ESPNU BracketBusters Game Times and Telecast Networks Announced

14 Total Games February 22-24: ESPN2 to Televise Six, ESPNU Five, ESPN360.com Two and ESPN Classic One Game; #15 Drake at #10 Butler on ESPN2

February 11, 2008 -- Game times and telecast outlets for the sixth annual O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters – a multi-day men’s basketball event matching NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other on Friday, Feb. 22 through Sunday, Feb. 24 -- were announced today. The selections are highlighted by #15 Drake (22-1 record) at #10 Butler (21-2), in a showdown between two teams with the best records and highest rankings in event history, and Kent State at #21 Saint Mary’s (20-3), both on ESPN2 Saturday, Feb. 23, at 5 p.m. ET and 11:59 p.m., respectively.

All 14 ESPNU BracketBusters contests will be available nationally with ESPN2 televising six, ESPNU televising five, ESPN360.com offering coverage of two and for the first time, ESPN Classic televising one.

The 28 ESPNU BracketBusters teams were selected from a pool of 100 schools. This year’s event will mark the first time games will be televised over three days. The event began televising games over two days in 2006, while the first three years featured every game on a Saturday.

ESPNU BracketBusters Schedule:

Date Time (ET) Teams Network

Fri., 2/22 7 p.m. Davidson at Winthrop ESPN2

9 p.m. UC Santa Barbara at Utah State ESPNU

Sat., 2/23 11 a.m. Virginia Commonwealth at Akron ESPN2

1 p.m. George Mason at Ohio ESPN2

3 p.m. Creighton at Oral Roberts ESPN2

4:30 p.m. Nevada at Southern Illinois ESPNU

5 p.m. #15 Drake at #10 Butler ESPN2

6 p.m. Miami (Ohio) at Valparaiso ESPN Classic

6:30 p.m. Marist at Cleveland State ESPNU

9 p.m. Rider at Cal State Northridge ESPNU

9 p.m. UW Milwaukee at Bradley ESPN360.com

10 p.m. Siena at Boise State ESPN360.com

11:59 p.m. Kent State at #21 Saint Mary’s ESPN2

Sun., 2/24 6:30 p.m. Wright State at Illinois State ESPNU

ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS

The ESPNU BracketBusters concept, named because of the success of teams from these conferences in NCAA Tournament play over the past years, provides participating programs with an opportunity to play top non-conference opponents approximately three weeks prior to Selection Sunday. Each conference selected their participating teams prior to the season and the matchups for the event were determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences.

ESPNU BracketBusters is an example of ESPN college basketball franchise programming. Others include Rivalry Week Presented by Cisco, Feast Week Presented by Lowe’s, Judgment Week Presented Jockey, Student Spirit Week Presented by EAS and Championship Week Presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods.

ESPNU

ESPNU was launched on March 4, 2005. The network features extensive studio programming and live coverage of games, including college football, college basketball and other Olympic sports from over 20 Division I conferences. The network also has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA calling for enhanced coverage of 22 NCAA Championships, showcasing sports from each of the three collegiate seasons. ESPNU also has re-air rights to games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Regional television programming.

In addition, ESPNU.com, the companion to the ESPNU college sports television network, is the online destination for college sports content, including news, information, extensive online video and audio and more.

ESPNU currently reaches approximately 20 million homes through secured distribution agreements with Charter, Cox, DIRECTV (Channel 609), EchoStar’s DISH Network (Channel 148), AT&T, Insight Communications, Mediacom, Time Warner, Verizon, hundreds of smaller affiliates and is close to distribution agreements with many others.

ESPN360.com

ESPN360.com, ESPN's signature 24/7 sports broadband network, delivers more than 2,500 live global sports events per year. The service offers a mosaic of screens that allow users to follow multiple events simultaneously, and expanded controls including live-event pause, rewind and fast forward. ESPN360.com is available at no additional charge to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated service provider. It has more than doubled its distribution since November 2006, and is available in more than 20 million households nationwide via more than 20 Internet service providers around the country including AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and more.

Consumers wanting more information about ESPN360.com, which high speed Internet services currently provide it, and how they can get it should go to www.espn360.com.

Source: ESPN

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