A Viewer's Guide to BracketBusters: Ranking the TV games

Over the last couple of seasons, BracketBusters has become less and less relevant. Between the lack of marquee games and the fact that the losers of the matchups tend to be hurt more than the winners are helped, there has been a fairly strong reaction to the event. Some have even dubbed it BracketEliminators.

This season isn't all that different. With the notable exception being that the two marquee games are quite appealing, ESPN once again put together a schedule that doesn't necessarily help all of the teams involved. Those with slim at-large hopes are putting them at risk for a game that won't be the answer to their NCAA Tournament problems.

Putting all that aside and focusing on what will happen on the court, there should be plenty of excitement in February's third weekend. Without further ado, here are the 13 TV games, ranked in order of watchability.

You can find the full schedule of the BracketBuster games here.
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The Complete BracketBusters Schedule

TV Games:
2/17 - 7:00PM - Northern Iowa (14-9, 4-7 MVC) @ Virginia Commonwealth (18-5, 9-2 CAA) - ESPN2

2/17 - 9:00PM - Valparaiso (15-8, 8-3 Horizon) @ Loyola-Marymount (13-9, 6-3 WCC) - ESPNU

2/18 - 11:00AM – Drexel (17-5, 9-2 CAA) @ Cleveland State (18-4, 8-2 Horizon) - ESPNU

2/18 - 12:00PM – Wichita State (18-4, 9-2 MVC) @ Davidson (15-5, 9-1 SoCon) - ESPN or ESPN2

2/18 - 1:00PM – Buffalo (12-6, 5-2 MAC) @ South Dakota State (17-6, 9-2 Summit) - ESPNU

2/18 - 2:00PM – Akron (14-7, 6-1 MAC) @ Oral Roberts (20-4, 12-0 Summit) - ESPN or ESPN2

2/18 - 3:00PM – Drake (13-9, 6-5 MVC) @ New Mexico State (15-7, 5-2 WAC) - ESPNU

2/18 - 4:00PM – Nevada (18-3, 7-0 WAC) @ Iona (17-5, 9-2 MAAC) - ESPN or ESPN2

2/18 - 5:00PM – Old Dominion (14-9, 9-2 CAA) @ Missouri State (13-10, 6-5 MVC) - ESPNU

2/18 - 6:00PM – Saint Mary’s (21-2, 10-0 WCC) @ Murray State (21-0, 9-0 OVC) - ESPN or ESPN2

2/18 - 7:00PM – UNC Asheville (16-7, 11-1 Big South) @ Ohio (17-4, 5-2 MAC) - ESPN3

2/18 - 8:00PM – UT-Arlington (15-5, 7-0 Southland) @ Weber State (16-4, 8-1 Big Sky) - ESPN3

2/18 - 10:00PM – Long Beach State (16-6, 9-0 Big West) at Creighton (20-2, 10-1 MVC) - ESPN2


 Non-TV games:
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Bracket Busters schedule released

The schedule has been released for Bracket Busters, ESPN's annual showcase of all things mid-major. The televised games are listed below, while a complete schedule can be found by clicking this link:


I was covering the Georgetown-Louisville game last night when this news broke, which means that I'm late to the party. I could give a top five games list like everyone else did, but do you really need to see me say the exact say thing as Andy Katz, Jeff Eisenberg, or Dave Ommen?

Didn't think so.

Instead, I'll give you this list -- the top seven players-you-have-never-seen-and-thus-need-to-see-play in Bracket Busters:

• Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion: Bazemore is a sensational athlete and one of the best defenders in the country, which is enough in and of itself to attract my attention. But Bazemore has also added to his offensive repertoire. The 6'5" junior is averaging a career-high 11.8 ppg and shooting 37% from three, which are impressive given his limitations coming into the season.

• Norris Cole, Cleveland State: How many players at any level of the sport do you know that average 20-5-5? Well, Cole does, has his 20.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, and 5.2 apg (to go along with 2.9 spg) is the single biggest reason that the Vikings are 20-3 on the season, in first place in the Horizon, and in the conversation for an at-large bid.


• Mike Glover, Iona: Glover, the younger brother of former St. John's forward Anthony Glover, has taken a bit of a windy road to get to Iona, but the streetballer known has Optimus Prime has been living up to his nickname with the Gaels. The 6'7" combo-forward is averaging 19.7 ppg and 10.1 rpg, including 13 double-doubles and a 25 point, 16 rebound effort against Syracuse.

• Andrew Goudelock, Charleston: If you are a college basketball fan, then you should know who Andrew Goudelock is. In fact, if you consider yourself a real fan, and you have never seen this young man play, then this game is your homework assignment. He's averaging 23.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 4.4 apg while shooting 41.0% from three. Last year, he led an upset of North Carolina. This season? Charleston barely missed against Maryland, UNC, and Clemson, but they did knock off Tennessee.


• Charles Jenkins, Hofstra: Everything I just said about Goudelock can be repeated for Jenkins. He's a big time scoring guard that has thrown this Hofstra team on his back this season. He's averaging 23.3 ppg, 5.1 apg, 3.7 rpg, and shooting 43.3% from the field while appearing to be well on his way to winning a third straight Haggerty Award as the best player in the NYC metro region.


• Cam Long, George Mason: The Patriots got off to a bit of a slow start this season, but the biggest reason they have rebounded and are now contending for the CAA title has been the emergence of long. This 6'4" guard has always had the talent, but consistency was the issue. Since GMU lost three of four back in early January, Long has averaged 19.1 ppg during a seven game winning streak.

• Derek Needham, Fairfield: The Stags are 17-4 on the season and 10-1 in MAAC play thanks in very large part to their 5'11" sophomore point guard. Needham is averaging 14.9 ppg and 4.9 apg this season, which, believe it or not, is down from his performance as a freshman.
  

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BracketBusters actually worked, the teams that needed wins just didn't win

BracketBusters weekend did not exactly have the outcome that many believed it would this year.

Instead of mid-major teams playing their way into the tournament, the consensus seems to be that the bubble teams that did participate in the event only hurt their chances of earning an at-large bid. With the outcome of so many games going against the teams on the bubble, the big winners of the weekend were teams like St. Mary's, UConn, and Mississippi State; teams that vaulted up a few spots on the bubble thanks to the losses of the BracketBusting mid-majors.



All this has led to some talk of the BracketBusters system being imperfect.

Its not.

Think about it. For a mid-major playing in BracketBusters, it is really no different than playing one of the best teams from your conference. Is there all that big of a difference between Old Dominion losing at Northern Iowa and losing at a William & Mary or Northeastern? Is Wichita State losing at Utah State any worse than if they lost at Northern Iowa or Illinois State?

If there is not BracketBusters, then where do these mid-majors go to fill that game? Do they schedule a middle-of-the-pack power conference team to play on the road? If you are looking to solidify a resume, would you rather play Butler or Alabama? Northern Iowa or Seton Hall?

More than anything, the bottom line is that the BracketBuster game is just one game. And one game is not going to make or break a team's resume.

Butler beat Siena in a brunch-time tipoff on Saturday.
(photo credit: SBRSports)

There were four teams on the bubble that lost their BracketBusters game - Old Dominion, William & Mary, Siena, and Wichita State. How much of an effect did the loss really have on their at-large chances?

• Old Dominion lost at Northern Iowa on Friday night. Northern Iowa has three losses all season, none of which came at home. They are currently sitting at 15th in the RPI. This is a team that is rated as high as a six seed according to some of the mock brackets that have come out. There is no shame in losing to Northern Iowa on the road, and its a loss that should have a minimal effect on the Monarch's seeding. If they had won, however, it would have been ODU's second best win of the season. As it is, ODU still probably needs to win three games - two regular season, at least one in the CAA tourney - if they want to feel at all comfortable on Selection Sunday. I probably would have said the same thing before the Northern Iowa game.
  
• Siena lost at Butler on Saturday in a situation similar to Old Dominion's. Before this game, Siena was probably not going to get an at-large bid. That's what happens when you don't have a win against anyone in the RPI top 50. If they had pulled off the upset in Hinkle Fieldhouse, it might have been enough to give the Saints some insurance should they get upset in the MAAC Tournament. If Siena really wanted to gripe, they should be mad at themselves for losing at Niagara and blowing their best chance at an at-large bid - going undefeated in league play.
• Wichita State lost at Utah State late on Saturday night. Even with a win, the Shockers were a long shot to make the field thanks to a disappointing few weeks in the MVC, which included a loss to Evansville. The win did help Utah State so long as the Shockers finish the season strong. WSU is currently sitting at 50th in the RPI, giving the Aggies their second top 50 win.
• William & Mary was the only team that really suffered in BracketBusters, as they lost to Iona on the road. The loss may have been the end of the Pride's at-large chances. William & Mary may have the best non-conference resume for mid-major bubble teams - beating Richmond at home and Maryland and Wake Forest on the road. To be honest, I don't feel bad for W&M. They wouldn't be in this predicament if they had beaten UNC-Wilmington at home or James Madison on the road, two teams that are 4-12 in the CAA. Or, and this may be a crazy thought, they could have simply beaten Iona.
  

The bottom line? No matter who you play, you must win games to make the tournament.

Old Dominion, Siena, and Wichita State lost games that would have helped their tournament resume. William & Mary lost a game it should have won. If ODU and Siena had both won, and that win helped the two teams to earn an at-large bid, people would be singing a much different tune about BracketBusters.

So until a situation arises in which a team winning their BracketBusters game has a negative effect on their tournament resume, I think BracketBusters is working just fine.

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Complete list of the Bracket Buster matchups

On Monday, ESPN released their schedule of televised Bracket Buster games, and we got a couple of very good ones. If you are planning on filling out a bracket (which, if you read this site, is probably true multiple times over), than this is a pretty big weekend for you. Upsets are what make the tournament exciting, but not just because everyone loves an underdog story.

We do.

Watching Stephen Curry carry undermanned Davidson to within a shot of the Final Four is the stuff Disney movies legends are made of.

But lets not kid ourselves. The reason upsets are so exciting is because you called that 12 seed beating that 5 seed; or you picked the 4 seed that's about to lose to a 13 seed to make the Elite 8; or you thought that 10 seed would beat that 2 seed. The key to winning a bracket is predicting those upsets. Everyone had UNC making the Final Four last season, but it was the guy that had Arizona in the Sweet 16, Dayton beating West Virginia, and Wisconsin getting past Florida State that probably won money.

So what is so great about Bracket Busters weekend?

It allows the nation a chance to see the team's that will make or break our brackets. Bragging rights will be earned and money will be made by the people that take Saturday to enjoy some of the best mid-major hoops in the country. Hit the jump for the full breakdown of games.


Games with Bubble implications

• 2/19 - 7:00 pm: Old Dominion @ Northern Iowa (ESPN2): Barring a collapse, Northern Iowa is in. They are 20-2 on the season and 10-1 in the MVC, with their only loss coming at a Wichita State, another bubble team with one of the best home courts in the country. Old Dominion, on the other hand, has a little bit of work to do to feel safe. The Monarchs are 17-6 on the season, but they don't exactly have any bad losses. The worst, believe it or not, is probably to Mississippi State. They are 9-2 in the CAA, but those losses came at George Mason and at Northeastern, the two other teams competing for the CAA title. They've knocked off Georgetown and William & Mary on the road as well. The Monarchs still could earn an at-large bid if they lose to UNI with a strong finish in league play, but beating a team on the road with an RPI in the top 20 is always a good thing.


• 2/20 - 11:00 am: Siena @ Butler (ESPNU): I feel like I could just retype the previous preview, exchange Butler with Northern Iowa and Siena with Old Dominion, and nothing would change. Butler should be in. They are 18-4, they have a top 20 RPI, and if the regular season has shown us anything, they shouldn't have a problem cruising to a win in their conference tournament. Siena, on the other hand, whiffed on all of their chances for a signature win. But they have no bad losses (at Temple, at Georgia Tech, at Northern Iowa, only vs. St. John's is questionable), an RPI in the 40's, and a 13 game winning streak. There is a shot that they could still get in even with a loss, and will definitely be the favorites to win the MAAC Tournament, but I'm sure every Saints fan will like to see them pad that resume a little bit.


• 2/20 - 11:59 pm: Wichita State @ Utah State (ESPN2): If you want an idea of how weak the bubble is this season, both the Shockers and the Aggies have a shot at earning an at-large bid this season. The Shockers probably have the better chance at making a run to a bid, simply because they get another shot an Northern Iowa on Wednesday. They probably need to sweep UNI (they beat them in their first meeting at home earlier in the season) and pick up the win at Utah State if they want any serious consideration. The Aggies have a very nice win over BYU, but other than that they have not played much of anyone. The WAC probably doesn't warrant an at-large bid this season, but if anyone is going to get it, it will be USU. To do that, however, the Aggies are probably going to have to win out.
  

Other televised games

• 2/19 - 9:00 pm: William & Mary @ Iona (ESPN2)
  
• 2/20 - 12:00 pm: Morgan State @ Murray State (ESPNU)
• 2/20 - 1:00 pm: Louisiana Tech @ Northeastern (ESPN2)
• 2/20 - 3:00 pm: Nevada @ Missouri State (ESPN2)
• 2/20 - 4:00 pm: Akron @ VCU (ESPNU)
• 2/20 - 8:00 pm: Charleston @ George Mason (ESPN2)
• 2/20 - 8:00 pm: Western Carolina @ Kent State (ESPNU)
  
• 2/20 - 10:00 pm: New Mexico State @ Pacific (ESPNU)

Non-televised games: These games have not had their times or dates announced by the schools as of yet. They will be trickling out over the course of the next week or so.

Tennessee Tech at Appalachian State
Oral Roberts at Austin Peay
Tennessee-Martin at Ball State
California-Davis at Boise State
Valparaiso at Bowling Green
Drexel at Bradley
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at Cal State Fullerton
Drake at Cal State Northridge
Marist at California-Irvine
Youngstown State at California-Riverside
Fresno State at California-Santa Barbara
James Madison at Canisius
Tennessee State at Central Michigan
Toledo at Cleveland State
Loyola (Ill.) at Creighton
Boston University at Delaware
Eastern Michigan at Detroit
Northern Illinois at Eastern Illinois
Winthrop at Eastern Kentucky
Illinois-Chicago at Evansville
Elon at Gardner-Webb
South Carolina State at Georgia State
Cal Poly at Hawaii
Rider at Hofstra
Long Beach State at Idaho
Morehead State at Illinois State
Presbyterian at Jacksonville State
New Hampshire at Loyola (Md.)
Towson at Manhattan
Southeast Missouri at Miami (Oh.)
San Jose State at Montana State
Wright State at Ohio
North Carolina-Wilmington at Radford
Buffalo at Saint Peter's
Western Michigan at Southern Illinois
Fairfield at Vermont
Indiana State at Wisconsin-Green Bay
Niagara at Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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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. Continue reading...