Bracket Buster Home/Away Teams Announced

[shocks771]

I like the amount of good match-ups that the Shox can potentially have in this year's bracket buster. Butler, Fresno State, New Mexico State, Utah State, Drexel, Old Dominion, Winthrop & Oral Roberts are all possibilities. Match-ups will be determined February 4, 2008.

HOME TEAMS
Akron
Buffalo
Eastern Michigan
Northern Illinois
Ohio
Toledo
Austin Peay
Eastern Illinois
Eastern Kentucky
Jacksonville State
Murray State
Bradley
Illinois State
Missouri State
Northern Iowa
Southern Illinois
Canisius
Iona
Loyola (Maryland)
Manhattan
Saint Peter’s
Butler
Cleveland State
Detroit
Valparaiso
UW-Green Bay
Boise State
Fresno State
Louisiana Tech
New Mexico State
Utah State
Cal-State Fullerton
Cal-State Northridge
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
Pacific
Drexel
James Madison
UNC-Wilmington
Old Dominion
Towson
William & Mary
Elon
Appalachian State
East Tennessee State
Northern Arizona
Winthrop
Holy Cross
Oral Roberts
Saint Mary’s

VISITING TEAMS
Ball State
Bowling Green
Central Michigan
Kent State
Miami (Ohio)
Western Michigan
Morehead State
Samford
Southeast Missouri State
Tennessee-Martin
Tennessee State
Tennessee Tech
Creighton
Drake
Evansville
Indiana State
Wichita State
Fairfield
Marist
Niagara
Rider
Siena
Illinois-Chicago
Loyola (Illinois)
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Wright State
Youngstown State
Hawaii
Idaho
Nevada
San Jose State
Cal Poly
Long Beach State
UC Davis
UC Santa Barbara
Delaware
George Mason
Georgia State
Hofstra
Northeastern
Virginia Commonwealth
Albany
Binghamton
Boston University
Vermont
Davidson
Georgia Southern
Portland State
High Point
Bucknell

[ripemupshocks]

Hopefully the Shocks will be sent to the east coast. Great exposure to a huge pool of high school talent. How about ODU. Since GMU took us two out of three, lets have a crack at their friends.

[J&J-Ryan]

I'd be Happy with Butler, HC or Akron....but I'm sure we'll get Winthrop :roll:

[JVShocker_old]

I'd be happy with, well, with them pairing the number of teams involved down quite a bit and actually getting some big name schools involved. I'd be curious to hear Marshall's thoughts on the BB thing at this point. What started out well, has really been diluted. :roll:

[rrshock]

After this year, I'm sure we'll hear a little bit about it. ESPN needs to seperate out some teams from others. There are some teams on there that shouldn't and there are some schools that should be included but aren't due to conference affiliation.

[NMShock]

I'd really like to see them play at New Mexico State. I would definitely make the road trip 200 miles south to see them in Las Cruces!!!

[shocks771]

New Mexico State & Butler would be my top choices. New Mexico State will more than likely be the preseason pick to win the WAC and Butler will likely be ranked in the top 25 and picked to win the Horizon. Plus, both of those teams would provide us with a nice home game next season.

[C0|dB|00ded]

I just hate seeing our name included in that list of teams...


T


...8)

[rayc]

C0|dB|00ded:
I just hate seeing our name included in that list of teams...

I agree we need to distance ourselves from bracket busters ASAP!

What may have started out as a good idea to showcase the talents of a few underexposed teams has degenerated into a collection of teams with ambitions to achieve recognition as a top 100 club. The MVC does not want nor need that type of affiliation in the public minds.

It’s as if the BCS schools had taken control of the event and are using it as a means of separation from leagues such as the MVC and perhaps the MWC.

It’s all about money (and power, …mostly money). If the top teams in the Valley are considered no better than potential bubble teams it makes it much easier to justify giving all the at large NCAA berths to mediocre BCS schools. The at large berths are where most of the NCAA tournament money is generated for the conferences

[The Mad Hatter]

I just hate seeing our name included in that list of teams...


T


...8)

I hate the list in general because instead of being a showcase for teams that don't get attention, it has become a way of paring down the list of non BCS at-large berth contenders. The teams that lose take a hit, and the team that wins is given little credit.

[calfan]

One thing that might help would be for the MVC to do a conference challenge against another high level conference not in the BCS.

[AZ Shocker]

One thing that might help would be for the MVC to do a conference challenge against another high level conference not in the BCS.

And what BCS Conference would take such a risk?
Great idea, but no way a BCS conference is willing to expose itself in that way.

[The Mad Hatter]

One thing that might help would be for the MVC to do a conference challenge against another high level conference not in the BCS.

And what BCS Conference would take such a risk?
Great idea, but no way a BCS conference is willing to expose itself in that way.

He said "not in the BCS", so I am assuming he means the Mountain West, WAC, etc.

[SubGod22]

I have a buddy in New Mexico who would love to see the Shox down there. For his sake, here's hoping that both the Shox and New Mexico State have good years and get paired up.

[WuDrWu]

If we don't play Winthrop in the Islands and either team is having a decent year, like Ryan said, we'll be playing them in the BB.