Golden Eagles selected for ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday game

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Tech will play a game on ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday, Feb. 18, and will find out in January who the Golden Eagles will face and whether the game will be one of the nationally televised games.

The Golden Eagles are among the 100 men's basketball teams, including all 11 member institutions of the Ohio Valley Conference, which will compete to appear in the fourth edition of the ESPN event. The game will take place on Saturday, February 18, 2006, in an event that allows Division I conferences to participate in a cutting-edge format that involves "wild-card" scheduling for the pool of participating teams.

This marks the first time since its inception in 2003 that all 11 OVC institutions will take part in the event. Over the past two years, the Conference has posted a two-year record of 1-2, with first-year participant Murray State earning a 69-63 win over host Rice last season in a contest that was televised on ESPN Full Court. Austin Peay will be included in the event for the third straight year, while the remaining nine OVC institutions will be making their first appearances.

"We are extremely pleased that all 11 Ohio Valley Conference member institutions now have an opportunity to participate in this extraordinary event," stated OVC Commissioner Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher. "An OVC squad has been selected to participate in one of the Bracket Buster Saturday feature games for each of the last two years, and playing in front of a national audience has enabled those teams to shine the spotlight on our Conference and its student-athletes. We're very proud to partner with ESPN for this event."

In an effort to provide a greater opportunity for NCAA Tournament-caliber teams, the 2006 version of Bracket Buster Saturday features an expanded pool of 100 teams (up from 18 in 2003, 46 in 2004 and 64 in 2005), which will produce a better cross section of squads for the basketball bonanza. A total of 11 games will be televised, including six games on ESPN or ESPN2, and the remaining five games on ESPNU - ESPN's new collegiate network that was launched on March 4, 2005. The remaining 39 games will not be televised.

One-half of the 100-team field has been pre-designated as "home" teams and the remaining half as "road" teams. Joining Austin Peay and Murray State as five of the 50 squads who will be at home for Bracket Buster Saturday action are Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State.

The remaining six OVC teams, Morehead State, Samford, Southeast Missouri State, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech, are among the 50 squads who will be on the road.

One unique aspect that sets Bracket Buster Saturday apart from other made-for-television events is that the pairing of teams is not pre-determined. Actual pairings take place three weeks in advance of the event, and those match-ups are determined on the basis of regular-season play.

The evaluation and pairings of teams for the ESPN television package will be made by the staff of ESPN, in consultation with the commissioners of participating conferences. Consideration will be given to avoiding match-ups of conference teams and match-ups of any teams that have already met during the current season.

The matchups for the 11 televised games will be made public on Sunday, January 29, 2006, while pairing decisions for the remaining games that will not be televised will be announced by Thursday, February 2, 2006.

Another important component for the event is future scheduling. Each team that participates in Bracket Buster Saturday in any given year agrees to enter into a home-and-home series with its eventual opponent, with the return game scheduled for the following season.

While Tech plays on the road this year on Bracket Buster Saturday, the Golden Eagles will still host a full slate of 15 home games. Season tickets for the 2005-2006 season are on sale by calling the Athletics Ticket office at (931) 372-3940.