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Athens, GA (February13, 2009) - ESPN has announced the starting times and networks for the 2009 ESPNU BracketBusters Weekend games. The weekend will kick-off with Illinois State (20-5, 9-5 MVC) visiting Niagara University (20-6, 11-3 MAAC) in Lewiston, New York at 7:00 PM ET on Friday, February 20, 2009 (ESPN2).

For Niagara fans (and yes I graduated from there), the mood is great, as Niagara will be appearing on ESPN2 for the second consecutive weekend (the Purple Eagles game this Saturday at Fairfield (15-11, 8-7 MAAC) will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 9:00 PM ET).

Here is the schedule as announced by ESPN on February 9, 2009. The numbers in parenthesis is the teams' current RPI ranking (as of February 9, 2009) as published by RPI Guru and CBSSports.com contributor Jerry Palm.

Friday, February 20, 2009
Illinois State (77) at Niagara (71)	7:00 pm et	ESPN2/ESPN360
Virginia Commonwealth (73) at Nevada (126)	9:00 pm et	ESPNU
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Northeastern (64) at Wright State (101)	11:00 am et	ESPN2/ESPN360
Liberty (184) at Old Dominion (155)	11:00 am et	ESPNU
#15 Butler (10) at Davidson (50)	Noon et	ESPN/ESPN360
Buffalo (76) at Vermont (111)	1:00 pm et	ESPN2/ESPN360
Northern Iowa (83) at Siena (27)	3:00 pm et	ESPN2/ESPN360
Miami (OH) (56) at Evansville (81)	3:30 pm et	ESPNU
#17 Utah State (35) at Saint Mary’s (59)	5:00 pm et	ESPN2/ESPN360
Green Bay (58) at Long Beach State (158)	5:30 pm et	ESPNU
Hofstra (98) at Fairfield (88)	7:00 pm et	ESPN360
Boise State (80) at Portland State (143)	7:30 pm et	ESPNU
George Mason (57) at Creighton (60)	9:30 pm et	ESPNU

The team with the most at stake if they lose is Siena College (20-6, 14-1 MAAC). Siena has a RPI of 27 with Palm (62 with Sagarin). While currently favored to win the MAAC, a loss in their BracketBuster game with Northern Iowa (18-7, 12-2 MVC) could hurt their seeding in the NCAA tournament. Even worse, if Niagara should pull an upset in the MAAC Tournament, a loss could dampen any hope for an at-large bid if their RPI drops.