APSU Men’s Basketball
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team will compete in the ninth annual BracketBusters, a three-day men’s college basketball event pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other February 18th-20th. It will feature 11 nationally televised games – on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU — selected from a pool of 114 teams, the largest pool in the event’s history.
It will be the eighth time—the most of any Ohio Valley Conference school—Austin Peay has played in the BracketBuster series. This year the Governors will be on the road to a yet-to-be-determined site. Last season, the Governors played host to Oral Roberts, losing 89-80. As part of the bracketBuster agreement, those two teams will play in Tulsa in the 2011-12 season.
For the sixth straight year, ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will televise five BracketBusters games while ESPN or ESPN2 will televise up to six contests. The 11 televised BracketBusters matchups will be announced January 31st. OVC schools have been selected for TV matchups five times overall, with the Govs appearing twice.
For the fifth straight year every OVC eligible for postseason play will be a member of the pool of teams participating in the event. Murray State, Southeast Missouri, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and UT Martin will serve as host institutions while the Governors, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State and Morehead State will play road contests.
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 the BracketBusters TV field will compete against each other on 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.
BracketBusters is part of ESPN’s college basketball franchise programming, along with Rivalry Week Presented by Cisco, Feast Week presented by Lowe’s, Holiday Hoops Presented by Kay Jewelers, Judgment Week and Championship Week Presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Teams participating this season in BracketBusters have produced 74 appearances in the last five NCAA Tournaments.
