Since I can't sleep becaus eof a painful tooth, and looking for something to distract me, I thought I would take a look at possible bracket buster matchups. I ranked all the participating teams by RPI, with Visiting teams slightly adjusted to avoid teams from the same conference playing. I also used last years TV schdule to assign the TV games, with the home teams out west getting the later games. I have a spreadsheet with the complete list of teams / games if someone wants to put it on their web page, let me know and I'll send you html...

TV Games
=======
8 Southern Ill. @ 16 Butler - SAT 8:00 PM - ESPN2
35 Drexel @ 18 Missouri State - SAT 6:00 PM - ESPN2
40 Appalachian St. @ 25 Creighton - SAT 4:00 PM - ESPN2
26 Bradley @ 37 Nevada - FRI 9:00 PM - ESPNU
60 Ohio @ 54 Wichita St. - SAT 2:00 PM - ESPN2
68 Winthrop @ 56 Indiana St. - FRI 7:00 PM - ESPNU
61 Northern Iowa @ 72 - New Mexico St. SAT 10:00 PM ESPNU
69 Utah St. @ 79 Hofstra - SAT 12:00 PM ESPN2
80 Holy Cross @ 82 VA Commonwealth - SAT 2:30 PM ESPNU
73 Old Dominion @ 88 Siena - SAT 12:30 PM ESPNU
90 Hawaii @ 93 Long Beach St. - SAT 11:59 PM - ESPN
108 Evansville @ 99 Marist - SAT 8:00 PM - ESPN360
111 Sam Houston St. @ 101 Drake - SAT 12:00 PM - ESPN360

Other MAC Games
===============
138 Miami (OH) @ 104 Loyola (IL)
149 Austin Peay @ 107 Toledo
153 Kent St. @ 113 George Mason
187 Valparaiso @ 133 Akron
210 Bowling Green @ 151 UCSB
209 Pacific @ 160 West. Michigan
212 Cent. Michigan @ 175 San Francisco
227 Murray St. @ 195 Buffalo
267 Maine @ 253 East. Michigan
271 Ball St. @ 257 Niagara
328 Eastern Illinois @ 287 Northern Illinois

Also, thought it was itneresting to see that these top 100 teams aren't participating.

48 Davidson
62 West. Kentucky
74 Santa Clara
76 Texas A&M C.C.
83 Pennsylvania
91 Delaware St.
92 Idaho St.
97 Vermont
98 Oakland

it'll be interesting to see who ohio draws. if they keep their rpi up they'll certainly be on tv. i know there was a website last year that did this throughout the year, i forget the name of it. im hoping for a buffalo ualbany matchup at alumni.

Eagle66 Wrote:Since I can't sleep becaus eof a painful tooth, and looking for something to distract me, I thought I would take a look at possible bracket buster matchups. I ranked all the participating teams by RPI, with Visiting teams slightly adjusted to avoid teams from the same conference playing. I also used last years TV schdule to assign the TV games, with the home teams out west getting the later games. I have a spreadsheet with the complete list of teams / games if someone wants to put it on their web page, let me know and I'll send you html...

TV Games
=======
8 Southern Ill. @ 16 Butler - SAT 8:00 PM - ESPN2
35 Drexel @ 18 Missouri State - SAT 6:00 PM - ESPN2
40 Appalachian St. @ 25 Creighton - SAT 4:00 PM - ESPN2
26 Bradley @ 37 Nevada - FRI 9:00 PM - ESPNU
60 Ohio @ 54 Wichita St. - SAT 2:00 PM - ESPN2
68 Winthrop @ 56 Indiana St. - FRI 7:00 PM - ESPNU
61 Northern Iowa @ 72 - New Mexico St. SAT 10:00 PM ESPNU
69 Utah St. @ 79 Hofstra - SAT 12:00 PM ESPN2
80 Holy Cross @ 82 VA Commonwealth - SAT 2:30 PM ESPNU
73 Old Dominion @ 88 Siena - SAT 12:30 PM ESPNU
90 Hawaii @ 93 Long Beach St. - SAT 11:59 PM - ESPN
108 Evansville @ 99 Marist - SAT 8:00 PM - ESPN360
111 Sam Houston St. @ 101 Drake - SAT 12:00 PM - ESPN360

Other MAC Games
===============
138 Miami (OH) @ 104 Loyola (IL)
149 Austin Peay @ 107 Toledo
153 Kent St. @ 113 George Mason
187 Valparaiso @ 133 Akron
210 Bowling Green @ 151 UCSB
209 Pacific @ 160 West. Michigan
212 Cent. Michigan @ 175 San Francisco
227 Murray St. @ 195 Buffalo
267 Maine @ 253 East. Michigan
271 Ball St. @ 257 Niagara
328 Eastern Illinois @ 287 Northern Illinois

They'll keep travel to a minimum for the non-television games, so you won't get UCSB, Pacific and SF playing MAC teams.

George Mason and Kent would be interesting since George Mason pulls out of Kent's Christmas tournament, creating an ugly scheduling sitation of having to bring in D2 Shawnee St. to fill out the bracket.

bopol Wrote:

Eagle66 Wrote:Since I can't sleep becaus eof a painful tooth, and looking for something to distract me, I thought I would take a look at possible bracket buster matchups. I ranked all the participating teams by RPI, with Visiting teams slightly adjusted to avoid teams from the same conference playing. I also used last years TV schdule to assign the TV games, with the home teams out west getting the later games. I have a spreadsheet with the complete list of teams / games if someone wants to put it on their web page, let me know and I'll send you html...

TV Games
=======
8 Southern Ill. @ 16 Butler - SAT 8:00 PM - ESPN2
35 Drexel @ 18 Missouri State - SAT 6:00 PM - ESPN2
40 Appalachian St. @ 25 Creighton - SAT 4:00 PM - ESPN2
26 Bradley @ 37 Nevada - FRI 9:00 PM - ESPNU
60 Ohio @ 54 Wichita St. - SAT 2:00 PM - ESPN2
68 Winthrop @ 56 Indiana St. - FRI 7:00 PM - ESPNU
61 Northern Iowa @ 72 - New Mexico St. SAT 10:00 PM ESPNU
69 Utah St. @ 79 Hofstra - SAT 12:00 PM ESPN2
80 Holy Cross @ 82 VA Commonwealth - SAT 2:30 PM ESPNU
73 Old Dominion @ 88 Siena - SAT 12:30 PM ESPNU
90 Hawaii @ 93 Long Beach St. - SAT 11:59 PM - ESPN
108 Evansville @ 99 Marist - SAT 8:00 PM - ESPN360
111 Sam Houston St. @ 101 Drake - SAT 12:00 PM - ESPN360

Other MAC Games
===============
138 Miami (OH) @ 104 Loyola (IL)
149 Austin Peay @ 107 Toledo
153 Kent St. @ 113 George Mason
187 Valparaiso @ 133 Akron
210 Bowling Green @ 151 UCSB
209 Pacific @ 160 West. Michigan
212 Cent. Michigan @ 175 San Francisco
227 Murray St. @ 195 Buffalo
267 Maine @ 253 East. Michigan
271 Ball St. @ 257 Niagara
328 Eastern Illinois @ 287 Northern Illinois

They'll keep travel to a minimum for the non-television games, so you won't get UCSB, Pacific and SF playing MAC teams.

George Mason and Kent would be interesting since George Mason pulls out of Kent's Christmas tournament, creating an ugly scheduling sitation of having to bring in NAIA D2 Shawnee St. to fill out the bracket.

wouldn't expect to see all the valley teams on TV, even if they all have decent rpi. Hopefully, ESPN will lean toward teams playing well in conference. Akron and OU would seem to be the top MAC teams, but I hope Toledo gets a good game as they are playing well and will host. as for matchups. I think Toledo would enjoy a game with loyola. they match up well and are about the same RPI, plus UT has several Chicago kids on the roster and would get to play there next year. OU could get a game with a third or fourth place valley team like Whicita State on the road with an opportunity to get into bubble picture with a win. Akron is a good team, but their computer numbers suck right now and may hold them back from a TV game.

Updated through 1/18.... I dont know how many mvc teams will make tv, but the idea was to match up similarly ranked teams so who knows...

TV Games
========
14 Southern Ill. @ 18 Butler SAT 8:00 PM - ESPN2
36 Drexel @ 24 Missouri State SAT 6:00 PM - ESPN2
62 Appalachian St. @ 31 Creighton FRI 7:00 PM - ESPNU
33 Bradley @ 32 Nevada FRI 9:00 PM - ESPNU
66 Utah St. @ 59 Wichita St. SAT 4:00 PM - ESPN2
65 Ohio @ 64 Indiana St. SAT 2:00 PM - ESPN2
53 Northern Iowa @ 72 Hofstra SAT 2:30 PM ESPNU
71 Holy Cross @ 78 Long Beach St. SAT 11:59 PM - ESPN
76 Winthrop @ 83 VA Commonwealth SAT 12:00 PM ESPN2
88 Old Dominion @ 90 New Mexico St. SAT 10:00 PM ESPNU
91 Sam Houston St. @ 93 George Mason SAT 12:30 PM ESPNU
103 Evansville @ 94 Marist SAT 8:00 PM - ESPN360
120 Hawaii @ 97 Toledo SAT 12:00 PM - ESPN360

Other MAC Games
===============
126 Kent St. @ 104 Loyola (IL)
143 Austin Peay @ 106 Akron
147 Miami (OH) @ 108 Siena
194 Wisc. Green Bay @ 149 West. Michigan
218 Bowling Green @ 169 Youngstown St.
226 Maine @ 179 Buffalo
228 Cent. Michigan @ 183 Northeastern
269 Ball St. @ 259 Tennessee St.
293 Colgate @ 263 East. Michigan
329 Eastern Illinois @ 307 Northern Illinois

Ball State and Tennessee State played last year (and the return game this year), so that won't be happening again.

I didn't take the time to check who played who... Wouldn't be suprised if that is the case with another game too.

There's no way ESPN would set up a Toledo vs. Hawaii matchup. These are supposed to be regional matchups not cross country trips.

utpotts Wrote:There's no way ESPN would set up a Toledo vs. Hawaii matchup. These are supposed to be regional matchups not cross country trips.

Akron and Nevada last year couldn't exactly be called regional.

Please God, give me an excuse to go to Hawaii next year.

MikeSpicer Wrote:

utpotts Wrote:There's no way ESPN would set up a Toledo vs. Hawaii matchup. These are supposed to be regional matchups not cross country trips.

Akron and Nevada last year couldn't exactly be called regional.

ut also played at nevada a few years back with their return the next. but i would see hawaii going to a team more in the wester or central region of the us than mideast/eastern, that would just be a heck of a lot of money on both sides(ut would return next year)

In the second year of the BB, Hawaii came to Kent. We did trade off opponents for the return game. Detroit played a western team that year, so we went to Detroit the next December, and Hawaii picked up Detroit's opp to go to Hawaii.

MikeSpicer Wrote:

utpotts Wrote:There's no way ESPN would set up a Toledo vs. Hawaii matchup. These are supposed to be regional matchups not cross country trips.

Akron and Nevada last year couldn't exactly be called regional.

UB had a BB home and away with Fresno St. a couple years ago.

Ohio is in the rainbow classic next year. Bobcats won Big Island Invitational in 1993-1994 season.

OUBOBCATJOHN Wrote:Bobcats won Big Island Invitational in 1993-1994 season.

Because that sure is relevant.

OZoner Wrote:

OUBOBCATJOHN Wrote:Bobcats won Big Island Invitational in 1993-1994 season.

Because that sure is relevant.

Such a hater.

I hope we get George Mason this year. Be nice to get a return from them, as they pulled out of our home schedule this year.

This is how I'd rank the participants
Based this on conference record, rpi, overall record, name recognition, quality non-conference wins, and fan support (for home teams).

Away:

1. S. Illinois
2. Northern Iowa
3. Drexel
4. Appalachian St
5. Holy Cross
6. Bradley
7. Utah St,
8. Ohio
9. Old Dominion
10. Winthrop
11. Evansville
12. Albany
13. Sam Houston State
14. Cal State Fullerton

Home:

1. Butler
2. Nevada
3. VCU
4. Creighton
5. New Mexico St.
6. Missouri St.
7. Hofstra
8. Whicita St.
9. Marist
10. Toledo
11. Long Beach St.
12. George Mason
13. Akron
14. Oral Roberts
15. Fresno St.

1 ESPN game at a west coast (or maybe mountain time zone) location
5 ESPN2 games
5 ESPNU games
2 ESPN360 (get em if you can)
13 home/away teams get broadcast in some form, 6 will be on true national TV slots