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Athens, GA (September 15, 2008) - It is hard to believe there is college basketball news coming out already, but sure enough there is. Fang's Bites has published the Big Ten Network's schedules for men's and women's basketball. Last week, ESPN announced the pool of teams that will be used to select the 2009 BracketBuster participants. The 7th annual tournament will take place from February 20-21, 2009, and will feature 13 nationally televised games from the pool of 102 teams. Some conference have very few participants, while others have every team eligible (such as the MAAC and the CAA). The actual selection of participating teams will take place on February 2, 2009.

ESPN, in their September 4, 2009 announcement, said

"This year’s BracketBusters pool features teams with 77 appearances in the last five NCAA Tournaments, including a team in the Final Four - George Mason (2006); one in the Elite Eight – Davidson (2008); and six Sweet Sixteen squads – Butler (2007), Southern Illinois (2007), Bradley (2006), Wichita State (2006), UW-Milwaukee (2005) and Nevada (2004)."

Home Teams Visiting Teams

America East	America East
Vermont	UMBC
Boston University	Hartford
Big Sky	Big Sky
Portland State	Montana State
Big South	Big South
Winthrop	Liberty
	Gardner-Webb
Big West
Cal Poly	Big West
Long Beach State	Cal State-Fullerton
UC-Davis	Cal State-Northridge
UC-Santa Barbara	Cal-Irvine
	Cal-Riverside
Colonial	Pacific
Drexel
James Madison	Colonial
UNC-Wilmington	Delaware
Old Dominion	George Mason
Towson	Georgia State
William & Mary	Hofstra
	Northeastern
Horizon	Virginia Commonwealth
Loyola
Illinois-Chicago	Horizon
Valparaiso	Butler
Wright State	Cleveland State
Youngstown State	Detroit
Milwaukee	Green Bay
Metro Atlantic	Metro Atlantic
Fairfield	Canisius
Marist	Iona
Niagara	Loyola
Rider	Manhattan
Siena	Saint Peter’s
Mid-American	Mid-American
Ball State	Akron
Central Michigan	Buffalo
Eastern Michigan	Ohio
Western Michigan	Miami (Ohio)
Bowling Green	Northern Illinois
Kent State	Toledo
Missouri Valley	Mid-Eastern Athletic
Creighton	Morgan State
Drake
Evansville	Missouri Valley
Indiana State	Bradley
Wichita State	Illinois State
	Missouri State
Ohio Valley	Northern Iowa
Murray State	Southern Illinois
Eastern Kentucky
Southeast Missouri	Northeast
Tennessee State	Fairleigh Dickinson
Tennessee-Martin
	Ohio Valley
Patriot	Morehead State
Bucknell	Tennessee Tech
	Austin Peay
Southern	Eastern Illinois
Davidson	Jacksonville State
Georgia Southern
	Southern
West Coast	Appalachian State
San Diego	Elon
St. Mary’s
	Summit League
WAC	North Dakota State
Hawaii	South Dakota State
Idaho
Nevada	WAC
New Mexico State	Boise State
San Jose State	Fresno State
	Louisiana Tech
	Utah State

Below are statistics of this year’s BracketBusters pool of 102 teams in NCAA Tournament play from 2004 – 2008:

2008 NCAA Tournament: 14 Berths - Austin Peay, Boise State, Butler, Cal State-Fullerton, Davidson, Drake, George Mason, Kent State, Portland State, St. Mary’s, San Diego, Siena, UMBC and Winthrop. A 6-14 overall record: Davidson defeated Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin to reach the Elite Eight; Butler defeated South Alabama; Siena defeated Vanderbilt; and San Diego defeated Connecticut.

2007 NCAA Tournament: 17 Berths - Albany, Butler, Creighton, Davidson, Eastern Kentucky, Holy Cross, Long Beach State, Miami (Ohio), Nevada, New Mexico State, Niagara, Old Dominion, Oral Roberts, Southern Illinois, Virginia Commonwealth, Winthrop and Wright State. A 7-19 overall record: Butler defeated Old Dominion and Maryland to reach the Sweet Sixteen; Southern Illinois defeated Holy Cross and Virginia Tech to reach the Sweet Sixteen; Nevada defeated Creighton; Virginia Commonwealth defeated Duke; and Winthrop defeated Notre Dame.

2006 NCAA Tournament: 19 Berths - Albany, Bradley, Bucknell, George Mason, Iona, Kent State, Montana, Murray State, Nevada, UNC-Wilmington, Northern Iowa, Northwestern State, Pacific, Oral Roberts, Utah State, Southern Illinois, UW-Milwaukee, Winthrop and Wichita State. A 12-19 overall record: Bradley defeated Kansas and Pittsburgh to reach the Sweet Sixteen; Bucknell defeated Arkansas; George Mason defeated Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and Connecticut to reach the Final Four; Montana defeated Nevada; Northwestern State defeated Iowa; UW-Milwaukee defeated Oklahoma; and Wichita State defeated Seton Hall and Tennessee to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

2005 NCAA Tournament: 15 berths – Bucknell, Chattanooga, Creighton, Eastern Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, Niagara, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Old Dominion, Pacific, Southern Illinois, Utah State, UW-Milwaukee and Winthrop. A 6-15 overall record: Bucknell defeated Kansas; Nevada defeated Texas; Pacific defeated Pittsburgh; Southern Illinois defeated Saint Mary’s (California); and UW-Milwaukee defeated Alabama and Boston College to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

2004 NCAA Tournament: 12 berths – Eastern Washington, Illinois-Chicago, Liberty, Manhattan, Murray State, Nevada, Northern Iowa, Pacific, Southern Illinois, Valparaiso, Virginia Commonwealth and Western Michigan. A 4-12 overall record: Manhattan defeated Florida, Nevada defeated Michigan State and Gonzaga to reach the Sweet Sixteen; and Pacific defeated Providence.