We are all familiar with the Bracket Busters, a concept developed by ESPN in 2003 and played every year since then that incorporates the best mid-major programs each year, facing them off against each other in single games around the country. I personally enjoy this grouping of games as it certainly allows the fan to see some of these mid-majors that sport solid teams which otherwise would not be on TV often. It also allows voters and those that are part of the Selection Committee to somewhat gauge and compare conferences, getting a feel for how good the Horizon League is versus the Ohio Valley Conference, etc…
Although it’s a lot of fun to see these teams squaring off against each other I do question how legitimate it is for purposes of gauging the strengths of these teams – after all, these games are pitting one mid-major versus another. A much better way to set up Bracket Busters in my opinion would be to have the top mid-major schools play against bubble teams from the AQ/BCS conferences – that would give us what we truly desire – a barometer telling us how good the best team in the WAC is versus a middle pack Big East team? Are the Montana Grizzlies, who are 12-0 in Big Sky play as good as the Virginia Cavaliers, who are 5-3 in ACC play & currently viewed as a bubble type team? Those are the matchups I am interested in; I want to know how these mid-majors stack up against the BCS big boy bubble teams – that would give us a better feel for who truly deserves a bid come March 17.
With that as the premise of this article I would like to lay out my own version of the Bracket Busters – and here is some analysis behind how I would go about setting up a new & improved version. Right off the bat I would give the mid-major school the home court advantage in these games since it’s rare a BCS conference team goes on the road to face a solid mid-major; I would split the gate so as to financially reward the visitors some as well.
For the mid-major portion of my selection process I include teams from all leagues outside the BCS conferences of: ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac 12 & ACC. From that group of leagues remaining I have removed the following teams because they play in stronger mid-major conferences & I feel they have a solid shot at earning an at-large as things currently stand – these teams are taken right from my NCAA Tournament Projection article posted yesterday: New Mexico, Gonzaga, Colorado State, Butler, UNLV, Belmont, Wichita State, Creighton, Southern Mississippi, Memphis & VCU. Although these are solid teams & could be used as a barometer for how good other mid-majors are I prefer to use my premise of hooking up mid-majors that are currently at best on the bubble vs. BCS conference teams that are middle of the pack & likely on the bubble.
With all that in mind, here are a few additional points to my selection process. There are 22 mid-low conferences when removing the 6 BCS conferences, along with also removing three conferences whose winner has been a #16 seed in each of the last three seasons: America East, Big South & SWAC. It also just so happens there were 22 BCS conference teams that I listed in either the “Need Wins” or “Life Support” categories in yesterday’s projection. Because of that I will suggest 22 games here instead of the 13 that is actually being used in the Bracket Busters card – this works well because I want to give each non-BCS conference a shot at beating a BCS conference team. Furthermore, I have generally used the RPI to select which teams will participate from each non-BCS conference – in one spot I have selected the 2nd best team RPI wise for rivalry/geographical purposes so long as their RPI ratings were similar (St. Mary’s over BYU). I have also done my best not to schedule games that already took place this season.
Without further ado, here is my Bracket Busters card:
North Carolina @ Davidson
Virginia @ Middle Tennessee State
Maryland @ Savannah State
Oklahoma @ Eastern Kentucky
Iowa State @ South Dakota State
Baylor @ Stephen F. Austin
Marquette @ Detroit
Wisconsin @ Akron
Illinois @ Indiana State
Oregon @ LaSalle
UCLA @ St. Mary’s
Colorado @ Bryant
Arizona State @ Northeastern
Stanford @ San Diego State
Washington @ Montana
California @ Pacific
Ole Miss @ Louisiana Tech
Alabama @ Florida Gulf Coast
Texas A@M @ UTEP
Villanova @ Bucknell
St. John’s @ Iona
Rutgers @ Harvard
It took me some time to generate those matchups, and because of the landscape of college basketball some teams were just stuck without a logical partner (mostly the Pac 12 teams), but most of these matchups work well geographically, although just like the real Bracket Busters there are some that require significant travel.
This particular setup would help the Selection Committee more in my opinion judge the true strengths of many of these non-BCS conference teams – we would know if Middle Tennessee State handled Virginia easily that MTSU is a legitimate squad, while that result would cast doubts on the depth of the ACC.
Take a look and share your thoughts – this is a fun topic where everyone has an opinion that should be heard!
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