College Basketball: How to bring back BracketBusters in the non-conference

After the 2012-13 college basketball season, the event “BracketBusters” was discontinued. How could the event possibly be brought back?

BracketBusters originally started out as a competition between a select group of mid-majors facing off in a showcase to improve resumes in February. Teams like Saint Mary’s and Wichita State first made themselves known in these events with a TV crowd to witness it.

Unfortunately, a wave of conference realignment took away several popular options. Also, new media deals gave ESPN even fewer options to choose from. Less and less appealing games started to emerge, causing fans to lose interest.

There were hopes that it could be brought up again, but with conferences and teams leaving both ESPN and their mid-major leagues, having enough quality programs to even participate became a big issue, permanently disrupting BracketBusters.

The problem still remains that mid-majors do not have the opportunities that high-majors do to get top-50 wins that can improve their chances for an at-large bid. The best way they can do this is in these ever-growing non-conference tournaments and match-ups.

Right now, there are 50 events that pit teams from different conferences against each other ranging from the Maui and Advocare Invitationals to the events that most people have never even heard, such as the Rumbling Wreck Showcase and the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic.

The problems still arise when even though a mid-major gets chances to play a powerhouse, the likelihood of beating them is relatively slim, making this all for not in the big picture.

Now, without any further ado, how could the BracketBusters be revived and who would compete?