DENVER--Pairings for the ninth annual BracketBusters – a three-day men’s college basketball event pitting NCAA Championship hopefuls Friday, Feb. 18 - Sunday, Feb. 20 – were announced live on ESPNU’s 2011 BracketBusters Selection Show tonight, Monday, Jan. 31. The field features No. 21 Utah State in addition to seven teams receiving votes in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll.
The WAC will have one of the 11 televised games, featuring No. 21 Utah State at Saint Mary's. Utah State will travel to play Saint Mary's on Feb. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
BracketBusters will feature 11 nationally televised games over three days, selected from a 114 eligible teams – the largest pool in the event’s history. ESPNU and ESPN2 will each air five games; all ESPN2 contests will be simulcast on ESPN3.com.
Friday, Feb. 18
VCU at Wichita State, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Kent State at Drexel, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
Saturday, Feb. 19
Hoftstra at Wright State, 11 a.m. (ESPNU)
Austin Peay at Fairfield, 1 p.m. (ESPNU)
Iona at Liberty, 3 p.m. (ESPNU)
Missouri State at Valparaiso, 5 p.m. (EPSN2)
Vermont at College of Charleston, 5 p.m. (ESPNU)
George Mason at Northern Iowa, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
#21 Utah State at St. Mary's, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Montana at Long Beach State, 11 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday, Feb. 20
Cleveland State at Old Dominion, 1 p.m. (ESPN or ESPN2)
The other eight WAC teams that were not selected to compete in a BracketBusters television game will play non-conference opponents on Saturday, Feb. 19. Those matchups are as follows:
WAC Non-TV Matchups (Saturday, Feb. 19)
Boise State at UC Santa Barbara
Hawai‘i at UC Davis
Idaho at Montana State
UC Riverside at Fresno State
Georgia State at Louisiana Tech
UC Irvine at Nevada
Northern Colorado at New Mexico State
Weber State at San Jose State
The BracketBusters concept, named because of the success of participating teams from these conferences in NCAA Tournament play through the years, provides programs with an opportunity to play top non-conference opponents roughly three weeks before Selection Sunday. Each conference selects its participating teams before the season, and the matchups for the event are determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences. BracketBusters is an example of ESPN college basketball franchise programming. Others include Rivalry Week Presented by Cisco, Feast Week Presented by Lowe’s, Holiday Hoops Presented by Kay Jewelers and Judgment Week and Championship Week Presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods.