As Rivalry Week comes to a thunderous close in men's college basketball and with a little less than a month away from Selection Sunday, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, fans, and wagerarti turn their collective attention to Feb. 17-18 and the made-for-cable event known as BracketBusters Weekend when lesser known Division 1 teams play cross-conference games to a nationally televised audiences.

BracketBusters Weekend presented by eBay was the brainchild of ESPN four years ago and has become a wildly popular weekend for viewers, fans and the selection committee because of the exposure for a wide array of basketball programs on this one weekend. BracketBusters Weekend consists of 100 mid-major teams playing in 50 games from 18 conferences - all these teams will be fighting for attention from the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

While 50 games comprise ESPN's BracketBusters Weekend, ESPN will broadcast only 13 games, including nine teams that played in last year's NCAA Tournament, highlighted by Bucknell at No. 25 Northern Iowa and Creighton at Fresno State.

A rematch of the first-ever BracketBusters game on Feb. 22, 2003, pits the MVC against the WAC as Creighton hosts Fresno State in Omaha. These teams have proven to be worthy opponents with every game in the BracketBusters series having been close. Creighton won last year's tilt 70-62 in overtime at the Save Mart Center and won 67-66 in '02-'03 in Omaha. The Jays sport a 4-0 all-time record against the Bulldogs.

Creighton has won 18 straight home games and are 28-3 overall against California teams at home. Fresno State is led by Junior forward Quinton Hosley (18.9 ppg., 9.5 rpg., 1.1 bpg.) and Ja'Vance Coleman who averages 17.8 points per game. However Fresno State faces a stiff test as Creighton has not lost a game at home this year.

Another exciting BracketBusters game spotlights the Patriot League against the MVC as No. 25-ranked Northern Iowa hosts Bucknell. The Bucknell Bison, last year's Patriot League Champions, sporting a spotless 10-0 record in league play this year, travel to the UNI-Dome in one of the more anticipated bracket buster of the series. Northern Iowa has only lost one game at home against Creighton and is assured a spot in the Tournament as they are in first place in the MVC while Bucknell can improve their chances of getting an invitation with an unlikely upset win. However, a close loss to a nationally ranked team will also help the Bison wrap up an at-large bid.

Five teams from the MVC are looking for invitations to the Big Dance and all of these team's games will be televised on BracketBusters Weekend while only two Horizon League teams will be televised. The Horizon League faces off against another MVC team as UW-Milwaukee plays host to Missouri State (formerly known as Southwest Missouri State). The Panthers are in first place in the Horizon but lost a tough overtime decision on the road at second place Butler.

The Panthers have won their games by dominating in the paint and out-rebounding their opponents. However, from beyond the three-point line they have had their share of troubles. The Panthers, led by senior forward Joah Tucker with 16 points per game and 6 rebounds, are currently ranked 8th in the Horizon shooting at a mere 42.3 percent from the field. Given the resurgence of Butler, this game is a must win for UWM. Meanwhile, Barry Hinson's squad is winning with defense and losing with poor shooting and this team has a 10-8 MVC record to show for it. The Bears aggressive defensive style of play will be put to the test by the Panthers' inside game. Baring a major drop-off in play, it is difficult to see how Missouri State leaves Milwaukee with a win.

The only other Horizon League team playing on national television is second place Butler. I am not surprised to see Butler on the schedule for BracketBusters given their recent win against UWM. This put them within one game of first place so the incentive for Butler is there as they play inter-conference MAC foe when they travel to Kent State. Kent State is tied for first in the MAC East with Akron and will need to win this game to keep pace, or surge ahead of the Zips for the lead. Kent State can take advantage of the fact that Akron seems to have the more difficult of the two games as the Zips travel to Nevada for their BracketBusters special.

The Golden Flashes dropped a road contest they should have won at Toledo as the Rockets scored 23 points off turnovers and with Butler playing a better brand of basketball, they will need to hold onto the ball if they hope to beat this team at home. But first they'll need to play MAC West leader Northern Illinois at home this Sunday.

The Colonial Athletic Conference travels to another Missouri Valley Conference school as Wichita State hosts George Mason. If George Mason has been on fire recently then perhaps Wichita State has the water bucket to douse the Patriots' flame. The Patriots are off to their second-best start in school history as they notched a 15-5 record in their first 20 games. Meanwhile, the Shockers of Wichita State have owned teams at home and almost beat Illinois on the road 54-55 earlier in the season! The Shockers will be coming off a tough match against Creighton. Despite how well George Mason has played recently the Patriots go against a team that has been almost invincible at home this year with only one home loss on the season (No. 25 Northern Iowa) so a road win for the Patriots would be, ah, shocking.

One last game that really surprised me was the Albany - VCU game was selected as one of the thirteen televised games. While Albany has improved over the years and was picked to win the America East (they are on a current 10-2 run), it is almost like televising a Boston University game (who? - see what I mean). VCU is incredibly dominant at home, but sit in fourth place overall in the Colonial Athletic Conference I am surprised this game is considered a BracketBusters game worthy enough for a national audience and I am surprised the World Wide Leader in Sports chose this game over the Hawaii-Santa Clara game. The Rainbow Warriors were not included as one of the four WAC teams selected by ESPN for its broadcast. This is the first time in the short history of BracketBusters Weekend that Hawaii's buster won't be televised. This means that Hawaii's only nationally televised game this year was last week's game against Utah State. However, every team in the WAC is part of the 100 schools in BracketBusters Weekend.

Other key busters include, Louisiana Tech at Southern Illinois, Buffalo at Iona, Marist at Old Dominion, Northwestern State at Utah State, Samford at Ohio and Northern Arizona at Western Kentucky.

It is not often during a season that you look at a weekend's card and see that almost every game is meaningful. With a made-for-sports-television event like BracketBusters it is easy to ignore teams that are not necessarily considered part of BracketBusters. Also included on the card the weekend of Feb. 17 and 18 are some very important matchups between Pittsburgh at Marquette, Connecticut at West Virginia, Virginia at Florida State, Georgetown at Villanova, Arizona at Stanford, Texas at Oklahoma and Indiana at Illinois, to mention a few.

While not a part of the ESPN's 50 BracketBusters games, there is covert BracketBusters potential in the Ivy League as two conference contenders vie for the solitary Ivy League invitation as Harvard hosts Yale, which can ill afford another conference loss while perennial power Pennsylvania travels to Columbia and Cornell. The Ivy League only receives one Tourney bid so each game is like a playoff game.

BracketBusters Weekend gives mid-major teams that are on the bubble or looking for national exposure a chance to shine and help make a case for why they should be given consideration by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Teams that looked good in December and January could well be fighting for a spot over the next three weeks going into conference tournament time. This puts a premium on inter-conference games and road wins in the ultra-competitive month of February where tournament fortunes are won and lost.

Basketball programs make their own destiny by winning the close ones this weekend. Fate can be a fickle bitch when she lays her icy finger on you. Your seed in this invitation only ball could well be won or lost on this BracketBusters card that pits non-marquee Division 1 teams in exciting inter-conference battles. If your team's bracket is busted over the weekend take heart there is always the NIT.

Let me know what you think at impaler@docsports.com

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