Espn Bracketbuster

As the phrase became more popular, ESPN decided to capitalize on the phenomenon with the concept of ESPN BracketBusters. The cable television network worked with a group of mid-major conferences, including the Mid-American Conference, the Missouri Valley Conference, the Colonial Athletic Association, the Horizon League, and the Western Athletic Conference to stage a series of games where possible bracket-buster teams would play each other outside of regular conference play. The idea was to give these mid-major schools more exposure to national audiences than they would otherwise get, and boost their chances of being selected for the NCAA Tournament. The first series began in 2003, where 18 teams played in one weekend. The matchups for these games was left open as late as possible, in order to determine the most likely teams to benefit