Murray State University Athletics
Photo by: Tab Brockman
Racers Draw Saint Mary's For Feb. 18 BracketBusters
1/30/2012 6:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Murray State will host #16/18 Saint Mary's in the Sears BracketBusters at 5 p.m., Feb. 18th at the CFSB Center, in a game to be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2.
The Gaels are 21-2 this season and sit in first place (10-0) in the West Coast Conference.
The Racers moved up to 10th in the Associated Press poll earlier in the day, marking their first top-10 ranking ever in the AP poll after defeating Eastern Illinois 73-58 this past weekend. They remain unchanged at ninth in the ESPN/USAToday Coaches poll. The Racers sit atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings at 9-0.
MSU is 0-2 all time against Saint Mary's with both meetings occuring in the last eight years. The Gaels defeated Murray State 62-44 in the last game between the teams Nov. 12, 2006.
If both teams are still ranked when they meet, the game will mark the first time a ranked Murray State team has played another ranked team and it will mark the first time two ranked teams will have played at MSU's CFSB Center.
The Racers are 5-2 in the Sears BracketBusters series and have won the last three, including last season's win against Evansville.
Out of the pool of 142 teams, Murray State was one of the 26 teams chosen for one of 13 television games across the ESPN Family of Networks.
This marks the seventh time an OVC school has been selected for a television game in the series and third year in a row. Murray State is 2-0 in TV games, having topped Rice in 2005 and Morgan State in 2010.
The non-television matchups for the OVC 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).
This marks 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.
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.
The Gaels are 21-2 this season and sit in first place (10-0) in the West Coast Conference.
The Racers moved up to 10th in the Associated Press poll earlier in the day, marking their first top-10 ranking ever in the AP poll after defeating Eastern Illinois 73-58 this past weekend. They remain unchanged at ninth in the ESPN/USAToday Coaches poll. The Racers sit atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings at 9-0.
MSU is 0-2 all time against Saint Mary's with both meetings occuring in the last eight years. The Gaels defeated Murray State 62-44 in the last game between the teams Nov. 12, 2006.
If both teams are still ranked when they meet, the game will mark the first time a ranked Murray State team has played another ranked team and it will mark the first time two ranked teams will have played at MSU's CFSB Center.
The Racers are 5-2 in the Sears BracketBusters series and have won the last three, including last season's win against Evansville.
Out of the pool of 142 teams, Murray State was one of the 26 teams chosen for one of 13 television games across the ESPN Family of Networks.
This marks the seventh time an OVC school has been selected for a television game in the series and third year in a row. Murray State is 2-0 in TV games, having topped Rice in 2005 and Morgan State in 2010.
The non-television matchups for the OVC 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).
This marks 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.
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.
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