CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A record five America East men’s basketball programs -Boston University, University of New Hampshire, University of Maine, Stony Brook University and University of Vermont- are part of a 114-team pool that will participate in the ninth-annual BracketBusters series, ESPN’s three-day men’s college basketball extravaganza pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other. The event, which will feature 11 televised contests on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, will take place Feb. 18-20 with the matchups being announced Jan. 31.
Stony Brook, which will play in the event for the first time, and Boston U. will have home games, while Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont will be on the road. Last season, America East teams went 3-0 in BracketBuster pool games with the Catamounts, Terriers and Wildcats all earning wins.
“BracketBusters gives us an extraordinary opportunity to showcase some of our top men’s basketball programs nationally and we are once again thrilled to be involved,” said America East Commissioner Patrick Nero. “After going 3-0 in BracketBuster games last season and with more teams representing our conference than ever before, this event will continue to allow us to show the rest of the country what America East basketball is all about.”
America East has had BracketBuster television games in four of the past six years, including Vermont’s 78-70 victory over Buffalo on ESPN2 in 2009. Albany appeared on ESPNU twice, suffering an 83-82 loss at Boise State in 2007 after falling, 70-67, at Virginia Commonwealth in 2006. Vermont traveled to Nevada for the event’s marquee game on ESPN2 in 2005. The Catamounts dropped a 74-64 decision to the Wolfpack, but advanced to the NCAA Tournament two weeks later where they upset Syracuse, 60-57, in the first round.
BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in NCAA Tournament play, will provide the 22 televised teams an opportunity to play other top non-conference opponents three weeks before Selection Sunday. The 92 teams not selected for BracketBusters will compete against each other through the same three days.
The 114-team field will feature teams from 15 conferences as well as one independent: 12 from the Mid-American Conference and Colonial Athletic; 10 from the Ohio Valley Conference, Missouri Valley and Metro Atlantic Athletic; nine from Big Sky, Big South, Big West and Western Athletic; eight from the Horizon League; five from America East and Southern; two from the MEAC and West Coast; and one from the Summit League, as well as independent Seattle.
As part of the agreement, all 11 of the BracketBusters home teams in televised games, as well as the remaining 46 home squads, will play a “return” game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the 2012-13 season.
Teams participating this season in BracketBusters have produced 74 appearances in the last five NCAA Tournaments, including Vermont in 2010.