INSIDERS CALLING ODU "BRACKET BUSTER" TEAM

The Old Dominion University men's basketball team is picked by Sports Illustrated's SI.com prognosticators as the "bracket buster" team in the Midwest Regional of the NCAA championships. Comments about ODU are under a headline, "Beware of 12-Seed Old Dominion."

The Monarchs meet No. 5-seed Butler University in Buffalo for a 2:40 p.m. first-round game on Thursday. "Old Dominion is just the sort of tough Colonial (Athletic Association) team that can (and will) win the battle of the glass with Butler," SI.com said.

The story predicts that there will be no mid-major conference team in the 2007 Final Four as there was in 2006 when CAA member George Mason was the Cinderella of the NCAA championships. "The Monarchs do, however, come from the same conference as George Mason and could pull off two upsets against over-rated foes in No. 5-seed Butler and No. 4-seed Maryland," according to SI.com.