Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell to Play Road BracketBusters Game in February
8/23/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 23, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - ESPN on Thursday announced the field for the sixth annual O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters showcase, and for the third straight year Bucknell is included. The Bison are a designated road team for the event, which runs on Feb. 22-23 and pits potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other, with 14 nationally televised games on either ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com or ESPN Classic.
The BracketBusters matchups will be selected from a pool of 100 teams. The 14 BracketBusters matchups will be announced on Feb. 4, while game time and network assignments will be announced Feb. 11.
Bucknell is 1-1 in its previous two BracketBusters appearances. In 2006, the Bison traveled to Cedar Falls, Iowa and dropped a 65-61 double-overtime heartbreaker to Northern Iowa in a game televised nationally on ESPN2. Last season, Bucknell defeated Towson 73-63 at Sojka Pavilion.
As part of the BracketBusters agreement, the home team is required to make a return trip to the visitors' home court for a regular-season contest the following year. Northern Iowa visited Lewisburg last December, and this season the Bison will travel to Towson on Nov. 14.
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 over the same two days.
This year's coverage will feature the addition of a game on ESPN Classic. Six games will be televised on ESPN2, while ESPNU will televise five BracketBusters games and ESPN360.com will offer two and will also simulcast ESPN2's six telecasts.
The 100-team field features teams from 16 different conferences, and includes teams with 74 appearances in the last five NCAA Tournaments, including one Final Four participant and seven Sweet Sixteen squads. Holy Cross will join Bucknell in representing the Patriot League in this season's event.
Bucknell, which has won 20 or more games in each of the last three seasons, opens the 2007-08 campaign on Nov. 10 at home against Albany.
BracketBusters Away Teams: Albany, Ball State, Binghamton, Boston University, Bowling Green, BUCKNELL, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, Central Michigan, Creighton, Davidson, Delaware, Drake, Evansville, Fairfield, George Mason, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Hawaii, High Point, Hofstra, Idaho, Illinois-Chicago, Indiana State, Kent State, Long Beach State, Loyola (Ill.), Marist, Miami (Ohio), Morehead State, Nevada, Niagara, Northeastern, Portland State, Rider, Samford, San Jose State, Siena, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Vermont, Virginia Commonwealth, Western Michigan, Wichita State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State, Youngstown State.
BracketBusters Home Teams: Akron, Appalachian State, Austin Peay, Boise State, Bradley, Buffalo, Butler, Cal-State Fullerton, Cal-State Northridge, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Canisius, Cleveland State, Detroit, Drexel, East Tennessee State, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Elon, Fresno State, Holy Cross, Illinois State, Iona, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Louisiana Tech, Loyola (Md.), Manhattan, Missouri State, Murray State, New Mexico State, UNC-Wilmington, Northern Arizona, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Old Dominion, Oral Roberts, Pacific, Saint Mary's, Saint Peter's, Southern Illinois, Toledo, Towson, Utah State, Valparaiso, William & Mary, Winthrop, Wisconsin-Green Bay.
