Somerset, NJ -- Fairleigh Dickinson has been paired with Central Michigan in the seventh annual ESPNU BracketBusters. The Knights will travel to Mount Pleasant, MI to take on the Chippewas on Saturday, February 21st. The game time is still to be determined.
Central Michigan will return a home game to the Knights in 2009-10.
For FDU, it marks the program's second time taking part in the ESPNU BracketBusters series. In 2006, the Knights went on the road to defeat Wisconsin Green-Bay, 68-64.
Robert Morris is the only other NEC team to have played Central Michigan this season. The Colonials defeated the Chippewas, 73-60, at the Palace at Auburn Hills on December 20th.
The two-day BracketBusters event pits potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other in 13 nationally televised games—on either ESPN2, ESPNU, or ESPN360.com—selected from a pool of 102 teams.
For the fourth straight year, ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will televise five BracketBusters games while ESPN360.com, ESPN's customized broadband service, will offer two. ESPN2 will televise six contests.
The 13 BracketBusters matchups that will be televised:
Friday, Feb. 20
VCU at Nevada
Illinois State at Niagara
Saturday, Feb. 21
George Mason at Creighton
Hofstra at Fairfield
Liberty at Old Dominion
Northeastern at Wright State
#11 Butler at Davidson
Miami (OH) at Evansville
Green Bay at Long Beach State
Boise State at Portland State
#22 Utah State at Saint Mary's
Northern Iowa at Siena
Buffalo at Vermont
Game times and network assignments will be announced Feb. 9.
BracketBusters, named because of the success of the teams in NCAA Tournament play, provide the 26 televised teams an opportunity to play other top non-conference opponents three weeks prior to Selection Sunday. The 76 teams not selected for BracketBusters compete against each other over the same two days.
The 102-team field features 12 teams from the Mid-American Conference and Colonial Athletic Association; 10 from the Ohio Valley, Missouri Valley, Horizon League and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; nine from the Western Athletic Conference and Big West; four from the America East and Southern; three from the Big South; two from the Big Sky, the Summit League and the West Coast Conference; and one from the MEAC, Northeast and Patriot League.
This year's BracketBusters pool features teams with 77 appearances in the last six NCAA Tournaments, including a team in the Final Four (George Mason, 2006); one in the Elite Eight (Davidson, 2008); seven Sweet Sixteen squads (Butler, '07, Southern Illinois, '07, Bradley, '06, Wichita State, '06, UW-Milwaukee, '05, Nevada, '04 and Butler, '03).