This coming Saturday marks the fourth annual Bracket Buster Saturday, which features a record 100 teams from 18 different conferences. With Selection Sunday less than four weeks away, several key matchups this weekend will inevitably determine who will make the Big Dance and who will be headed to the consolation NIT.
The event, which began in 2003 with 18 teams, has expanded in each year of its existence. Of the 50 games, 11 of the more prominent matchups will be televised (although, unfortunately for Tufts students living on-campus, the games can only be viewed on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU).
The Patriot, Southland, Northeast, and Big South Conferences are participating in the event for the first time. The Mid-American Conference will have the largest representation on the day, with all 12 of its members participating. The Ohio Valley will send 11 teams, while the Missouri Valley and Metro Atlantic have 10 teams involved.
While the games are important for many of the teams involved, they are most crucial for the top teams in the MVC, in which there is currently a four-way tie between the Northern Iowa Panthers, Wichita State Shockers, Creighton Bluejays and Southern Illinois Salukis, all of whom stand at 11-4. Assuming that one of the four wins the conference tournament, thereby receiving the conference's automatic bid to the tournament, the other three have r?©sum?©s that give them a legitimate chance to get at-large bids on Selection Sunday.
In the past, however, the selection committee has snubbed teams from the smaller mid-major conferences, which raises the stakes of this weekend's Bracket Buster for many of these teams.
Throughout the season, these four teams have proven their worthiness. The Panthers have recorded victories over their in-state rivals, the Iowa Hawkeyes, and their Dec. 19 54-50 win over the LSU Tigers briefly placed them in the Associated Press' Top 25 Poll. The Shockers suffered a heartbreaking one-point loss against the 14th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. Creighton had a quality win over the Xavier Musketeers; and the Salukis defeated the Kent State Golden Flashes, who are tied for the lead in the MAC.
The head-to-head matchups between the four have showcased the depth and talent of this unheralded conference. The Panthers swept Wichita State, won their first matchup with the Salukis, and both their games to the Bluejays. The Shockers split their matchups with the Salukis and lost to Creighton in their first matchup, with their rematch coming tomorrow, and Southern Illinois swept the Bluejays.
The most intriguing matchup of the day will feature Northern Iowa hosting the Bucknell Bison. The Bison currently lead the Patriot League with an impressive 11-0 record, 1.5 games in front of the second-place Lehigh Mountain Hawks. They have an impressive win on the road over the Syracuse Orangemen and return all five starters from the 14th-seeded team that pulled off the biggest upset of last year's NCAA Tournament, knocking off the No. 3 seed Kansas Jayhawks in the first round.
Bucknell is the team that arguably has the most to gain from the Bracket Buster pairings, as the Bison will be looking for that second quality win that would greatly increase its prospects for an at-large bid. The Panthers are not lacking quality wins, but could use a non-conference win to validate their impressive start and early marquee victories.
Other intriguing games include pairings between Wichita State and the George Mason Patriots, Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers and Missouri State Bears, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and the Salukis, and the Akron Zips and Nevada Wolfpack. For many of the mid-major teams, unheralded and underrepresented throughout the season, Bracket Buster Saturday is a final step towards the Dance.
