

Bracketbusters is great. There are the obvious reasons - it gives some of the best mid-majors a chance to play on national TV (something they don't do too often); it allows the millions of bracketeers across the country a chance to scout watch a number of teams that could make noise come March; it makes for some great basketball games (I will absolutely be tuned in for Davidson-Butler).

But what I like the most about it is that it gives some of these mid-majors a chance to pick up another good win. For example, St. Mary's doesn't have many good wins this year (their three best are Providence, Southern Illinois, and San Diego State), but knocking off team like Utah State, who has but one loss on the season, could help them with seeding and improve their chances of landing an at-large berth if they were to lose in the WCC tourney.