Sept. 30, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
\The Illinois State men's basketball team will participate in its ninth-straight BracketBusters event on one of the three allocated dates, Feb. 18-20. The Redbirds have been designated as a road team for the 2011 event.
For the sixth-straight year, ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will feature five BracketBusters games, while ESPN or ESPN2 will televise up to six contests. The 11 BracketBusters matchups, selected from 114 teams, will be announced Jan. 31.
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 BracketBusters will compete against each other through 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.
Teams participating this season in BracketBusters have produced 74 appearances in the last five NCAA Tournaments.
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