Katz - Bracket Buster matchups next week

[WarriorFlame]

As written in his daily word:

ESPN.com's Andy Katz now drops his Daily Word on Insider, bringing you the news, notes, analysis and insight that have made Katz one of the nation's leading college basketball voices.
Mid-major teams are starting to get anxious about where and whom they're going to play on Bracket Buster Saturday on Feb. 19.

Pairings are going to be announced Jan. 30.

The best teams in the field appear to be Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley), Western Michigan (MAC), Wichita State (Missouri Valley), UTEP (WAC), Pacific (Big West), Oral Roberts (Mid-Continent), Cal State-Northridge (Big West), Fresno State (WAC), Nevada (WAC) and Vermont (America East).

But here is the problem: On this list, SIU, Western Michigan, Wichita State, UTEP, Northridge, Vermont and Oral Roberts are all designated road teams.

The best home teams on the list are Pacific, Fresno State and Nevada. The catch with this event is that the games which are set up are then reversed as a non-conference game the following season.

So, if Wichita State is at Fresno State in Bracket Buster then Fresno State has to return a game to Wichita State next season in a regular-season game (not a part of Bracket Buster). Sometimes, teams might not want to get involved with a return game (like Hawaii at Vermont next year).

Eleven of the games will be nationally televised on the ESPN networks out of the total of 32 games, with teams coming from 13 different conferences overall.

Here is the list of home and road teams that the committee, made of the conference commissioners, has to decide where to place by next weekend:

HOME TEAMS
Horizon: Butler, Detroit, Illinois-Chicago, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wright State, Youngstown State

MAC: Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Kent State, Toledo, Miami (Ohio)

Missouri Valley: Missouri Valley, Creighton, Drake, Evansville, Northern Iowa, Southwest Missouri State

Sun Belt: Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State

WAC: Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, Rice, Tulsa, Louisiana Tech

Big West: Pacific

CAA: George Mason

MAAC: Fairfield

SoCon: Southern, College of Charleston, East Tennessee State

AWAY TEAMS
Horizon: Cleveland State, Loyola-Ill., Wisconsin-Milwaukee

MAC: Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio

Missouri Valley: Bradley, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Wichita State

Sun Belt: Arkansas-Little Rock, New Orleans

WAC: San Jose State, SMU, UTEP

America East: Vermont

Big Sky: Northern Arizona, Portland State, Weber State

Big West: Cal State-Northridge

CAA: Virginia Commonwealth, Drexel

MAAC: Manhattan, Niagara

Mid-Con: Oral Roberts, Valparaiso

Ohio Valley: Austin Peay, Murray State

SoCon: Georgia Southern, Tennessee-Chattanooga

[UICJohn]

And with Detroit and UWGB on our schedule before they are announced, it makes it that much bigger. We have a home game, so the fact that alot of those better teams are away teams could be key. I would not mind SIU at all. I think that the games against us were good to begin with and they bring in good crowds. SIU would be a good television game for ESPN. I hope they think the same. Western Michigan would also be a nice opponent, but in terms of television and crowd, I think SIU would be a nice fit.

[spike1057]

I agree with you UICJOHN I think a SIU game would be great for our city. Last time they were here it was crazy, and we won on that last second shot by Martell. If we were to get that game it would be great, but I think we would need to win the rest of our games until the teams are picked. That means we need to beat UDM, and UGB at Green Bay.

[Big D]

I don't know, I have a hard time seeing us being paired with SIU. They are arguably the best bracket buster team playing an away game. So, if the committee does what it's supposed to (pair good teams with good teams), you'd think SIU would be paired with a better team than us (there are many teams playing a home game that I would say are better right now...as far as RPI, record, etc.). As for us, maybe we'll pull an Ohio or a Buffalo...at best, maybe Bradley or Oral Roberts....but I don't think we come close to being paired with teams like SIU, Wichita St, Vermont....

Now, if the committee decides to mix appeal into the whole thing (which you know they probably will), SIU/UIC would be a great matchup...or UIC/Bradley.....but still, I think we get Bradley before SIU....just because of our record and RPI.

We need to win these next two games and hope our opponent's will win their games to push our RPI up as much as possible...then we take who we get...but I am not holding my breath for a good team....