But first, WSU will travel to Kansas City, Mo., for a BracketBusters event game against UMKC, a team stuck on the bottom of the Summit League.
It’s a break that WSU coach Billy Donlon doesn’t relish.
“I’m not a fan of it,” Donlon said of the BracketBusters event. “I think it’s terrible for our league, because most leagues have another two weeks in the regular season. We come out of UMKC, and our league is (almost) done. You come out of that, and it’s the biggest weekend of the year for conference play.”
Each Horizon League team is playing in a BracketBusters game, but only two — Valparaiso at Loyola Marymount on Friday and Cleveland State hosting Drexel today — will be on ESPNU. The others will not be broadcast.
The BracketBusters event includes 71 games with teams from 16 conferences. Of those, 13 games will be featured on an ESPN channel.
Last year, the Raiders participated in one of those ESPNU games, beating Hofstra in a game that began at 11 a.m. for the television broadcast.
“I think its purpose was terrific when it first came out. I thought it was a great idea,” Donlon said. “I thought it worked well for awhile, but I think it’s an idea that has fizzled.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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