Final score: Bradley 82 Drake 74- Bradley finishes 7-11 in tie for 6th

[Da Coach]

Next game: Bradley (11-19, 6-11) (7-22, 5-12) at Drake, Saturday, Feb. 25, 1:00 PM

The game will be streamed on ESPN3.com-
http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index#...search/bradley drake/
Live stats- http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=150390
Chat room- http://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans

This game will be Senior Day for Drake, and it is the final scheduled game of the 2016-17 season. Drake has only 1 seniors on their roster- center Jacob Enevold Jensen.

Drake basketball website-

http://godrakebulldogs.com/index.aspx?path=mbball

The previous meeting between Bradley and Drake was in Peoria on Feb. 4, and Bradley won 79-72.

After starting 5-4 in MVC play, Drake has now lost their last 8 games to fall into a 3-way tie for last place at 5-12. They are 6-8 at home, and have beaten Loyola, Indiana State, Evansville, and SIU at the Knapp Center in Des Moines. Bradley has won 2 in a row.

Schedule/results-

http://godrakebulldogs.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

Standings-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/conferences/standings/_/id/18/year/2017/missouri-valley-conference

Drake stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/du.htm#team.ind

Bradley stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/brad.htm#team.ind

Drake is 10th in the MVC in team defense (allowing 77.3 ppg) and 4th in team offense (scoring 71.6 ppg)

MVC stats-
Overall-

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

Conference only-

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

[pfcmsh]

Why The Drake Slide

Wow, 8 MVC games lost in a row! Is there a tangible reason for that? Could that reason carry over into a BU advantage in the final game?

[DUBulldog]

Wow, 8 MVC games lost in a row! Is there a tangible reason for that?

Very simple. Absolute lack of talent and possibly the least athletic team in Division 1.

[pfcmsh]

Thank You

Thank you for the reply.

[Da Coach]

I know some people hate discussions about all the combinations of possibilities, but I will focus mainly on Bradley's possibilities-

First Drake-
If Drake wins, they would rise to the 9th seed and jump over the team that loses between INSU-UE.
If they beat BU and end up in a 3-way tie with BU and UE, they would rise to 8th because they would finish ahead of UE in a 3-way tiebreaker between DU, UE, and BU.
If Drake loses to Bradley, they will clinch the 10th seed regardless of what other teams do, because they would lose the tiebreaker (RPI) with whichever team loses the INSU-UE game Saturday.

Indiana State and Evansville, the other 2 teams currently tied with Drake, play each other Saturday. So if Bradley loses to Drake, it would create a 3-way tie for 7th place between Bradley, Drake, and the winner of INSU-UE. The tiebreaker in that case becomes the comparative records each team has against the other 2.

In that scenario. with a Bradley loss to Drake-
Bradley has 2 wins over UE, but 2 losses to INSU, and would have a split with Drake- so their comparative record would be 3-1 if UE wins, and 1-3 if INSU wins.
Drake would have splits with BU, INSU, and UE- so they comparative record would be 2-2 regardless who wins the INSU-UE game.
If UE wins Sat., they'd have 2 losses vs. BU, a split vs. Drake. That would give Bradley the highest seed among the 3, and Drake the higher seed over UE in a 3-way tie.
If InSU wins Sat., they'd have 2 wins vs. Bradley and a split vs. Drake. That would give INSU the higher seed among the 3, and Drake would be seeded above Bradley.

So obviously a win at Drake would be best for Bradley.
With a Bradley win at Drake: they will get at worst the 7th seed regardless of who wins between INSU-UE, with a very slim chance they could rise to the 6th seed if their RPI jumps enough. (see this thread)

If Bradley loses at Drake: they will fall into a 3 way tie with Drake and the winner of the UE-InSU game. In that case, they would still get the 7th seed if it is Evansville that wins the UE-INSU game.
But if Indiana State beats Evansville, then Bradley would then lose the 3-way tiebreaker to Drake and InSU and drop to the 9th seed.

If anyone sees a mistake in my logic, let me now.

[lightsout]

Heading to Des Moines on Saturday for the game! Hopefully DB is able to play and we can really get rolling heading into Arch Madness.

Go Braves

[AZ BU Fan]

Pluuuuuezzzzeeeeee

Win the game vs DU Braves!

Momentum for 2017-18

BUilding for the future!

[Da Coach]

Pregame report from BradleyBraves.com

http://www.bradleybraves.com/news/2017/2/24/mens-basketball-braves-head-to-drake-for-regular-season-finale.aspx

[Da Coach]

Drake is a 3?? point favorite over Bradley

[AZ BU Fan]

no respect from gamblers!

Drake is a 3?? point favorite over Bradley

So was MSU!

[tornado]

only been a few days since Darrell Brown rolled his ankle...
gotta wonder if we hold him out today so we have a full, healthy squad for the Tournament


edit- DB starting

[Da Coach]

Direct link for the ESPN3.com video stream-

http://www.espn.com/watchespn/player/_/id/2977799/size/condensed/

Live stats- http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=150390

Chat room- http://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans

[tornado]

kinda lo budget I guess....don't have anyone to do the score display on the screen

[tornado]

still waaaay too many unforced turnovers, bad passes, dribble out of bounds, carrying the ball...

but that was NOT a travel by Foster......

[tornado]

if you'd have said Brown, van Bree & Hodgson would combine for zero FGs in the 1st half and we have 8 TO & shoot only 2-12 from the arc
I'd have said we'd be losing...
but we've overcome some bad TO's, rebounded well, and held the lead the entire half
BU 30 - Drake 26