Who will George Mason face in their ESPN BracketBuster game?

The Patriots still have work to do in the CAA as they will face Hofstra and ODU at home and VCU on the road next month. How they fare in those games could be the difference between whether or not we can talk about any "at-large" hopes. Tonight they take on Towson at home, hopefully the snow won't cause any issues as they are currently 20-point favorites. Mason hasn't lost to Towson since 1993 and the Tigers have never won at the Patriot Center. So far Towson is yet to win a CAA this season.

I still believe and others seems to agree that even with a good bracketbuster win the Patriots still wouldn't have enough good wins (top RPI 50) to be considered. However who could forget that every single expert said the same thing in 2006 and look what happened, so you never know.  It's always fun to speculate and George Mason seems primed for one of the best road game spots in this year's ESPN BracketBuster event, which is being touted as the largest pool in the event's short history. The Patriots seem like they will definitely be on ESPN2 on Saturday February 19th for one of the night games.  The only question is who they will be facing?  The pairings will be announced January 31st and historically ESPN seems to match teams based on RPI and we were able to guess who pretty easily last season.

Below is a chart to help us see who the Patriots might be matched up against, all RPI numbers are current as of January 26:

Updated: 1/31 (Announcement tonight at 6:30pm on ESPNU)

So looking at the chart, which I will update daily, it would appear Mason could have a 2006 rematch/showdown again at Wichita State. Since the Patriots and Shockers already have a story line going and this is an ESPN made-for-TV event, I don't think they could pass this up. I would not think Saint Mary's is an option because they are on the west coast and I don't think in the past they have made teams travel that far while still in the middle of their conference schedule. Geographically Valparaiso is closer to Mason than Wichita St. so they are also in the mix. Also keep in mind that George Mason's RPI will take a hit win or lose just by playing Towson (#264) and William & Mary (#255).

Who do you want George Mason to face in this year's BracketBuster event?