MAAC Schools Assigned Matchups for 2011 ESPN BracketBusters
MAAC Sports
Edison, N.J. - All 10 MAAC men's basketball programs have
received their pairings for the ninth annual BracketBusters - a three-day men's college basketball event pitting
NCAA Championship hopefuls Friday, Feb. 18 - Sunday, Feb. 20.
The television pairings were announced live on ESPNU's 2011 BracketBusters Selection Show Monday
night. Fairfield will host Austin Peay for a 1:00
p.m. contest on ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network. That game will be followed on the same
network with Iona taking on host Liberty at 3:00 p.m. BracketBusters will feature 11
nationally televised games over three days, selected from a 114 eligible teams
- the largest pool in the event's history. ESPNU and ESPN2 will each air five
games; all ESPN2 contests will be simulcast on ESPN3.com.
2011 ESPN BracketBusters
pairings for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
Canisius (10-10, 4-6 MAAC) at Boston University
(10-13, 5-4 America
East)
Austin Peay (14-9, 8-3 OVC) at Fairfield
(16-4, 9-1 MAAC) - 1:00 p.m. on ESPNU
Iona (13-9, 7-4 MAAC) at Liberty (16-7, 10-1
Big South) - 3:00 p.m. on ESPNU
Loyola (11-10, 7-4 MAAC) at Towson (4-17, 0-11 CAA)
Manhattan (4-18, 2-9 MAAC)
at Stony Brook (8-12, 3-5 America
East)
New Hampshire (9-12, 3-6 America
East) at Marist (4-19, 3-8 MAAC)
Central Michigan (5-15, 2-5 MAC) at Niagara (4-19, 1-10 MAAC)
Delaware (11-10, 6-5 CAA)
at Rider (15-8, 7-4 MAAC)
Saint Peter's (13-9, 8-3 MAAC) at
Loyola-Chicago (13-9, 4-7 Horizon)
Maine (14-7, 8-1 America East) at Siena (9-12, 6-5 MAAC)
In last year's BracketBusters series, the MAAC earned
four victories as Iona topped William & Mary (69-53), Manhattan
bested Towson (78-62), Canisius outlasted James
Madison (70-66) and Niagara defeated
Wisconsin-Milwaukee (85-79).
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.
About
BracketBusters
The BracketBusters
concept, named because of the success of participating teams from these
conferences in NCAA Tournament play through the years, provides programs with
an opportunity to play top non-conference opponents roughly three weeks before
Selection Sunday. Each conference selects its participating teams before the
season, and the matchups for the event are determined by ESPN in conjunction
with the conferences. BracketBusters
is an example of ESPN college basketball franchise programming. Others include Rivalry
Week Presented by Cisco, Feast Week Presented by Lowe's, Holiday
Hoops Presented by Kay Jewelers and Judgment Week and Championship
Week Presented by Dick's Sporting Goods.