Bracketbusters (For real)

Here is the line-up of televised bracketbuster matchups (of which there are 11, not 13... stupid me).

Friday:
VCU @ Nevada - Huzzah for the heroes of yesteryear. Oh, alright, these two are still decent, but they still won't have any meaningful impact on this year's tourney (mainly because they won't be in it).

Illinois St. @ Niagara - I guess I can see why this matchup seemed appealing. Illinois St. was big news for the amount of time they went undefeated, and is still #2 in conference. This should be a good preview of the UNI-Siena game.

Saturday:
Butler @ Davidson - Obvious matchup is obvious to everyone not in Loudonville.

Northern Iowa @ Siena - In retrospect, putting the top team from the MVC here makes more sense than the top team from the CAA. Poor Siena though - if only they could make outside shots.

Utah St. @ St. Mary’s - As predicted, although if you remember I was set to put Utah St. on a cross-country flight until I was swayed by a commenter. I suppose I should remember that people on the East Coast don't give much respect to teams on the other side of the country.

Boise St. @ Portland St. - I figured that neither of these teams would get much respect. I still don't expect them to make it on the 2.


Buffalo @ Vermont - Top MAC team + top America East team. Thats why these two are in this game.

Northeastern @ Wright St. - Northeastern gets a meh matchup, despite being in great position to win the CAA.

UW-Green Bay @ Long Beach St. - Having the second team from the Horizon on TV isn't that surprising, but I didn't have LBSU anywhere near a prime slot.

George Mason @ Creighton - I picked the wrong CAA team for this one - I suppose ESPN is banking on George Mason's Final Four popularity continuing.

Miami (OH) @ Evansville - As I said earlier - Evansville made the TV slot because they were news earlier in the year, supposedly being this year's Drake.
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Bracketbusters to be released later today

So, I was making up my seed list, and realized that the Bracketbuster line-up would be set sometime later today. So, here is my best guess as to the televised match-ups (even if 360 games really shouldn't count).

ESPN2
Butler @ Davidson - In my mind, a no-brainer. These two are the only two in the pool that are locks for the tournament. Besides, ESPN knows that everyone knows these two are good.

Northeastern @ Siena - I was going to put Utah St. as the visiting team here, but then I read my comments. The anonymous reader made a pretty persuasive argument as to why this should be the match-up. Additionally, Utah St isn't the most exciting team in the minds of east-coasters, and I can imagine that there may be some pressure to not have teams fly cross-country.

Utah St. @ St. Mary's - An intriguing West Coast match-up, and again a match that would save on some travel costs. Both teams are right on the bubble, but St. Mary's has because notably less impressive with the loss of Patty Mills. While I'm sure Utah St. would have liked a better opponent, a win at Moraga will still give them some boost.

VCU @ Creighton - A battle of yesterday's darlings - thats why this game makes it onto the premier list. Sure, VCU was supposed to be good this year, but right now they are all but assured of finishing third in the CAA. Creighton was also supposed to be fairly good, but are three back of Northern Iowa in the Valley. Basically, a meaningless game.

George Mason @ Niagara - Another meaningless matchup, that will be televised instead of a meaningful one. Even the most casual basketball fan knows about George Mason, and you can bet that ESPN wants them in the line-up. As for their opponent - at least in the Northeast, people probably know Niagara better than Vermont, Wright St, or Evansville.

Cleveland St. @ Evansville - Whats that you say? Cleveland St. has no shot of making the tournament as an at-large, despite their earlier win at Syracuse? Evansville's "magical" season has proven to be a fraud? With all the prominent teams gone, ESPN will probably try to woo casual viewers with some teams that made the news earlier in the season.

ESPNU
Northern Iowa @ Vermont
Miami (OH) @ Wright St.
North Dakota St. @ Portland St.
Illinois St. @ New Mexico St.
Buffalo @ Drake

ESPN360
Wisconsin-Green Bay @ Fairfield
Bradley @ Nevada

So, I should have a seed list up by noon, and I'll also post after the Bracketbuster matchups are released.
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