The sixth annual O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters event, a two-day men's college basketball extravaganza pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other on February 22-23, will feature 14 nationally televised games -- on either ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com or ESPN Classic -- selected from a pool of 100 teams. For the fifth consecutive year, Bradley will be a participant in the field and will serve as a home team.
This year's coverage will feature the addition of a game on ESPN Classic. For the third straight year, ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will televise five BracketBusters games while ESPN360.com, ESPN's customized broadband service, will offer two. ESPN2 will televise six contests. ESPN360.com will also simulcast ESPN2's six telecasts. The 14 BracketBusters matchups will be announced February 4, while game time and network assignments will be announced February 11.
BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in NCAA Tournament play, will provide the 28 televised teams an opportunity to play other top non-conference opponents three weeks prior to Selection Sunday. The 72 teams not selected for BracketBusters will compete against each other over the same two days.
The 100-team field will feature all 10 teams from the Missouri Valley Conference, as well as 12 teams from the Mid-American Conference and Colonial Athletic; 11 from the Ohio Valley Conference; 10 from the Horizon League and Metro Atlantic Athletic; nine from the Western Athletic Conference and Big West; four from the America East and Southern; two from the Patriot, Big Sky and Big South; one from the West Coast, Summit League and Atlantic Sun.
The list of Bradley's potential opponents in the event includes: Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Western Michigan, Morehead State, Samford, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Fairfield, Marist, Niagara, Rider, Siena, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Youngstown State, Hawai'i, Idaho, Nevada, San Jose State, Cal Poly, Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, Delaware, George Mason, Georgia State, Hofstra, Northeastern, Albany, Binghamton, Boston University, Vermont, Davidson, Georgia Southern, Portland State, High Point and Bucknell.
As part of the agreement, all 14 of the BracketBusters home teams, as well as the remaining 36 home squads, will play a “return” game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the following season. Bradley has been a participant in the BracketBusters event since 2004 and earned its first spot in the televised field last season, responding with a 73-64 win at eventual CAA regular-season and tournament champion VCU Feb. 17 in a contest that was televised in prime time on ESPN2. In Bradley's first seven games created through its participation in the BracketBusters event, the Braves own a 5-2 record, including a 3-0 mark at Carver Arena.
BracketBusters is an example of ESPN college basketball franchise programming. Others include Rivalry Week Presented by Cisco, Feast Week, Holiday Hoops Presented by Kay Jewelers, Judgment Week Presented by Cisco and Championship Week Presented by Dick's Sporting Goods.
This year's BracketBusters pool features teams with 74 appearances in the last five NCAA Tournaments, including a team in the Final Four - George Mason (2006); and seven Sweet Sixteen squads ? Butler (2007), Southern Illinois (2007), Bradley (2006), Wichita State (2006), UW-Milwaukee (2005), Nevada (2004) and Butler (2003).
