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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Other PL BracketBusters matchups set
Bucknell will entertain old East Coast Conference rival Towson while Colgate will be at Marist in the ESPN BracketBusters.

For the Bison and the Tigers, it is a return to the 1980s, when the two were both members of the now-defunct East Coast Conference. The two have met 23 times, most recently in 1992 (an 85-72 Bucknell win in old Davis Gym), with the Bison holding a 15-8 edge in the series.

Towson is currently 11-11 overall, 5-6 in the tough Colonial Athletic Conference, with a Ken Pomeroy RPI calculated at 155.

The two have played one common opponent -- George Mason, which beat Towson 73-44 at Mason and lost to Bucknell 60-57 in the BB&T Classic in Washington D.C.

While the game is hardly the exciting matchup Bucknell drew last season when it played at Northern Iowa in one of the BracketBusters televised games, it does bring with it the promise of a Baltimore area game next season when the Bison make the return trip to Towson. That area is a hotbed for Bucknell alums, who used to give the Bison close to a homecourt advantage for ECC Tournament games played at the Towson Center.

Colgate will be on the road for its BracketBusters contest, playing in Poughkeepsie against the Red Foxes of Marist. Colgate's RPI of 271 will hardly benefit Marist, which is currently 15-6 overall, 8-3 in the MAAC, with an RPI of 128.

The lone common opponent of the two is Canisius, which beat Colgate (78-73) in Hamilton and lost in Poughkeepsie (80-73).

The two would have one more common opponent in Bucknell had the Bison not laid an egg against Central Arkansas in the first round of Marist's holiday tournament, preventing what would had been a much-anticipated matchup in the final.

A Bucknell-Marist matchup in the BracketBusters would certainly be more attractive than either of the scheduled games, but both schools were preordained as host teams for the event.

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Published at 1:18 PM by Hoop Time.
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