Detroit Draws James Madison for Sears BracketBusters Tilt
The 10th annual Sears BracketBusters, a three-day men's college basketball event pitting potential NCAA Championship hopefuls against each other Feb. 17-19, will feature 13 nationally televised games – on either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN3. The NCAA hopefuls will be selected from a pool of 142 teams from 16 conferences, the largest Sears BracketBusters pool in the event's history, which includes two teams that reached the 2011 Final Four in Houston.
Detroit drew James Madison as its BracketBusters opponent this season and the Titans will welcome the Dukes to Calihan Hall Sat., Feb. 18 at 2:00 p.m. It will be the first all-time meeting between the schools.
JMU, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, is 10-12 overall this season, including a 6-6 mark in road and neutral contests. The Dukes are 3-8 and in ninth place in the league heading into their Monday matchup at East Tennessee State. They are led by A.J. Davis and Humpty Hitchens, who average 16.1 and 15.8 points per game, respectively.
For the seventh straight year, ESPNU will feature five Sears BracketBusters games, while ESPN or ESPN2 will television up to six and ESPN3 will carry two. The 13 Sears BracketBusters matchups are selected by ESPN, while a Committee of Conference Commissioners determines the additional non-televised games.
The 142-team field will feature teams from 16 conferences: 12 each from Colonial Athletic Association, Mid-American Conference and Southland; 11 each from Ohio Valley Conference and Big South; 10 each from Horizon League, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Missouri Valley and Summit League; nine each from America East, Big Sky and Big West; eight from the Western Athletic Association; four from the Southern Conference; three from the MEAC; and two from the West Coast Conference.
As part of the agreement, all 13 of the Sears BracketBusters home teams in televised games, as well as the remaining 58 home squads, will play a return game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the 2013-14 season. Detroit has participated in every BracketBusters event since its inception in 2003.
Detroit all-time in the BracketBusters (5-4)
2003- W, 75-59 at UC Santa Barbara
2004- W, 70-49 vs. Ball State
2005- L, 65-66 vs. Ohio
2006- W, 65-63 vs. Toledo
2007- W, 92-84 at Buffalo
2008- L, 65-81 vs. Bowling Green
2009- L, 75-78 at Tennessee State
2010- W, 68-66 vs. Eastern Michigan
2011- L, 76-84 at Drake
