I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, but the reason ESPN BracketBusters is on my countdown sidebar is because Becky and I have tickets to what will be one of the biggest marquee games of the whole event: #11-ranked Butler hosting a big-name non-conference mid-major opponent to be named later. Not only that, but we have really good seats, in Row A of Section 2 at Butler’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. (Seating chart here.)

I bought the tickets on Ticketmaster back in November, shortly after Butler won the preseason NIT, because I realized then that the Bulldogs would almost certainly be one of the top mid-major teams in the country, and thus their BracketBusters game would be a big deal and they’d be paired against a good opponent. This was a rare act of foresight on my part. Because the game was so far off and the opponent undecided, there were lots of good tickets still available. (We are, if I’m not mistaken, pretty close to the visiting team’s bench.)

Technically, Butler could be paired against any of the “away” teams in the BracketBusters field, which are listed below; I’ve excluded teams that are already on the Bulldogs’ schedule, since I’m sure ESPN wouldn’t schedule a rematch:

Albany, Appalachian State, Austin Peay, Bowling Green, Bradley, Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Canisius, Central Michigan, Colgate, Drexel, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Washington, Elon, Hawaii, Holy Cross, Iona, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Liberty, Louisiana Tech, Maine, Manhattan, Miami (Ohio), Murray State, UNC Wilmington, Northern Iowa, Northwestern State, Old Dominion, Ohio, Pacific, Portland State, Saint Peter’s, Sam Houston State, San Jose State, Southern Illinois, Towson, Utah State, William & Mary, Winthrop

That said, it seems almost certain the Bulldogs, ranked #1 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, will be matched up against one of the other top teams from that poll, in order to create a marquee matchup. The most obvious possibilities are #3 Winthrop, #4 Northern Iowa and #5 Southern Illinois. I assume it will be one of those three.

Butler versus either Northern Iowa or Southern Illinois, especially the latter, would be something of a “regional” matchup — Indiana vs. Illinois (or Iowa), Horizon League versus Missouri Valley Conference, etc. — whereas Butler vs. Winthrop (from South Carolina and the Big South Conference) would be an intersectional game.

If ESPN wants to go with regional games, they could send Winthrop to #2 Virginia Commonwealth, and pair Butler with either the Panthers or the Salukis. On the other hand, if they prefer the more “national” appeal of an intersectional game, I suspect the Winthrop Eagles will be coming to town. Looking at last year’s marquee games — Bucknell at Northern Iowa, Missouri State at UW-Milwaukee, George Mason at Wichita State, Fresno State at Creighton, etc. — I’d say the latter scenario is slightly more likely.

We’ll find out Monday. The BracketBusters selection show is on ESPNU at 6pm, and the newly updated BracketBusters website will be available at 8pm.

P.S. Here’s a map of all the BracketBusters teams, home and away.

And here’s a handy ranking chart. If it is to be believed, Bradley, Drexel, Appalachian State and Holy Cross are also realistic potential opponents for Butler. But I’ll stick with my prediction: it’ll be Winthrop, Southern Illinois or Northern Iowa, in that order of probability.

UPDATE: On the other hand… it occurs to me that, with Missouri Valley teams Missouri State, Creighton, Wichita State and Indiana State all among the top “home” teams, it might behoove ESPN to match up the big-name, non-Missouri Valley “away” teams, like Winthrop, with MVC “home” teams, rather than “wasting” them on non-MVC “home” teams and thus diluting the pool of potential opponents for the big-name MVC squads. So, that would argue for sending Winthrop to, say, Missouri State, and sending either Southern Illinois or Northern Iowa to Butler.

So, I think I’ll modify my prediction. Southern Illinois is the most likely opponent, then Northern Iowa, then Winthrop.

What the heck, let’s take a crack at predicting all of the marquee games. How does this sound:

Southern Illinois @ Butler
Winthrop @ Missouri State
Northern Iowa @ Nevada
Bradley @ Virginia Commonwealth
Drexel @ Creighton
Appalachian State @ Wichita State

In that scenario, I’d say the first three would clearly be the “biggest” games, with SIU @ Butler edging UNI @ Nevada for top billing. (It’s too bad Nevada isn’t an away team; Nevada @ Butler would be awesome.)

UPDATE 2: I swear I hadn’t seen Joe Lunardi’s post when I blogged this, but our picks are almost identical! The only difference is that I guess he doesn’t think Winthrop is terribly good (he’s using InsideRPI, which has them ranked #87, below seventeen other BracketBusters teams), so he would send Appalachian State to Virginia Commonwealth instead of the Eagles, and would send Utah State to Wichita State instead of the Mountaineers (that’s Appalachian State’s mascot; yes, I had to look it up).

Otherwise, though, our picks are identical: Southern Illinois @ Butler, Northern Iowa @ Nevada, Bradley @ Virginia Commonwealth and Drexel @ Creighton, with SIU-Butler the #1 “marquee game” and UNI-Nevada as #2. Woohoo! I’m on the same wavelength as Joe Lunardi! That means I’m cool! ;)

He also suggested a bunch of other, “lower-tier” BracketBusters matchups. Here’s his full prediction:

1. Southern Illinois (16-5, InsideRPI No. 10) at Butler (17-2, InsideRPI No. 20)
2. Northern Iowa (15-5, InsideRPI No. 48) at Nevada (17-2, InsideRPI No. 31)
3. Drexel (15-4, InsideRPI No. 45) at Creighton (13-7, InsideRPI No. 34)
4. Appalachian State (15-5, InsideRPI No. 43) at Missouri State (14-7, InsideRPI No. 42)

5. Bradley (15-7, InsideRPI No. 35) at VCU (17-3, InsideRPI No. 59)
6. Holy Cross (15-6, InsideRPI No. 66) at Hofstra (15-5, InsideRPI No. 60)
7. Utah State (15-5, InsideRPI No. 64) at Wichita State (12-9, InsideRPI No. 78)
8. Ohio (13-6, No. 73) at New Mexico State (16-4, InsideRPI No. 80)

9. Evansville (12-9, No. 83) at Long Beach (13-5, InsideRPI No. 93)
10. Old Dominion (13-7, InsideRPI No. 90) at Indiana State (11-8, InsideRPI No. 95)
11. Winthrop (15-4, InsideRPI No. 87) at George Mason (11-8, InsideRPI No. 110)
12. Akron (14-4, InsideRPI No. 107) at Fresno State (14-5, InsideRPI No. 115)

All records and InsideRPI data through Wednesday, January 24.