Ding dong, Bracket Buster is dead

[TheAsianSensation]

With that information, my bracketbuster projections:

ESPN2 games
1) Creighton at Belmont - this is a 100% lock.
2) South Dakota St at Wichita St - at this point, it feels like SDSU is the best bet to emerge as the 2nd best team in the away pool
3) North Dakota St at St Mary's
4) Detroit at Akron - actually, Detroit's a darkhorse for WSU but Detroit/Akron fits like a glove, and Akron is going to have some pull with a decent resume
5) Evansville at Utah St - toughest call on the board. I think EU and EKU are neck and neck for this last road spot, and I think ESPN will gravitate to Utah St over Valpo or Indiana St.

ESPNU games
6) Eastern Kentucky at Indiana St - not the greatest draw for ISU
7) Denver at Long Beach St
8) Stephen F Austin at Valparaiso - note this is the spot where you can swap Valpo and Utah St. But I'm going to predict Utah St is going to rise up and Stephen F Austin is going to tank, making EU more desirable.
9) Iona at Murray St

ESPN3 games
10) Loyola (MD) at Vermont
11) Albany at Niagara
12) Ohio at Wright St
13) Bradley at Western Illinois - Bradley may be a stretch, but tell me what road team I left out should be in here. Weber St, Savannah St, Pacific, Montana, NW St, Canisiuss, Idaho, right on down the line.

Also UNI is in a weird spot. I project no TV despite an 87 RPI. They're also the victim of an overloaded home field. The last 4 home teams chosen are all either 1st or 2nd in their conference.

[isumvc1]

how about Detroit at Indiana State for an espn2 game asian? That would be a close game for ISU to return.

[MVCfans]

TAS - I did that a few times last year and it was a bear. I'm glad you beat me to the punch.

[bcg]

13) Bradley at Western Illinois -

I'd travel to Macomb to watch Bradley play against Coach Mo. I assume the first team to 40 would win.

[isumvc1]

another possible scenario is having Stephen F. Austin play at WSU. I could see that happening. But more than likely S. Dakta St. will play at WSU, ESPN is going to want to pit the tiny mid major school with NBA prospect Wolters against the Shockers and their loud arena.

And these 2 schools met in a private scrimmage prior to the season, so they already know each other. Not that that matters.

[TheAsianSensation]

how about Detroit at Indiana State for an espn2 game asian? That would be a close game for ISU to return.

Possible, but Detroit to me is a top 4 road team along with Creighton and the XDSUs, and I think ESPN will need them for a more prime matchup. Unless ISU reasserts itself as a top 5 option on the home side.

[isumvc1]

how about Detroit at Indiana State for an espn2 game asian? That would be a close game for ISU to return.

Possible, but Detroit to me is a top 4 road team along with Creighton and the XDSUs, and I think ESPN will need them for a more prime matchup. Unless ISU reasserts itself as a top 5 option on the home side.

reassert as a top 5 option? We're already the 3rd highest RPI team on the home side. Not that we'll stay there, we still have 3 road games and 1 home game before the Feb. 4th announcement of games, but if we win 3 or 4 of those games I'd hope we'd stay as one of the top 5 RPI home teams.

[TheAsianSensation]

how about Detroit at Indiana State for an espn2 game asian? That would be a close game for ISU to return.

Possible, but Detroit to me is a top 4 road team along with Creighton and the XDSUs, and I think ESPN will need them for a more prime matchup. Unless ISU reasserts itself as a top 5 option on the home side.

reassert as a top 5 option? We're already the 3rd highest RPI team on the home side. Not that we'll stay there, we still have 3 road games and 1 home game before the Feb. 4th announcement of games, but if we win 3 or 4 of those games I'd hope we'd stay as one of the top 5 RPI home teams.

RPI is a lot of the equation, but not quite the whole equation. ESPN has shown they will tilt slightly to conference leaders in close situations, and my gut feel is Akron and St Mary's are going to jump ISU in the pecking order.

Because of that, I have ISU as the #5 home option, good enough for a ESPN2 game....except I have Evansville as the #5 road option and replacing Indiana St with Utah St is more desirable to ESPN than replacing Evansville with Eastern Kentucky.

All that said, Indiana St can easily get up there. It's close and can easily change, so don't read too much into it.

[BCPanther]

The UNI-Indiana State game on Saturday has huge BracketBuster implications...

[Red]

The UNI-Indiana State game on Saturday has huge BracketBuster implications...

I'm not sure there is such a thing. Both teams are going to get pretty much garbage opponents no matter what.