A week after Bradley learned it would make its official O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters debut with a Feb. 17 game at Virginia Commonwealth, today the Braves learned they would play the game in prime time. ESPN announced the television schedule for the 2007 O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters this morning and the Bradley-VCU game will air at 7 p.m. (CST) on ESPN2, the third of four straight games involving Missouri Valley Conference games on “The Deuce.”
The 2007 O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters will tip off Feb. 16 when Winthrop visits Valley member Missouri State in a 6 p.m. (CST) contest from the Hammons Student Center. The Feb. 17 slate of televised games will begin when Appalachian State visits Wichita State for a noon tip on ESPNU. The Valley focus then will shift to ESPN2 for four straight games, beginning at 3 o'clock when Southern Illinois visits Butler. The ESPN2 schedule continues with UNI at Nevada at 5 p.m., followed by the Braves at VCU at 7 o'clock and Drexel at Creighton at 9 o'clock. In all, The Valley earned five of the six ESPN2 slots for the series and six overall appearances in the made-for-tv event.
Bradley will be making its third ESPN2 appearance of the year when the Braves visit VCU. The first two games both were played in Iowa: Bradley dumped Iowa State, 76-66, Dec. 16 in the Mediacom Cyclone Capital Classic in Des Moines, but fell at UNI, 76-65, Dec. 27 in The Valley opener for both teams. Dave Revsine (play-by-play) and Doug Gottlieb (analyst) called the action for both of Bradley's two previous ESPN2 telecasts, but the talent has not yet been announced for the Feb. 17 game.
Today's announcement was made as Bradley (16-9, 7-6) prepares for a critical Valley game Wednesday night at league co-leader Southern Illinois (19-5, 10-3). After Will Franklin's 12-foot bank shot with five-tenths of a second remaining delivered the Braves a 48-46 victory against the Salukis Jan. 10 at Carver Arena, Bradley will be shooting for its first regular-season sweep in the series since 2000-01. The Braves also will be gunning for their fourth Valley road win of the season, a number they have not achieved since 1997-98. Wednesday's 7:35 p.m. game will be televised live on FSN Midwest and will be tape-delayed at 1 a.m. Thursday on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.
Following Wednesday's game at Southern Illinois, the Braves will return home to host Drake in a 2:05 p.m. game Saturday at Carver Arena. The game against the Bulldogs is the featured event in the annual Alumni Weekend schedule of activities and is approaching sellout status. A limited number of tickets remain for Saturday's game and may be purchased ($18, $12 and $8) from the Bradley Ticket Office (309-677-2625), the Carver Arena Box Office (309-673-3200) or any TicketMaster outlet.
2007 O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters Schedule
Friday, Feb. 16 TV Time (CST)
Winthrop (Big South) at Missouri St. ESPN2 6 p.m.
Albany (America East) at Boise St. (WAC) ESPNU 8 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 17
Appalachian St. (SoCon) at Wichita St. ESPNU Noon
Holy Cross (Patriot) at Hofstra (CAA) ESPNU 2 p.m.
S. Illinois at #11 Butler (Horizon) ESPN2 3 p.m.
Kent St. (MAC) at George Mason (CAA) ESPN360 3 p.m.
Austin Peay (OVC) at Akron (MAC) ESPNU 4 p.m.
UNI at #13 Nevada (WAC) ESPN2 5 p.m.
Old Dominion (CAA) at Toledo (MAC) ESPN360 5 p.m.
Utah State (WAC) at Oral Roberts (MCC) ESPNU 6 p.m.
Bradley at VCU (CAA) ESPN2 7 p.m.
CS-Fullerton (Big West) at Wright St. (Horizon) ESPN360 7 p.m.
Drexel (Colonial) at Creighton ESPN2 9 p.m.
Ohio (MAC) at N.M. State (WAC) ESPN2 11 p.m.
Feb. 17 Non-Televised Valley Match-Ups
Miami-Ohio (MAC) at Indiana State N/A 1 p.m.
Evansville at Samford (OVC) N/A 2 p.m.
Ball State (MAC) at Illinois State N/A 4 p.m.
UW-Milwaukee (Horizon) at Drake N/A TBA
