BRISTOL, Conn. - Two America East men's basketball programs - University at
Albany and University of Vermont - are part of a 122-team pool that will
participate in the 11th annual BracketBusters
series, ESPN's two-day men's college basketball event that pits potential NCAA
Championship hopefuls against each other Feb. 22 and 23.
The event will feature
13 nationally televised games across ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 and includes teams
from 15 different conferences. America East has had a televised game as part of the event in five of the last eight seasons.
Vermont, a home team for the event, has made three BracketBuster
television appearances, with the last coming in 2011 when the Catamounts fell
to College of Charleston on ESPNU. The Catamounts also received a TV game in
2009, beating Buffalo on ESPN2, 88-80. Albany, a road team for the event, appeared on ESPNU twice,
suffering narrow losses at Boise State in 2007 (83-82) and VCU in 2006 (70-67).
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.
Last year, all nine America East teams competed in BracketBusters and went 5-4 in those
games.
The Catamounts, who are off to a 1-1 start this season, are the conference's preseason favorite and have six letterwinners and three starters back from their 2011-12 squad that won the America East title and posted a first-round NCAA victory. The Great Danes are 2-1 and have wins over Pac-12 (Washington) and Atlantic 10 (Duquesne) squads to start the season. Albany has eight letterwinners and three starters back from a team that won 19 games last year, its most since the 2006-07 season.
ESPN2 will feature five BracketBusters games, while ESPNU
and ESPN3 will each house four games. The 13 BracketBusters matchups
will be announced Monday, Jan. 28 with dates, times and networks. The televised
matchups are selected by ESPN, while a Committee of Conference Commissioners
determines the additional non-televised games.
BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in
NCAA Championship play, will provide the 26 televised teams an opportunity to
play other top non-conference opponents three weeks before Selection Sunday.
The 96 teams not selected for BracketBusters will compete against each
other through the same three days.
The 122-team field will feature teams from 13 conferences: 12 each
from Big South, Mid-American Conference and Ohio Valley Conference; 11 from the
Big Sky; 10 each from Big West, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Missouri
Valley and Southland Conference; nine each from Horizon and Summit Leagues; six
from the Western Athletic Association; four from the Southern Conference; three
from the MEAC; and two each from the America East and West Coast Conferences.
As part of the agreement, all 13 of the BracketBusters home
teams in televised games, as well as the remaining 58 home squads, will play a
return game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of
the 2013-14 season.
BracketBusters is part of ESPN's college basketball
franchise programming, along with Feast Week presented by Lowe's, Holiday
Hoops Presented by Kay Jewelers, Rivalry Week, Bracket Builder Week and
Championship Week Presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods.
Teams participating this season in BracketBusters have
produced 101 appearances in the last seven NCAA Championships, including Albany in 2006 and 2007 and Vermont in 2010 and 2012
.