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 Western Carolina will be a road team in the ESPN BracketBuster event, finding out their opponent Monday night at 6:30 pm on ESPNU. The Catamount women host College of Charleston at 7:00 pm in the Ramsey Center. |
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Feb. 1, 2010
Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina will discover its destination in the 2010 ESPN BracketBuster event on Monday evening as a part of the live selection show. The pairings will be announced this evening at 6:30 pm on ESPNU as part of a special BracketBuster show. WCU is a designated travel team in this year's event.
The eighth annual BracketBusters event, a two-day men's college basketball extravaganza pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other Feb. 19-20, will feature 11 nationally televised games - on either ESPN2 or ESPNU - selected from a pool of 98 teams. For the fifth straight year, ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will televise five BracketBusters games while ESPN2 will televise six contests.
Game times and network assignments for the televised games are slated to be announced on Feb. 8
All told, four SoCon squads will participate in this year's BracketBuster event as both Elon and South division leader, College of Charleston, will join WCU on the road in the event while Appalachian State is the lone conference squad to host this year.
As part of the agreement, all 11 of the BracketBusters home teams, as well as the remaining 38 home squads, will play a "return" game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the 2011-12 season.
Western Carolina, which picked up win No. 17 on Saturday afternoon on the road at Samford - the most under head coach Larry Hunter - will be at home twice this week as it hosts both Georgia Southern and Appalachian State in conference action.
Busy Week in Catamount Athletics Tips-Off Monday
A busy week in Western Carolina athletics tips-off on Monday evening as the Catamount women's basketball team takes to the hardwood against second-place College of Charleston at 7:00 pm in the Ramsey Center in the back-end of its two-game home stand.
WCU lost to the Cougars, 68-61, in the teams' earlier meeting back on December 21. It was the first game of the season for sophomore post Caitlin Hollifield, who had to sit out part of the year due to NCAA transfer rules. Hollifield had a huge game with a double-double, 12 points and 11 rebounds while also blocking two shots.
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 Caitlin Hollifield posted a double-double in her first meeting with the Cougars this season. WCU hosts the College of Charleston Monday night at 7:00 pm in the Ramsey Center.  |
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On Tuesday morning, keynote speaker, men's basketball head coach Larry Hunter, will be joined by baseball head coach Bobby Moranda and softball head coach Christine Hornak at the Catamount Coaches' Luncheon held in the First Floor Hospitality Room of the Ramsey Center. The buffet-style lunch begins at 11:45 am for a cost of $8.00 per person.
Catamount Football will take center stage on Wednesday as student-athletes ink National Letters of Intent to play football at WCU next season on "National Signing Day." CatamountSports.com will have updates throughout the day as players sign with head coach Dennis Wagner and the Catamounts for the fall of 2010.
Also on Wednesday, the Catamount women's basketball team opens a four-game road swing in a make-up game with Georgia Southern.
Back on the home hardwood, the Catamount men's basketball team plays at home twice this week, beginning Thursday night at 7:00 pm against Georgia Southern in the Ramsey Center. WCU will look to avenge a road set-back to the Eagles back on Jan. 9. The Catamounts have won 14-straight home games including seven-consecutive against SoCon foes.
Prior to the game, the Catamount Club's "Purple Zone" event will feature a special football signing day re-cap social in the Hospitality Room. The event is open to members of the Catamount Club with a RSVP requested by calling (828) 227-3794 or by E-mailing Director Gorham Bradley at bradley@wcu.edu.
Also on Thursday, the WCU Football team has partnered with Lifeway Community Church in Sylva to conduct a pop-top canned food drive the survivors of the devastating earthquakes in Haiti. Drop-off boxes will be at each entrance to the Ramsey Center on Thursday with patrons asked to bring pop-top canned goods and other non-perishable food items.
The busy week concludes with the mountain-rivalry game between SoCon North Division leaders as archrival Appalachian State comes to Cullowhee for a Saturday evening showdown. ASU upended the Catamounts in Boone two weeks ago and enters the week one game in arrears of WCU in the divisional standings.
Tip-off between the Catamounts and Mountaineers is set for 7:00 pm.
