Bracket Buster - Rider to Host Murray State on February 17 at 7:00pm

January 30, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Men’s College Basketball
Rider to host Murray State

LAWRENCEVILLE—Rider University will host Murray State University on Saturday, February 17 at 7:00 pm, as part of the fifth annual O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters. “We are certainly excited to be a part of ESPN's Bracket Buster again this season,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. 

BracketBusters is a two-day men’s basketball event matching NCAA Championship hopefuls against each other on Friday, February 16 and Saturday, February 17.

Murray State competes in the Ohio Valley Conference and is currently in fourth place (10-11 overall, 8-5 OVC) in the conference that is led by Austin Peay (14-6, 11-1) and Samford (12-10, 9-4). The Racers have been to the NCAA tournament three of the last five years and six of the last 10.

“Murray State is a program that has been to the NCAA Tournament thirteen times including a trip to last year's tournament where they almost upset North Carolina,” Dempsey said. “It is really exciting to have a chance to play against a program with such a proud basketball tradition.”

All 10 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference teams are competing in the BracketBuster, and Rider is one of five MAAC teams hosting games.

“The goal of the BracketBusters event is to reach the top tier of teams that compete on the ESPN broadcast platforms so that schools can present themselves well to the post-season selection committees,” MAAC Commissioner Richard J. Ensor said. “The MAAC congratulates those 28 programs that met that standard, and appreciates the pairings the MAAC obtained in the non-televised games that will allow the league to build for future BBS events with good mid-major opponents. I was pleased that most of our membership received pairings they requested for recruiting, travel or potential upscheduling reasons. I was also impressed with the one-hour selection show on ESPNU Monday night that had all the class and excitement of the NCAA Selection Show telecasts.”

Rider will travel to Murray State next season.  Murray State is located in the southwest corner of Kentucky, about two hours from Nashville, TN.

Rider played at Northeastern University last year as part of the BracketBusters, and defeated Northeastern when the Huskies came to Alumni Gym this season.

The Broncs (12-9, 6-5 MAAC) have won two in a row and four of the last seven, and travel to Iona Saturday afternoon.

-RU-