Next game: BU at ISU- Sat. 1/30, game time 4:35 pm

[Da Coach]

Bradley's next game is Saturday, January 30, at 4:35 pm at Illinois State.
The game is televised on the MVC-TV network (cable channels 56 and 57, hi-def channels 922 and 959).
Both teams are 5-5 in the MVC.

MVC conference stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/confstat.htm

MVC conference-only stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/CONFONLY.HTM

ISU stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/ILS.HTM

BU stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/BU.HTM

ISU website-

http://www.goredbirds.com/sports/m-baskbl/ilsu-m-baskbl-body.html

ISU roster-

http://www.goredbirds.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/ilsu-m-baskbl-mtt.html

[Carver Arena Guy]

Does the MVC Network broadcast their games in HD?

[Da Coach]

The last one I saw was not in HD, but I don't know about this game.

[Carver Arena Guy]

Thanks. I noticed the ISU-Wichita game wasn't. Oh well. At least it's on and I don't have to step foot in God forsaken Redbird Arena.

[MacabreMob]

After the Birds win... will the fans storm the court?

[Da Coach]

After the Birds win... will the fans storm the court?

I think it was added to the script to instruct the students how to act.

[mark_IL]

After the Birds win...

not gonna happen!

i'll be there saturday, hoping for a solid turnout of BU fans and a road W!

ps. longtime lurker here, love the site

[Da Coach]

Nice to hear from you Mark IL- one of our "silent majority"!

[mark_IL]

i'll be in section SS along w/ 7 other alums from chicago/the surrounding area...this team still has plenty of support from up north

[Carver Arena Guy]

Bradley wins this game on Saturday. Im not gonna give a book it but I have a good feeling about it. We may be frustrated in Bradley land but at least we aren't ISU and have a coach like Jank who is looking for the first available train out of B/N.

The way their season has been he is going to be stuck there for a while.

[LittleBrave]

If BU pulls out a win, it'll be the 2nd biggest win of the season...or maybe the biggest - to get our fans back to being hopeful, as most were before the CU game.

Call me crazy, but I am more confident about Bradley winning this game than I was last game. We need AW to step it up big-time!

[chitown fanatic]

Not winning in Normal and will need to win Tuesday and saturday to avoid a Thursday night appearance. ISU by 8 69-61

[Da Coach]

Pregame notes from BradleyBraves.com

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=204877010

Bradley Basketball Pregame Notes
Game 21 - Bradley Braves (10-10, 5-5 MVC) at Illinois State Redbirds (14-7, 5-5 MVC)
Saturday, Jan. 30 - 4:35 p.m. CST - Normal, Ill. - Redbird Arena (10,200)
Series History - Bradley leads 61-47

Television: MVC-TV - Dan McLaughlin (play-by-play) and Charlie Spoonhour (analyst). Live on FSN Midwest, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, FSN Indiana, FSN Kansas City and MetroSports in Kansas City.
Radio: 1470 AM WMBD -- Dave Snell (play-by-play), Chuck Buescher (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (pregame host)
Online: BradleyBraves.com -free audio streams. GoRedbirds.com - live stats. No video streams available.
I-74 Rivalry, Round 1
The first round of the annual Interstate 74 Rivalry between Bradley and Illinois State will tip off Saturday when the Braves visit Redbird Arena in a clash of teams currently locked in a four-way tie for fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference...While the winner could move into a third-place tie if Drake beats Creighton Saturday night, the loser could drop as low as a tie for seventh place by the end of the weekend's action...Saturday's game will be the 109th meeting in the all-time series between Bradley and Illinois State, which dates back to the 1904-05 season, and the Braves have won 10 of the last 14 meetings to claim a 61-47 series advantage.
Star Power
Saturday's matchup features three of the top four scorers in Missouri Valley Conference action (three of the top six in all games)...Bradley junior guard Andrew Warren leads the league in scoring through 10 rounds of conference play at 15.8 ppg, while junior backcourt mate Sam Maniscalco is tied for third at 15.1 ppg...Maniscalco is tied with Illinois State senior guard Osiris Eldridge, who leads the league in overall scoring at 16.9 ppg...Warren is third in all games at 14.8 ppg and Bradley sophomore forward Taylor Brown is sixth overall at 13.7 ppg.
Strength of Schedule
According to the RPI information provided by CBSSportsline.com Friday, Bradley owns the nation's No. 43 Strength of Schedule rating...The next toughest SOS in The Valley is Indiana State at No. 61 and the other nine teams in the MVC have a 131.7 average SOS ranking...Bradley's non-conference strength of schedule easily paces The Valley at No. 68, 63 spots better than second place Indiana State, while the average non-conference SOS for the other nine teams in the league is 261.8.
MVC Strength of Schedule Numbers
Team SOS NCSOS RPI
Bradley 43 68 103
Creighton 70 170 105
Drake 110 275 171
Evansville 165 336 269
Illinois State 208 343 121
Indiana State 61 131 86
Missouri State 154 272 82
UNI 90 190 20
Southern Illinois 188 330 147
Wichita State 139 309 49

With A Win...
Bradley will snap a two-game road losing streak at Illinois State...The Braves will improve to 4-3 in their last seven visits to Redbird Arena...Bradley could move back into a tie for third place in The Valley standings and will at least remain in fourth place...Jim Les will improve to 11-5 all-time against Illinois State in his eighth year as Bradley's head coach and 15-8 all-time in matchups against the rival Redbirds as a Bradley player (4-3) and coach.
With A Loss...
Bradley will drop its second consecutive game and fall to 5-9 in its last 14 games...The Braves will suffer their third consecutive road loss to the Redbirds and fall to 5-17 all-time against Illinois State at Redbird Arena...Jim Les will experience his first losing streak against Illinois State since his first three games as Bradley's point guard in 1984 and 1985.
The Return Game
The Interstate 74 rivals will complete the regular-season series Feb. 9 when Illinois State invades Carver Arena...Bradley will be shooting for its eighth consecutive home win against the Redbirds, a streak that coincides with Jim Les' first year as the Braves' head coach.
In Between
In between either end of the Interstate 74 Rivalry games, Bradley will host a surging Drake squad Tuesday night at Carver Arena and visit Evansville next Saturday afternoon...Bradley won each of the first two meetings against the Bulldogs and Purple Aces, dropping Drake (67-59) Dec. 29 in Des Moines and dispatching Evansville (74-64) Jan. 23 at Carver Arena...In addition, the pairings for the televised portion of the annual BracketBusters series are slated to be announced Monday at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
Hitting The Boards
Since league play started, Bradley tops The Valley by averaging 36.2 rebounds per game...Hitting the boards has been a specific point of emphasis in the last five games, a stretch that has seen the Braves outrebound their opponents by an average of 6.8 boards per contest...The Braves have won the battle of the boards by double-digit margins in three of the last five games: +15 versus Missouri State, +10 versus Evansville and +10 versus Creighton.
Improved Defense
Bradley's recent rebounding improvement has coincided with the team's improved effort on the defensive end of the court...Although Bradley ranks eighth in the league in scoring defense at 68.2 points allowed per game, the Braves are surrendering just 60.0 points per game on average in the last five outings...During that five-game stretch, Bradley has allowed the opposition to shoot just 36.7 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from 3-point range.
Historic Defensive Effort
In Bradley's last road game, a 57-55 win Jan. 20 at Southern Illinois, the Braves limited the host Salukis to just 27.4 percent shooting from the field...The effort marked Bradley's best defensive field goal percentage since limiting Alaska-Fairbanks to 20.9 percent shooting Nov. 22, 2000 at Carver Arena in an 81-50 victory...The defensive field goal percentage was Bradley's best road effort since limiting Indiana State to 25.0 percent (14-56) Feb. 18, 1997.
Percentages Tell Story
The team that has shot at a more efficient clip from the field has won 19 of Bradley's first 20 games...Bradley is 10-1 when it shoots a better field goal percentage than its opponent and 0-9 when the opponent has a better field goal percentage.
Closing In On 1,000
Bradley junior guards Sam Maniscalco and Andrew Warren both are on pace to join the school's 1,000-Point Club this season...Maniscalco needs just 16 points to become the 43rd player in Bradley Basketball history to reach 1,000 career points...Warren enters Saturday's game with 869 career points and at his current average of 14.8 ppg, he is on schedule to become the 44th 1,000-Point Club member in the regular-season finale at Creighton.
One-Two Punch
Bradley junior guards Andrew Warren and Sam Maniscalco are the highest-scoring teammate tandem in Valley action through the first 10 rounds of league play...Warren leads the loop by averaging 15.8 ppg against Valley competition, while Maniscalco is tied for third at 15.1 ppg against the league for a combined average of 30.9 ppg...Evansville's combo of Colt Ryan (14.2) and Denver Holmes (14.1) are second at a combined 28.3 ppg...The 6-foot Maniscalco is shooting 51.0 percent from the field through 10 Valley games, while Warren has hit 47.8 percent of his 3-point field goal attempts and 95.2 percent of his free throw attempts against the league.
Maniscalco's Accuracy
As mentioned, Bradley junior guard Sam Maniscalco is shooting 51.0 percent from the field in the first 10 Valley games...The 6-foot Maniscalco currently ranks eighth in the league in field goal percentage in conference play...Maniscalco is the only player standing less than 6-foot-6 inches to rank among the league's top 10 most accurate shooters.
Brown's Improvement
Bradley sophomore forward Taylor Brown ranks among the nation's leaders in improved scoring from 2008-09 to this season...After averaging 3.4 ppg as a freshman last year, Brown currently is The Valley's sixth-leading scorer at 13.7 ppg...His increase of 10.3 ppg is the best in The Valley and ranks 10th nationally among the players that played last season.
And Egolf, Too
Bradley third-year sophomore center Will Egolf is making a similar improvement as the season progresses...Egolf averaged just 1.5 ppg and 1.4 in 19 contests during his freshman year in 2007-08 and was averaging 4.4 ppg and 1.8 rpg in five games last year before tearing the ACL in his right knee...He has rebounded by averaging 8.2 ppg and 5.2 rpg as Bradley's starting center this year...Since the calendar turned to 2010, Egolf has averaged 10.2 ppg and 6.0 rpg while recording a pair of double-doubles...Egolf is shooting 58.8 percent from the floor in 2010 and a team-best .533 on the year.
Big Media Numbers
Now in his 31st year as the radio Voice of the Braves, Dave Snell has participated in 941 Bradley Basketball game broadcasts, all in succession, on WMBD AM 1470 since taking over play-by-play duties for the 1979-80 season...Snell was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame last Saturday...Snell's longtime radio sidekick, Joe Stowell, has been witness to 1,537 Bradley Basketball games in his various roles as player (103, 1947-50); assistant coach (250, 1956-65); head coach (344, 1965-78 ); assistant athletic director (107, 1978-85); and radio analyst (733, 1985-present)...Peoria Journal Star beat writer Dave Reynolds has covered 604 consecutive Bradley Basketball games since taking over the beat for the start of the 1990-91 season...Reynolds was recently selected the 2009 Illinois co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, making him just the third "downstate" winner in the award's 51-year history.

[BradleyBrave]

Prediction: Bradley leads at the half 33-32, after getting an early 10 point advantage. ISU comes out with 8-0 run to start the 2nd half to assume control of the game. Lead balloons to 13, BU cuts it to 5 with 4 to play, has 2 possessions to cut it to one possession and commits a turnover and takes a terrible 3. Eldridge drains a backbreaking 3, BU starts fouling, defense falls by the wayside, and final is 72-60. Eldridge leads the way with 24. Some unknown bench player for ISU who has yet to be identified kills BU the most with a career-high 15.

[Grassman]

Prediction: Bradley leads at the half 33-32, after getting an early 10 point advantage. ISU comes out with 8-0 run to start the 2nd half to assume control of the game. Lead balloons to 13, BU cuts it to 5 with 4 to play, has 2 possessions to cut it to one possession and commits a turnover and takes a terrible 3. Eldridge drains a backbreaking 3, BU starts fouling, defense falls by the wayside, and final is 72-60. Eldridge leads the way with 24. Some unknown bench player for ISU who has yet to be identified kills BU the most with a career-high 15.

And-----------------------ISU shoots 69% from 3, Led by Phillips 6 for 6.
and 100% from the free throw line, led by Odiakossas 8-8.
Former Metamora "Big-Man" Blake Mischler, comes off the Bird Perch to score 15!