Hey, Bulldog.

I know I’m a couple of days late on this, but I’ve had a lot of posts anyway and wanted to put this up after the Duke-UNC hysteria passed us by. Drake (21-1) is playing at Butler (20-2) in a game that can only make Michael Vick reach for his pockets during Bracket Buster Saturday on Feb. 23.

But seriously, the game will do zero towards an at-large berth (both will be getting in) but could mean as many as two seed lines depending on how the game plays out. Consider me geeked—these are the kinds of things that make college basketball so great, because there’s such little chance that both Butler and Drake would survive long enough in The Tournament to play each other.

In case you missed it, here are the other Bracket Buster matchups and what they mean.

Friday, Feb. 22:

• UC-Santa Barbara (Big West) @ Utah State (WAC). It means…Very little. Utah State has to keep winning and a loss here only hurts the cause for them being an at-large.

• Davidson (SoCon) @ Winthrop (Big South). It means…It means that Davidson cannot win a meaningful game out of their conference and Winthrop would be an absolute must-win if they wanted any sort of attention on Selection Sunday. Winthrop is well behind the pack, but they’ve got some pedigree that would add cache to beating Davidson.

Saturday, Feb. 23:

• Kent State (MAC) @ Saint Mary’s (West Coast). It means…It means that if Saint Mary’s ends the season with five losses (they’re currently at three) and one of them comes in this game to Kent State, that both of these teams could/should make The Tournament. This is the most must-see of any game in Bracket Busters.

• Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial) @ Akron (MAC). It means…Both teams VCU (17-5), Akron (16-6) will desperately need this win to garner at-large consideration. A true elimination game. Exciting!

• Drake (Mizzou Valley) @ Butler (Horizon). Prediction: Butler by 10.

• Marist (MAAC) @ Cleveland State (Horizon). It means…Not a lot. Let’s keep it moving here.

• Miami (OH) (MAC) @ Valparaiso (Horizon). It means…Eh, Miami was once an RPI poser but now is just 11-10 and would play spoiler to at-large long shot Valpo.

• Rider (MAAC) @ Cal-State Northridge (Big West). It mea—let’s just stop right here.

• Siena (MAAC) @ Boise State (WAC). Intriguing, but unfortunately this doesn’t quite have the relevancy that both schools’ fans would try and make you believe.

• Nevada (WAC) @ Southern Illinois (Mizzou Valley). It means…It means it would’ve been a great game last year.

• George Mason (Colonial) @ Ohio (MAC). It means…Love this matchup. I think Ohio bursts Mason’s bubble in this game as well. Don’t forget about Ohio, who still can make a run out of the MAC (they’d really need Akron to lose in their Bracket Buster game for some help).

• Creighton (Mizzou Valley) @ Oral Roberts (Summit). It means…Creighton will need to win this game and be in the midst of a seven-game winning streak (which started last Saturday) to keep any hopes of seeing their names called by Greg Gumbel on March 16.

• UW-Milwaukee (Horizon) @ Bradley (Mizzou Valley). It means…nada.

Sunday, Feb. 24:

• Wright State (Horizon) @ Illinois State (Mizzou Valley). It means…It’s a good way to end the weekend with the two best mid-major conferences being represented by their second-best teams.

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