Final score: Valparaiso 77 Bradley 64

[Da Coach]

Next game: Bradley (18-10, 8-7) at Valparaiso (13-15, 4-11), Saturday, Feb. 17, 8:00 PM

TV:
The game will be televised on the MVC TV Network, which includes FoxSports Network, NBCSports Chicago, FoxSportsGo.com, and the FoxSports Go app-

https://www.foxsportsgo.com/program/337353/bradley-at-valparaiso

Radio:

https://www.1470.wmbd.com

Live Stats:

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=194917

Chat room:

http://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans

Bradley is now tied for 4th place after their home win over ISU. Valparaiso is in 10th place after their recent loss at Loyola.

The game will be played in the Athletics-Recreation Center (ARC) on the campus of Valparaiso University. This will mark the first time Bradley has played at the Athletics-Recreation Center. The city of Valparaiso is located in Northwest Indiana, about 30 miles east of Hammond, Indiana and about 50 miles southeast of Chicago.

The ARC has a 5,000 seat arena, along with extensive athletic and recreational facilities for use by students and athletes. It opened in November, 1984. The 5,000 seat arena is the second smallest men's basketball arena in the MVC, behind Loyola's Gentile Arena, which seats about 4,500. Valparaiso is averaging 2,752 per game, but it is reported that they have already sold more tickets than that, and this game might be closer to a sell out.

Bradley beat Valparaiso back on on January 3, 2018 by a score of 80-71.

http://www.bubraves.com/documents/2018/1/3/Bradley_80_Valparaiso_71.pdf

Bradley was 2-1 all time against Valparaiso prior to this season.
12/20/80- Bradley won 100-47 in the Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse
12/5/81- Bradley won 79-58
12/17/83- Bradley lost 77-55 at Valparaiso in their last season in their old campus Hilltop Gymnasium.

This will be the first time Bradley has ever played in the Valparaiso ARC.
With the win in early January, Bradley now holds a 3-1 all time advantage in games against Valparaiso. In the January 3, 2018 game, Valpo guard Tevonn Walker scored 25 points in a losing effort. Bradley got nice games from Thomas, Brown, Bar, and Kennell.

Valparaiso website-

http://www.valpoathletics.com/mbasketball/

Valpo stats-

http://cdn.streamlinetechnologies.com/valpoathletics/54FB8991-F303-4A4F-A19D-307D5827FF54/2018_MBB_Statsb.pdf

Bradley stats-

http://www.bubraves.com/documents/2017/11/11/bradley_stats.pdf

MVC stats-
Overall-

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

Conference-

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

Standings-

[Da Coach]

This would be a big win for Bradley to get. Bradley is currently 2 games ahead of the two 7th place teams, Indiana State and Evansville, and a win at Valparaiso, plus losses by the other two teams would put Bradley 3 games ahead with only 2 games left to play, and secure that Bradley would not have to play on Thursday in St. Louis in the play-in round.
Standings-


The tiebreaker system for the MVC is 1) head to head competition, and 2) non-conference Strength of Schedule....

CORRECTION- the MVC no longer uses non-conference SOS, and since 2016 uses the adjusted overall RPI.
Here is the official tiebreaker rules from the MVC Men's basketball website-

http://www.mvc-sports.com/documents/2017/6/23/MBB_TiebreakerFormula_.pdf

Men’s Basketball Tournament Tiebreaker System
Regular-season standings are the determining factor in setting first-round pairings for the MVC Tournament. For
2016, the league voted to revise the men’s basketball tournament seeding tiebreaker policy to utilize the overall
adjusted RPI, as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game.
Two-way Ties
1. Records in head-to-head competition are compared, with the higher seed going to the team that has won the
most games against the other.
2. If head-to-head competition does not break the tie, the deadlock will be broken using the overall adjusted RPI,
as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game. The team with the better
overall adjusted RPI will receive the higher seed.
Multiple Ties
1. If three or more teams are tied, regular-season competition among the tied schools shall be pooled into a
“mini round-robin.” Teams shall be ranked according to their position in such a round- robin.
2. If head-to-head competition does not break the tie, the deadlock will be broken using the overall adjusted
RPI, as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game. The teams will be

So let's get it done! Go Braves!

[it's boogie time]

The Valley needs to update their website. They say the second tiebreaker is the overall adjusted RPI, as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game.

[pauly616]

I believe the tiebreaker is RPI. That's what the article I found about ISU winning the tiebreaker with the Shockers last year says. If that is the case we should be in good shape to win tiebreakers, as right now only ISU, SIU, and Loyola are higher in RPI than us. That should hopefully keep us out of Thursday.

[Da Coach]

I believe the tiebreaker is RPI. That's what the article I found about ISU winning the tiebreaker with the Shockers last year says. If that is the case we should be in good shape to win tiebreakers, as right now only ISU, SIU, and Loyola are higher in RPI than us. That should hopefully keep us out of Thursday.

Yes, I stand corrected. Please ignore my previous incorrect part about the MVC tiebreaker.
Prior to the 2016 MVC Tournament, the tiebreaker rules were changed by the MVC to use the overall adjusted RPI as the secondary tiebreaker.
Here is the current page from the MVC men's basketball website regarding tiebreakers, including the tiebreakers for multiple ties-

http://www.mvc-sports.com/documents/2017/6/23/MBB_TiebreakerFormula_.pdf

Men’s Basketball Tournament Tiebreaker System
Regular-season standings are the determining factor in setting first-round pairings for the MVC Tournament. For
2016, the league voted to revise the men’s basketball tournament seeding tiebreaker policy to utilize the overall
adjusted RPI, as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game.
Two-way Ties
1. Records in head-to-head competition are compared, with the higher seed going to the team that has won the
most games against the other.
2. If head-to-head competition does not break the tie, the deadlock will be broken using the overall adjusted RPI,
as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game. The team with the better
overall adjusted RPI will receive the higher seed.
Multiple Ties
1. If three or more teams are tied, regular-season competition among the tied schools shall be pooled into a
“mini round-robin.” Teams shall be ranked according to their position in such a round- robin.
2. If head-to-head competition does not break the tie, the deadlock will be broken using the overall adjusted
RPI, as published in The RPI Report on the morning after the final regular-season MVC game. The teams will be seeded in order of their overall adjusted RPI.


Here was the old tiebreaker that was used prior to the 2016 MVC Tournament. It relied on non-conference Sterngth of Schedule-

http://www.courierpressblogs.com/sports/ue/explaining-the-mvcs-tiebreaker-situations/

In this year's case, it is better for Bradley that the tiebreaker was switched to the RPI. Bradley would win the tiebreaker based on RPI with Drake (139), Evansville (127), Indiana State (178 ), UNI (156), and Valpo (181).
Missouri State's RPI (103) is too close to Bradley's (102) to know now who would win that tiebreaker. But Bradley (102) would lose to SIU (87) and ISU (90) as of right now, and I doubt those numbers will change enough to make a difference after the final 2 games.
Current RPI's-

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2018/conference/Missouri-Valley

[BUfan39]

The last time we played Valpo, the officials couldn't stop blowing the whistle. I wonder what this go around will look like. Go Braves!

[tornado]

just a reminder - Valparaiso is in Central Time zone (unlike most of the rest of Indiana), so the 8pm start time
means 8pm here also....I have heard there is some confusion on this....so if you travel there, they are on the same time as us..

[battlebasset]

Game is also on ESPN3 if you are outside of the blackout area.

[MacabreMob]

Winnable game. But Braves on the road... ehhhh. Doesn't matter... I still think win/lose Bradley gets the #6 seed in MVC Tourney.

[BU212121]

Winnable game. But Braves on the road... ehhhh. Doesn't matter... I still think win/lose Bradley gets the #6 seed in MVC Tourney.

I don??™t see how they get 6 seed if they win this game.

If they lose I could see them getting the 6. If so, I think I??™ll take my chances on drake.

If I had to guess we will be in the 4/5 game and I don??™t want to see Missouri State.

[pauly616]

I think we end in the 4-5 have against ISU, which would be pretty fun

[Da Coach]

I think we end in the 4-5 have against ISU, which would be pretty fun

I think its a pretty good probability that is where Bradley will play, but a lot could still change. That #4-5 game would be at 2:30 PM on Friday. There would be a pretty good crowd for that game if it happens, even though a lot of people wouldn't be able to be there because of work.
My preference would be the #3-6 game against whoever, to allow the maximum number of Bradley fans to get there.

[bigjimmy]

Isn't it nice that Bradley is finally a part of the conversation. With the tiebreakers seemingly in our favor even if we were to lose the last 3 games I think we'll finish no worse than 6th. If we finish 1-2 we'll finish 5th or 6th. If we finish 2-1 we'll finish 4th or 5th. And if we finish 3-0 we could finish as high as 3rd. As much as I enjoy watching BU play I'm looking forward to go to the two Thursday games at Arch Madness and not see them play.

[traveler]

Winnable game. But Braves on the road... ehhhh. Doesn't matter... I still think win/lose Bradley gets the #6 seed in MVC Tourney.

BU is a 2 point underdog tonight. WOW! This could be a huge away win if the Braves can pull it off.

[MacabreMob]

I don??™t see how they get 6 seed if they win this game.

If they lose I could see them getting the 6. If so, I think I??™ll take my chances on drake.

If I had to guess we will be in the 4/5 game and I don??™t want to see Missouri State.

I was guessing a 3-way tie with ISU and Drake and Drake gets 4 seed and ISU gets 5 seed. But there are quite a few close games left. Like 16 games that are gonna have lines of -3 and under. So if we win today, it might get us into the 4/5 but... so many other close games might make a win irrelevant.