Teams vie for tournament seeds and exposure

One hundred mid-major schools will play even though 13 of the games will be televised. Why? Because conferences like the Ohio Valley and Missouri Valley now require their teams to participate in the hopes of generating much-needed buzz.

Northern Arizona coach Mike Adras jumped at the chance to be a part of ''BracketBusters,'' a made-for-TV event designed to give schools from mid-major conferences a chance to improve their chances with the NCAA tournament selection committee.

But he never though he would have to fly his team from Montana to Western Kentucky to play on one day's rest. Still, Adras knows that getting on TV is the best way to raise his school's profile.

That's why the BracketBusters event has grown from a quaint nine-game experiment to a 50-game behemoth in four years.

One hundred mid-major schools will play even though 13 of the games will be televised. Why? Because conferences like the Ohio Valley and Missouri Valley now require their teams to participate in the hopes of generating much-needed buzz.

Even though Northern Arizona is sitting atop the Big Sky conference with three weeks left in the regular season, Adras knows his team is barely a blip on the tournament selection committee's radar.

The Big Sky has long been a one-bid conference, largely unknown outside of places like Flagstaff, Ariz., and Bozeman, Mont. When ESPN comes calling, it is difficult to say no, even if it means sending your team halfway across the country.

The Lumberjacks will wake up Friday morning in Montana after their game against Montana State, then travel over 1,700 miles to Bowling Green, Ky., to play in a BracketBusters game against Western Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.

''You want the opportunity to play on ESPN,'' Adras said. ''Unfortunately this is the way we get this opportunity.''

The brainchild of a handful of commissioners from mid-major conferences, the BracketBusters event has evolved from a quirky gimmick featuring 18 schools into a 100-team monster with schools from 18 conferences.

''The event has taken on an almost postseason feel to it,'' said Dave Elgin, commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference who helped come up with the concept. ''At Southern Illinois, we had students camping out overnight for a game against Hawaii the next day that didn't start until 11 at night. It's really been remarkable.''

The event has been so helpful in improving the conference's profile nationally, Elgin makes all 10 schools in his conference participate. The MVC received three NCAA tournament bids in 2005.

Elgin said the rise in the number of at-large bids given to his conference and its involvement in BracketBusters isn't a coincidence.

''For this league, the event has been wonderful,'' Elgin said. ''It's been something that's accomplished the mission of our league to a T.''

Teams are put into a pool before the season begins and told to keep an open date on their schedule in mid-February. The games are selected in late-January, with ESPN choosing which games to televise based on factors including interest and story lines. As the field has grown, the fight to get on television has intensified.

Ohio Valley Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said the model has proved so successful he volunteered all 11 of the teams in his conference for the event over the objections of some of his coaches.

''You'll see an array of feedback from the coaches,'' Steinbrecher said. ''I take the broader view that this will ultimately help build our institutions. It's not just one TV appearance this year, it's two or three.''

Even though Adras realizes there isn't much riding on the game at Western Kentucky, it is a chance to gain some national exposure.

''The committee, they might not know anything about the Big Sky,'' he said. ''This is our chance to show them.''