Bradley Bracket Buster opponent announced

[squirrel]

Is Elgin mad at the Braves or what....first we are the only team this season to have 3 road games in a row and now a Bracket-buster game against a team that if you win you drop in RPI? I just don't get it!

No. I can almost guarantee you Elgin was acting on behalf of JL in making this arrangement.

[braves12]

Oops forgot about the BYU game. Thanks for catching that.

No game BU would have deserved to get would have made a difference in getting in the Dance. Loyola is close to home for fans and also for travel costs. Wouldn't surprise me if BU preferred this to a trip way out east.

[MacabreMob]

We just need to blow this off.

We need to focus on UNI. And then the rest of the MVC games. We should/will deal with a road game at Loyola when it comes up. And we better show up to play and then take care of business.

Shrug it off and don't complain.

[BU Firsty]

I think this is fine. To be honest, we did not put ourselves in the position to get a top-notch opponent. While this game will certainly not be an RPI boost, it does not make any difference this year. We are not going to get an at-large bid regardless of what we do the rest of the season.

This gives us a game in Chicago which is good for both Chicago area fans and local fans, easy travel that will not interfere with our conference season, and a decent return opponent. In addition, UNI getting the Siena game was a great get for the MVC, which is good for us. Outside of UNI, we (the MVC) do not have an at-large candidate. A win for UNI will certainly help strengthen their hopes.

So, in many regards this is about as good as we could hope for and in line with what we deserve. I think Doug Elgin did fine with the line-up we received.

[wily coyote]

Oops forgot about the BYU game. Thanks for catching that.

No game BU would have deserved to get would have made a difference in getting in the Dance. Loyola is close to home for fans and also for travel costs. Wouldn't surprise me if BU preferred this to a trip way out east.

Hey b12 looks like a road trip on the 21st. See ya at the luncheon tomorrow. How was the first day of retirement?

[Bravesfan]

I am one that does not blame ESPN. Call me goofy but BU could have prevented this by winning a couple of games that they lost. It is on the program to take care of business and not rely on ESPN to give them a good game. On the positive side, a win against a not so strong bracketbuster opponent could help reach the magical number of 20 wins for the 4th year in a row

Road trip to Chicago for a nice meal and there will be no problems getting tickets.

Loyola could end up being a season opener next year when the schedule could be filled with very good games except the 1st 2 in the Vegas tourney.

Well, no excuse to lose this game. We not only would get closer to 20 wins, but in all seriousness, this could get us closer to NIT territory. We need to beat UNI tomorrow night as well, but at least Loyola could help us pad our win total.

And yes, another game against the Horizon League! How appropriate!

[Da Coach]

Official BradleyBraves.com release--
Men's basketball to play at Loyola in BracketBusters

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=25965&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=3660270

PEORIA, Ill. ??“ The Bradley men??™s basketball team (13-9 overall) will play at Loyola-Chicago (12-11 overall) on Saturday, Feb. 21 as part of the seventh annual BracketBusters. Game time for the contest at the Gentile Center in Chicago, Ill., is yet to be determined.

Bradley holds a 29-15 lead in the all-time series with the Ramblers and has won four of the last five meetings. The two teams first played during the 1927-28 season and will be playing for the seventh consecutive year. The Braves won 64-47 last year at the Gentile Center. Loyola will make the return trip to Carver Arena next season.

Bradley is 4-1 in BracketBuster games, having won three straight in the event. Last season the Braves topped Wisconsin-Milwaukee 84-72 at Carver Arena on ESPN 360.

[Bravesfan]

I think this is fine. To be honest, we did not put ourselves in the position to get a top-notch opponent. While this game will certainly not be an RPI boost, it does not make any difference this year. We are not going to get an at-large bid regardless of what we do the rest of the season.

This gives us a game in Chicago which is good for both Chicago area fans and local fans, easy travel that will not interfere with our conference season, and a decent return opponent. In addition, UNI getting the Siena game was a great get for the MVC, which is good for us. Outside of UNI, we (the MVC) do not have an at-large candidate. A win for UNI will certainly help strengthen their hopes.

So, in many regards this is about as good as we could hope for and in line with what we deserve. I think Doug Elgin did fine with the line-up we received.

Agreed. And we get a natural rival into Peoria next year for the 8th year in a row. Not a bad opponent, and we get an easy win onto our schedule next year, which frankly is very challanging as it is.

Oh, and in addition to UNI, don't forget Creighton drawing George Mason. The Valley has a shot to strengthen themselves nicely if we can win at least 7 or 8 of these games.

[Bravesfan]

Maybe instead of having a press conference tomorrow to announce that we are playing Loyola, we should instead have a press conference announcing that BU is working feverishly with ESPN to see if there is some way to get Chicago St., University of Chicago, Robert Morris College, Wheaton College, Lake Forest College, Moody Bible Institute, and the DeVry Institute of Technology all involved in the Bracket Buster games in the future. That way we can guarantee that we will have a game against a lousy basketball team in the Chicago area every single year.

Don't forget Lewis University. They showed a game on the northwest Indiana PBS station last week. Not a bad atmosphere there for a D-II school! And a good team too in the top D-II conference in the country. Bradley would beat them, but it might be a good game.

[Da Coach]

Dave Reynolds' article-

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x543540896/Bradley-left-out-of-BracketBuster-TV-slate

[georgethedog]

I think this is fine. To be honest, we did not put ourselves in the position to get a top-notch opponent. While this game will certainly not be an RPI boost, it does not make any difference this year. We are not going to get an at-large bid regardless of what we do the rest of the season.

This gives us a game in Chicago which is good for both Chicago area fans and local fans, easy travel that will not interfere with our conference season, and a decent return opponent. In addition, UNI getting the Siena game was a great get for the MVC, which is good for us. Outside of UNI, we (the MVC) do not have an at-large candidate. A win for UNI will certainly help strengthen their hopes.

So, in many regards this is about as good as we could hope for and in line with what we deserve. I think Doug Elgin did fine with the line-up we received.

You are absolutely correct. Face it, BU is not that great of a team this year in a so-so conference. Couple that with a loss to UMKC and blow-outs against the big-boys and that's that. While the BU program is not in the dumps, it certainly is not deserving of any special recognition or treatment. BU is a mediocre team, period. Our only hope is getting hot and winning the MVC tourney or having a great regular season finish to get to the NIT, but that looks like that won't happen. Tied for second or not, this has not been a good year. Also, BU has a few more tough games and that "tied for second" could end up as a 5th or 6th place finish real easy. Sorry for the reality check...

[Bravesfan]

You are absolutely correct. Face it, BU is not that great of a team this year in a so-so conference. Couple that with a loss to UMKC and blow-outs against the big-boys and that's that. While the BU program is not in the dumps, it certainly is not deserving of any special recognition or treatment. BU is a mediocre team, period. Our only hope is getting hot and winning the MVC tourney or having a great regular season finish to get to the NIT, but that looks like that won't happen. Tied for second or not, this has not been a good year. Also, BU has a few more tough games and that "tied for second" could end up as a 5th or 6th place finish real easy. Sorry for the reality check...

Yeah but they can also win a few of these games and finish in 2nd place by themselves. I think Drake and Evansville are beatable on the road. And UNI is beatable at home tomorrow night. I think that game will tell us where we are headed the rest of the season. If we beat UNI, we should finish with a minimum of 11 conference wins as wins against Drake, Evansville and Missouri St are very doable in Peoria.

If we split with Drake and Evansville on the road and get that win at Loyola, we finish 12-6 in conference and 19-11 overall before St. Louis. That should be more than enough for the NIT, though it still will be a close call as to whether we get a home game or not.

Hey, we can finish at 16-15 or 17-14 and get a couple of CBI home games and maybe ride that to the finals again. And that would be nice too. However, the NIT would show we are making some progress as a team, and this year at least I would probably prefer that at the very least. With an even more experienced team next year, the NIT would be a good stepping stone.

[TheAsianSensation]

Bradley is the highest RPI team not on TV.

The MVC is the highest rated conference in this.

We're T-2 in said conference.

Our profile is marginal by college basketball standards. Our profile is well above-average by BracketBuster standards.


I get that it's been a disappointing season. But it's about relative performance. How do you compare to the other teams? To look at who's in ahead of us makes you wonder.


It's not about getting a better opponent. It's about respect. We were disrespected.

[georgethedog]

Bradley is the highest RPI team not on TV.

The MVC is the highest rated conference in this.

We're T-2 in said conference.

Our profile is marginal by college basketball standards. Our profile is well above-average by BracketBuster standards.


I get that it's been a disappointing season. But it's about relative performance. How do you compare to the other teams? To look at who's in ahead of us makes you wonder.


It's not about getting a better opponent. It's about respect. We were disrespected.

Someone has to be the highest rated RPI team not on TV. I think after the higher RPI teams are picked, RPI really doesn't matter for the rest of the games because most of those schools are going nowhere anyway and the game doesn't matter much.

[ph]

I say the entire MVC donates their return games to ISU to boost their SOS next season...