ESPN BracketBusters Web site
The 2010 ESPN BracketBusters matchups were announced on Monday. For the fifth-straight year every Ohio Valley Conference school is participating in the event. Five OVC schools will host games this season while six will go on the road. All the games involving OVC teams will be played Saturday, Feb. 20.
Out of the pool of 98 teams, Murray State University (20-3) was one of the 22 teams chosen for one of 11 television games across the ESPN Family of Networks. The Racers will host Morgan State (15-7) at the Regional Special Events Center on Feb. 20 at 11 a.m. CT. The game will air on ESPNU.
This marks the fifth time an OVC school has been selected for a television game and the first time since 2007 when Austin Peay played Akron on ESPNU. OVC schools are 1-3 all-time in BracketBusters TV games with Murray State topping Rice in 2005 for that lone victory.
The 2010 non-television matchups include: Oral Roberts (13-10) at Austin Peay (13-10), Northern Illinois (8-11) at Eastern Illinois (11-11), Winthrop (11-10) at Eastern Kentucky (15-8), Presbyterian (4-19) at Jacksonville State (10-11), Morehead State (15-7) at Illinois State (15-7), Southeast Missouri State (6-15) at Miami (Ohio) (8-13), SIU Edwardsville (3-18) at Cal State Fullerton (10-10), Tennessee State (4-19) at Central Michigan (10-9), Tennessee Tech (12-10) at Appalachian State (12-9) and UT Martin (3-17) at Ball State (11-9).
Game times for the 10 non-television matchups will be announced at a later date. The four OVC teams who will host non-television games will have their matchups available for viewing on OVCSports.TV.
In its eighth year, ESPN BracketBusters is an ESPN television property that was tremendously successful with its first seven events in February of 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. The event has allowed Division I conferences to participate in a cutting-edge format that involves "wild card" pairings from the pool of participating teams, with half of the ESPN BracketBusters teams pre-designated as "home" and the remaining half as "road" teams.
What sets ESPN BracketBusters apart from the other made-for-television events is that the pairings of teams is not pre-determined. The actual pairings take place three weeks in advance of the event, and those matchups are determined on the basis of regular season play. Another important component for ESPN BracketBusters participants is future scheduling. Each team that participates in any given year agrees to enter into a home-and-home series with its to-be-named opponent. The return game of each series is made in November or December in the season following the BracketBusters game. This return game allows for the completion of the two-game series contract and is not part of the ESPN BracketBusters event in that second year.
The evaluation and pairings of teams for the ESPN television package will be made by the staff of ESPN, in consultation with the commissioners of participating conferences. Consideration will be given to avoiding matchups of conference teams and matchups of any teams that have already met during the current season.
OVC ALL-TIME RECORDS/FACTS IN ESPN BRACKETBUSTERS
All-Time Record: 16-29
All-Time Home: 9-12
All-Time Road: 7-17
All-Time Record in Return Games: 23-20
2003
No participants
2004
Austin Peay at Wichita State (TV - ESPN+) -- L, 62-47
2005
Austin Peay at East Tennessee State -- L, 85-81
Murray State at Rice (TV - ESPN+) -- W, 69-63
2006
Arkansas State at Austin Peay -- W, 92-71
Eastern Michigan at Eastern Illinois -- L, 65-50
UNC Asheville at Eastern Kentucky -- L, 83-77
New Orleans at Jacksonville State -- W, 79-74
Morehead State at Central Michigan -- L, 87-76
Illinois-Chicago at Murray State -- W, 72-68
Samford at Ohio (TV - ESPN 360) -- L, 64-52
Southeast Missouri at UC Riverside -- L, 69-61
Tennessee State at Ball State -- W, 70-69
Tennessee Tech at Bradley -- L, 77-62
UT Martin at Evansville -- W, 69-62
2007
Austin Peay at Akron (TV - ESPNU) -- L, 74-57
Eastern Illinois at Loyola (Chicago) -- L, 66-43
Eastern Kentucky at Youngstown State -- L, 66-61
Jacksonville State at Chattanooga -- L, 75-64
Bowling Green at Morehead State -- L, 90-72
Murray State at Rider -- W, 58-51
Evansville at Samford -- L, 69-65
Louisiana Tech at Southeast Missouri -- L, 72-56
Loyola College (Md.) at Tennessee State -- L, 62-60
Northwestern State at Tennessee Tech -- W, 85-84 (OT)
Saint Peter's at UT Martin -- W, 59-58
2008
Georgia Southern at Austin Peay -- W, 80-72
Evansville at Eastern Illinois -- L, 63-55
Ball State at Eastern Kentucky -- W, 51-48
Georgia State at Jacksonville State -- L, 85-78
Indiana State at Murray State -- L, 79-62
Morehead State at James Madison -- L, 89-57
Samford at Louisiana Tech -- W, 73-70
Southeast Missouri at Eastern Michigan -- L, 86-82
Tennessee State at Northern Illinois -- cancelled
Tennessee Tech at East Tennessee State -- L, 88-80
UT Martin at Elon -- W, 81-77
2009
Austin Peay at Drake -- L, 71-54
Eastern Illinois at Western Michigan -- W, 59-57
Ohio at Eastern Kentucky -- W, 73-51
Jacksonville State at Georgia Southern -- L, 66-63
Morehead State at Kent State -- L, 79-76
Louisiana Tech at Murray State -- L, 69-60
Northern Illinois at Southeast Missouri -- L, 97-73
Detroit at Tennessee State -- W, 78-75
Tennessee Tech at Ball State -- L, 59-55
Missouri State at UT Martin -- L, 79-77
2010
Oral Roberts at Austin Peay
Northern Illinois at Eastern Illinois
Winthrop at Eastern Kentucky
Presbyterian at Jacksonville State
Morehead State at Illinois State
Morgan State at Murray State (TV - ESPNU)
Southeast Missouri at Miami (Ohio)
SIU Edwardsville at Cal State Fullerton
Tennessee State at Central Michigan
Tennessee Tech at Appalachian State
UT Martin at Ball State