College of Charleston, Citadel, Charleston Southern learn BracketBuster fate

The Citadel, College of Charleston and Charleston Southern learned their ESPN BracketBuster fate Monday night.

The Bulldogs will travel to Clinton to take on Presbyterian, Charleston Southern will be on the road against Rider and College of Charleston will host Gardner-Webb at TD Arena. All games will be played Feb. 23. Tipoff for the Cougars and Buccaneers games will be announced in the next few days. The Citadel is tentatively scheduled to face the Blue Hose at 7:45 p.m. at Templeton Center.

The 11th annual BracketBusters is a two-day event, pitting potential mid-major NCAA teams selected from a pool of 122 teams from 15 conferences. As part of the agreement, all 61 home teams in the event will play a return game at the home facility of their opponent in November or December of the 2013-14 season.

It’s the first time in BracketBusters’ history the three Charleston-area teams are playing in the event.

This is also the first time The Citadel has taken part in the event and the first time since the 1982-83 season that the Bulldogs have faced the Blue Hose (5-18, 2-7 Big South). The Citadel (6-15, 3-8 SoCon) holds a 46-22 edge in the all-time series, including a 10-game winning streak that dates back to the 1956-57 season.

“I know our team and fans are excited about the opportunity to participate in the ESPN BracketBusters,” said Citadel head coach Chuck Driesell. “February has traditionally been the month that teams across the country want to play their best basketball. Playing against a non-conference opponent like this, in a hostile environment, will be a great way for our team to handle pressure situations in the following week leading up to the Southern Conference Tournament.”

The Cougars lead 1-0 in the all-time series against Gardner-Webb, beating the Runnin’ Bulldogs, 81-63, in 2000.

Charleston (16-7, 8-3 SoCon) is 5-1 all-time in BracketBuster games and has won its last five-straight appearances in the event. Last season, the Cougars defeated Kent State, 80-73. Charleston’s four other BracketBusters wins came against VCU in 2005, Georgia State in 2006, George Mason in 2010 and Vermont in 2011.

The Bucs (12-7, 7-1 Big South) are coming off a 74-73 overtime loss to Gardner-Webb (13-10, 5-4 in Big South). It was the first conference loss of the season for the Bucs. Rider is 12-12 overall this season and 7-5 in MAAC.

“We are looking forward to playing Charleston Southern in this year’s BracketBuster,” said Rider coach Kevin Baggett, who was an assistant at Coastal Carolina. “Having coached in the Big South Conference I am well aware of the teams in that league and how underrated some of those teams are. Charleston Southern is a very good team.”