Sears BracketBusters Website
The 2012 ESPN Sears BracketBusters matchups were announced on Monday. For the seventh-straight year every Ohio Valley Conference school is participating in the event. Six OVC schools will host games this year while five will go on the road. All games involving OVC teams will be played on Saturday, Feb. 18.
Out of the pool of 142 teams, Murray State (21-0, 9-0 OVC, No. 9 ESPN/USA Today poll, No. 10 AP poll) was one of the 26 teams chosen for one of 13 television games across the ESPN Family of Networks. The Racers will host Saint Mary's (21-2, 10-0 WCC, No. 16 ESPN/USA Today poll, No. 18 AP poll) on Feb. 18 in a game seen nationally on ESPN or ESPN2 at 5:00 p.m. CT.
This marks the seventh time an OVC school has been selected for a television game in the series and third year in a row. Last season Austin Peay lost at Fairfield on ESPNU. OVC schools are 2-4 all-time in BracketBusters TV games. Murray State is 2-0 in TV games, having topped Rice in 2005 and Morgan State in 2010.
The non-television matchups include: Youngstown State (11-9) at Austin Peay (9-14), Illinois-Chicago (6-15) at Eastern Illinois (9-11), IPFW (10-11) at Eastern Kentucky (12-11), Presbyterian (8-13) at Jacksonville State (9-14), Morehead State (12-11) at Bowling Green (9-11), Southeast Missouri (11-9) at McNeese State (9-10), Northern Illinois (2-17) at SIUE (5-13), Tennessee State (13-10) at Miami (Ohio) (5-14), Tennessee Tech (13-9) at Coastal Carolina (16-5) and UT Martin (3-20) at Southeastern Louisiana (8-11).
Game times for the non-television matchups will be announced at a later date. The five OVC teams who will host non-TV BracketBusters games will have their matchups available for viewing on OVCSports.TV.
In its 10th year, Sears BracketBusters is an ESPN television property that was tremendously successful with its first nine events in February of 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The event has allowed Division I conferences to participate in a cutting-edge format that involves "wild card" pairings from the pool of participating teams, with half of the BracketBusters teams pre-designated as "home" and the remaining half as "road" teams.
What sets BracketBusters apart from the other made-for-television events is that the pairings of teams is not pre-determined. The actual pairings take place three weeks in advance of the event, and those matchups are determined on the basis of regular season play. Another important component for Sears BracketBusters participants is future scheduling. Each team that participates in any given year agrees to enter into a home-and-home series with its to-be-named opponent. The return game allows for the completion of the two-game series contract and is not part of the BracketBusters event in that second year.
The evaluation and pairings of teams for the ESPN television package are made by the staff of ESPN, in consultation with the commissioners of participating conferences. Consideration is given to avoiding matchups of conference teams and matchups of any teams that have already met during the current season.
OVC TEAMS IN BRACKETBUSTERS ALL-TIME RECORDS/FACTS
All-Time Record: 25-41
All-Time Home: 16-11
All-Time Road: 9-26
All-Time Record in Return Games: 28-29
2003
No participants
2004
Austin Peay at Wichita State (TV - ESPN+) -- L, 62-47
2005
Austin Peay at East Tennessee State -- L, 85-81
Murray State at Rice (TV - ESPN+) -- W, 69-63
2006
Arkansas State at Austin Peay -- W, 92-71
Eastern Michigan at Eastern Illinois -- L, 65-50
UNC Asheville at Eastern Kentucky -- L, 83-77
New Orleans at Jacksonville State -- W, 79-74
Morehead State at Central Michigan -- L, 87-76
Illinois-Chicago at Murray State -- W, 72-68
Samford at Ohio (TV - ESPN 360) -- L, 64-52
Southeast Missouri at UC Riverside -- L, 69-61
Tennessee State at Ball State -- W, 70-69
Tennessee Tech at Bradley -- L, 77-62
UT Martin at Evansville -- W, 69-62
2007
Austin Peay at Akron (TV - ESPNU) -- L, 74-57
Eastern Illinois at Loyola (Chicago) -- L, 66-43
Eastern Kentucky at Youngstown State -- L, 66-61
Jacksonville State at Chattanooga -- L, 75-64
Bowling Green at Morehead State -- L, 90-72
Murray State at Rider -- W, 58-51
Evansville at Samford -- L, 69-65
Louisiana Tech at Southeast Missouri -- L, 72-56
Loyola College (Md.) at Tennessee State -- L, 62-60
Northwestern State at Tennessee Tech -- W, 85-84 (OT)
Saint Peter's at UT Martin -- W, 59-58
2008
Georgia Southern at Austin Peay -- W, 80-72
Evansville at Eastern Illinois -- L, 63-55
Ball State at Eastern Kentucky -- W, 51-48
Georgia State at Jacksonville State -- L, 85-78
Indiana State at Murray State -- L, 79-62
Morehead State at James Madison -- L, 89-57
Samford at Louisiana Tech -- W, 73-70
Southeast Missouri at Eastern Michigan -- L, 86-82
Tennessee State at Northern Illinois -- cancelled
Tennessee Tech at East Tennessee State -- L, 88-80
UT Martin at Elon -- W, 81-77
2009
Austin Peay at Drake -- L, 71-54
Eastern Illinois at Western Michigan -- W, 59-57
Ohio at Eastern Kentucky -- W, 73-51
Jacksonville State at Georgia Southern -- L, 66-63
Morehead State at Kent State -- L, 79-76
Louisiana Tech at Murray State -- L, 69-60
Northern Illinois at Southeast Missouri -- L, 97-73
Detroit at Tennessee State -- W, 78-75
Tennessee Tech at Ball State -- L, 59-55
Missouri State at UT Martin -- L, 79-77
2010
Oral Roberts at Austin Peay -- L, 89-80
Northern Illinois at Eastern Illinois -- W, 73-70
Winthrop at Eastern Kentucky -- W, 77-57
Presbyterian at Jacksonville State -- L, 59-55
Morehead State at Illinois State -- L, 71-62
Morgan State at Murray State (TV - ESPNU) -- W, 75-66
Southeast Missouri at Miami (Ohio) -- L, 69-53
SIUE at Cal State Fullerton -- L, 78-74
Tennessee State at Central Michigan -- L, 79-73
Tennessee Tech at Appalachian State -- L, 81-68
UT Martin at Ball State -- L, 68-52
2011
Austin Peay at Fairfield (TV - ESPNU) -- L, 76-69
Eastern Illinois at Toledo -- W, 75-58
Eastern Kentucky at Western Carolina -- L, 81-74
Jacksonville State at Eastern Michigan -- L, 63-60
Morehead State at Indiana State -- W, 71-65
Evansville at Murray State -- W, 72-47
Sacramento State at Southeast Missouri -- W, 67-52
Delaware State at Tennessee State -- W, 78-63
Gardner-Webb at Tennessee Tech -- W, 60-58
Bradley at UT Martin -- L, 81-75
2012
Youngstown State at Austin Peay
Illinois-Chicago at Eastern Illinois
IPFW at Eastern Kentucky
Presbyterian at Jacksonville State
Morehead State at Bowling Green
Saint Mary's at Murray State (TV - ESPN or ESPN2)
Southeast Missouri at McNeese State
Northern Illinois at SIUE
Tennessee State at Miami (Ohio)
Tennessee Tech at Coastal Carolina
UT Martin at Southeastern Louisiana