Bradley's 2018-19 Schedule

[Da Coach]

Bradley also announces a preseason exhibition game Thursday, November 1 against Carroll University.

The Carroll University Pioneers are an NCAA Division III school in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

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

They were 12-13 last season, and 8-8 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).
Their conference also includes Augustana, Carthage, Elmhurst, Illinois Wesleyan, Millikin, North Central, North Park, and Wheaton.

http://www.cciw.org/standings.aspx?standings=83

Here is Bradley's complete non-conference schedule-

https://bradleybraves.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

[Da Coach]

They wrap up non-conference play at home against the Southland Co-Champion SE Louisana Lions on December 22nd

Southeastern Louisiana was 22-12 last season, and 15-3 in the Southland Conference (tied for 1st). They lost in the 2nd round of the Southland Conference tournament, and played in the NIT. They got a tough draw in the NIT and lost to St. Mary's, who were ranked #20 in the final AP poll last season and were probably the best team not in the NCAA Tournament. Bradley has never played them before.

[tornado]

we're gonna have to win in St. Louis, this won't get us an at large bid...

[Mikovio]

Awful. Only games to look forward to are the two in Cancun and New Mexico (for which we have the Valley to thank). Fattening up on cupcakes will do nothing to prepare us for the top 100 teams in conference nor will it impress a postseason committee in March. Learn the lesson of others who??™ve been down this road.

[Crusenswings]

SEMO and CHicago St are both the end of 3 game agreements. Hopefully we can bulk up with a home and home with at least a WCC or A10 team if we can't get a P5

[PurpleAceFan]

Awful. Only games to look forward to are the two in Cancun and New Mexico (for which we have the Valley to thank). Fattening up on cupcakes will do nothing to prepare us for the top 100 teams in conference nor will it impress a postseason committee in March. Learn the lesson of others who??™ve been down this road.

This non-con gives you ZERO chance for an at-large. I know I've posted this a few times but I find this embarrassing. UE in year one with their new coach has a better non-con with at least a few games with P5 teams. This is year 4 for Coach W. I'm sick of the excuses of "when we get out of the current contracts, blah, blah, blah". Feasting on cupcakes only gets you fat. There's absolutely no way this schedule can be defended.

[Da Coach]

The Power 5 teams are much more likely to schedule a team from a midmajor conference like the MVC when they are bottom dwellers or rebuilding. As they get better, and have a chance at an upset, the P5 teams refuse to schedule you. Right now, Evansville and Drake can get those games easier than BU and SIU.

[BUfan39]

This non-con gives you ZERO chance for an at-large. I know I've posted this a few times but I find this embarrassing. UE in year one with their new coach has a better non-con with at least a few games with P5 teams. This is year 4 for Coach W. I'm sick of the excuses of "when we get out of the current contracts, blah, blah, blah". Feasting on cupcakes only gets you fat. There's absolutely no way this schedule can be defended.

While the schedule is awfully weak, as expected, you have to remember two things. 1.) A lot of these games are part of "series" agreements if you will. We'll be out of that next year as someone else mentioned above. 2.) It's going to be hard for ANY Missouri Valley team to secure an At-Large bid in today's day and age. If the Deadbirds couldn't do it a couple of years back with their 25+win season and if no one was sure about Loyola last year if they hadn't won Arch Madness, then it's going to be pretty difficult for us to be a 2+ bid league. Just my 2 cents.

[tornado]

The Power 5 teams are much more likely to schedule a team from a midmajor conference like the MVC when they are bottom dwellers or rebuilding. As they get better, and have a chance at an upset, the P5 teams refuse to schedule you. Right now, Evansville and Drake can get those games easier than BU and SIU.

I posted a few weeks ago about how Porter Moser & Loyola can't find anyone better than RPI 100 to play them even at their place after what the did to Florida last year.

and I can't imagine it really matters -
...unless Bradley played a Gonzaga-like non-con schedule do you think we'd ever get an at-large bid?

[wizard1]

2018 pre-season schedule

An awful preseason schedule! This kind of weakness is not typical of Bradley and will not help us build the mens BB program. Also, it will cost us game attendance and hurt recruiting.
We will have no chance for "at large" bids and will have to win in St. Louis,
Somehow, we need to get this scheduling fiasco under control because this 2018 schedule makes BU look like a weak- sister low level MVC program.
Wizard

[tornado]

An awful preseason schedule! This kind of weakness is not typical of Bradley and will not help us build the mens BB program. Also, it will cost us game attendance and hurt recruiting.
We will have no chance for "at large" bids and will have to win in St. Louis,
Somehow, we need to get this scheduling fiasco under control because this 2018 schedule makes BU look like a weak- sister low level MVC program.
Wizard

I know, wiz, it is not super-strong..

but in defense I will say ....

-it was harder to schedule this year because Bradley is gonna be better and the big boys don't want to play us - they chose to accept Wisc.-Parkside rather than another 200+RPI opponent. and "we" have dug ourselves a hole because of the horrible situation and burned bridges that the last administration left us with...

-we have five non-conference opponents that have 20 wins or more last year - that's better than all but one season over the last 20 years

-6 of our 13 non-conference opponents are coming off years of RPI better than 150...that's more than last year (5), the year before (5), and it is as many or more than in any season Bradley has played in over a decade - since you go back well into the Jim Les era (2006!!)

-four of the opponents we had little choice on as the come with the tournament - and they are pretty solid opponents!

-three of the opponents we host either won their conference or competed strongly within their conference and should do so again this year...(JSU, New Mexico, SE La)

-the rest is as it is....

[BravesWinINStyle]

I know for a fact they tried to schedule tough. Hard to shake off reputation from previous administrators.

[Jim]

Scheduling fiasco?

An awful preseason schedule! This kind of weakness is not typical of Bradley and will not help us build the mens BB program. Also, it will cost us game attendance and hurt recruiting.
We will have no chance for "at large" bids and will have to win in St. Louis,
Somehow, we need to get this scheduling fiasco under control because this 2018 schedule makes BU look like a weak- sister low level MVC program.
Wizard

Wizard, please help me understand why you think this is "an awful preseason schedule" and "we need to get this scheduling fiasco under control". What should it have been?
Considering we had one of the worst teams in the country just a few short years ago why should "top tier" teams want to schedule games with us? Wouldn't their fans think they are showing weakness by scheduling games with us?
I am very impressed with the progress the team has made in the last two years and I have high expectations we will be even better this year. Game attendance and recruiting seem to be getting better each year also. It is fun to go to Bradley games again and I look forward to watching this team continue the rebuilding process.

[Chico]

Wizard, please help me understand why you think this is "an awful preseason schedule" and "we need to get this scheduling fiasco under control". What should it have been?
Considering we had one of the worst teams in the country just a few short years ago why should "top tier" teams want to schedule games with us? Wouldn't their fans think they are showing weakness by scheduling games with us?
I am very impressed with the progress the team has made in the last two years and I have high expectations we will be even better this year. Game attendance and recruiting seem to be getting better each year also. It is fun to go to Bradley games again and I look forward to watching this team continue the rebuilding process.

+1

[Mikovio]

2.) It's going to be hard for ANY Missouri Valley team to secure an At-Large bid in today's day and age. If the Deadbirds couldn't do it a couple of years back with their 25+win season and if no one was sure about Loyola last year if they hadn't won Arch Madness, then it's going to be pretty difficult for us to be a 2+ bid league. Just my 2 cents.

See I don??™t buy this at all. Loyola missing the NCAAs last year would have been tragic but it would??™ve been because they had some bad losses when Custer got hurt - UW Milwaukee, Missouri State, and a 40 point blowout at Boise. ISU missed out a couple years ago because they had a mediocre at best noncon showing and the Valley was the weakest it had been in many years. Those teams had self inflicted warts and you can??™t point to them and just throw up your hands about scheduling. It was only 5 years ago Wichita got a 1 seed.

You just don??™t get any benefit by playing Chicago State. You learn nothing about your team, you impress nobody. Your bench guys will see minutes but that??™s it. Hopefully this is the last year we play them.