BU Hoops Blog

:: Can You Believe We've Been Doing This Shit for Six Years Now? ::

Friday, September 26, 2008

Too early to speculate on Bracketbuster opponent?

As the High Roller mentioned earlier this month, ESPN officially announced which schools would be playing in this year's Bracketbuster. This news confirms what Coach Wolff told me this summer, that BU would host a Bracketbuster game at The Greek this year, the first ever home BB matchup for the America East.

The games feature a whopping 102 schools. Thirteen of the games will get the Hollywood treatment on ESPN, ESPNU (which I don't get), ESPN Classic (which I don't get), and ESPN360.com (which I don't get). So even if the Terriers are good enough to play in a TV game this year, odds are I won't be able to watch anyway.

Unlike the High Roller though, I don't think February 20-21 seems too far away to speculate about matchups, does it?

Here's the full roster, separated into Home and Away teams, and sorted by last year's RPI:

HOME TEAMSROAD TEAMS
DrakeButler
Kent StateIllinois State
DavidsonVCU
St. Mary’sGeorge Mason
CreightonSouthern Illinois
SienaCleveland State
NevadaUtah State
Wright StateMiami (Ohio)
UC Santa BarbaraAkron
Portland StateCS Fullerton
San DiegoOhio
ValparaisoAustin Peay
WinthropBoise State
RiderUMBC
MaristBradley
NiagaraCS Northridge
Western MichiganMissouri State
New Mexico StateNorthern Iowa
UNC WilmingtonMorgan State
Indiana StatePacific
Old DominionLoyola-Maryland
Georgia SouthernGreen Bay
Illinois-ChicagoUC Irvine
William & MaryAppalachian State
FairfieldNortheastern
MilwaukeeHartford
Central MichiganDelaware
Murray StateToledo
VermontNorth Dakota State
Wichita StateGardner-Webb
Bowling GreenElon
BucknellIona
Tennessee-MartinMorehead State
James MadisonMontana State
Cal PolyHofstra
Tennessee StateFresno State
Loyola ChicagoLiberty
Youngstown StateBuffalo
TowsonManhattan
Eastern MichiganTennessee Tech
San Jose StateFairleigh Dickinson
Boston U.Georgia State
DrexelDetroit
EvansvilleUC Riverside
Eastern KentuckyNorthern Illinois
Hawai’iSaint Peter’s
Southeast Missouri StateCanisius
Ball StateLouisiana Tech
IdahoSouth Dakota State
UC DavisEastern Illinois
Long Beach StateJacksonville State

Although it's a rough estimate, last year's rankings dictate that we would have gotten Georgia State this year - a serious upgrade from St. Peter's (who you'll notice is 4 spots lower than BU). Vermont (North Dakota State) and Hartford (Wisc.-Milwaukee) got cool matchups too.

Based on past history, we'll get a shitty MAAC team again. Luckily, we can't get St. Pete's again since we're already playing them this year, but I guess that puts Manhattan back into the mix. Somehow, ALL 10 TEAMS from the MAAC make it into the Bracketbuster! It makes no sense! So of course, we'll probably end up with Iona, or Canisius, or someone equally as lame.

For selfish geographic purposes, I'd love to draw VCU or George Mason, or maybe Morgan State or Loyola if we suck this year. And the High Roller would I'm sure enjoy UC-Irvine or UC-Riverside or Cal State Fullerton.

But part of me just wants some random team we've never faced before - kind of like Albany randomly got Boise State a couple years ago. I'd gladly take Utah State or Austin Peay or Detroit or South Dakota State.

Labels: , , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home