Final score: Bradley 67 Valparaiso 42

[bigjimmy]

It's amazing all of the scenarios that are still alive. Loyola would be the #1 seed with a win against BU. Drake would be the #1 seed if they beat Missouri State and we beat Loyola. Missouri State can be the #1 seed if they beat Drake and we beat Loyola as they would win the three team tiebreaker with a 3-1 record. Loyola would be the #2 seed with a 2-2 record and Drake would be the #3 seed with a 1-3 record. If just Drake and Missouri State tie for 2nd then Drake would be the #2 seed by virtue of having, more than likely, the better Ken Pom rating. After tonight's games Drake has a 139 rating and MSU has a 167 rating. Other Ken Pom ratings are Loyola at 132, SIU at 149, BU at 172, UNI at 173 and ISU at 198. There are more scenarios but the only one that matters before our game is the ISU/SIU game. ISU loses than we don't play on Thursday night. It doesn't matter what we do. If we and SIU both lose than we would be the #7 seed. If we, SIU and UNI all lose than SIU would be the #5 seed (a 3-1 round robin record), we would be the #6 seed (a 2-2 round robin record), and UNI would be the #7 seed (a 1-3 round robin record). Bottom line? TCB in Chicago!

[bigjimmy]

As far as the Valpo game goes we really played some good defense for most of the game and Nate and Eli had their shooting shoes on. It was great to see the 5 senior start and Pitt did an excellent job for the time he was in the game. Very much a workman like effort from the whole team. 1 more to finish the regular season and then on to Arch Madness. Will need to bring their dinner pale to Chi town on Saturday. Go get em boys! LET'S GET ER DONE!

[Jim]

Many thanks to the seniors for their contributions towards improving the Bradley basketball program! It was great to see them start the game and receive well deserved recognition from the crowd. This team has proven they have the ability to compete with the best teams in the MVC. Complete the sweep of Loyola and continue on the path to 20+ wins this season!!

[egib52]

What did DB do to get the flagrant 1? I couldn't see from my seats or the replay.

[Da Coach]

Here is what I saw...after Darrell Brown was fouled on a drive to the basket for a layup (fouled hard by Derrik Smits) he reacted by swinging his arm back at Smits and hit him in the shoulder and neck area. The officials reviewed the video and determined it should be ruled a Flagrant 1 foul. Brown made his free throw for a 3-point play, then Smits made 1 of 2 FTs.

Did the ESPN+ broadcast not show a replay of it?

[egib52]

I was at the game so I have no clue.

[bujeff23]

Checking scenarios.

If BU, ISU win & UNI loses then we are 4?

If BU, SIU, UNI all win would be 5th seed?

If BU, SIU, UNI all lose we are 6?

If BU and SIU lose and UNI wins then we are 7?

and then if BU& UNI win, Mo State loses and whoever wins ISU red vs SIU, you could have 4 teams tied at 10-8 then what happens? Lol

[tornado]

Re: "If BU, SIU, UNI all lose we are 6?"
...if SIU loses then ISU would win and be 10-8 while BU, SIU & UNI are all 9-9 but we lose the tiebreaker to both
..so that would mean all of them are seeded higher than Bradley and thus Bradley would be 7-seed.

[bujeff23]

Actually after further research if we end up in a 3 way tie with SIU& UNI, SIU wins the round robin pool play and it comes down to net ranking between UNI and BU.

UNI is up 9 spots currently but they play ISU blue and we play Loyola so could potentially gain enough spots to overtake them.

Going to be interesting on Sat.

[Da Coach]

Checking scenarios.

If BU, ISU win & UNI loses then we are 4?

If BU, SIU, UNI all win would be 5th seed?

If BU, SIU, UNI all lose we are 6?

If BU and SIU lose and UNI wins then we are 7?

and then if BU& UNI win, Mo State loses and whoever wins ISU red vs SIU, you could have 4 teams tied at 10-8 then what happens? Lol

Here is what I think are the answers, according to the new tiebreaker.
Here is the official MVC tiebreaker formula-
http://mvc-sports.com/news/2018/12/1...iebreaker.aspx

The key part is that the NET does not get considered in 2-way or multiple ties unless the head-to-head or "mini round robin" fails to determine positions.

1) Yes, BU is the 4 seed by virtue of the "round robin" record that favors Bradley since BU is 2-0 vs. ISU. UNI is 5, ISU 6
2) Yes. SIU is 2-0 against UNI- so SIU would be the 4 seed, BU 5, and UNI 6 by virtue of the "round robin" record
3) No, but I believe it goes like this: SIU is 2-0 against UNI, and BU split with SIU and UNI, so SIU has a 3-1 "mini round robin record", Bradley has a 2-2 record, and UNI has a 1-3 record. Thus SIU is the 5 seed, Bradley is 6, and UNI is 7 by virtue of the "round robin" records.
4) Yes, this is one of the scenarios where BU falls to the 7 seed, because they lose a 2-way tiebreaker to SIU because of the NET
5) In this scenario with 4 teams tied for 3rd at 10-8, as in all scenarios with ties involving more than 2 teams, it again depends on the "mini round robin". Between these 4 teams, MSU is 3-3, UNI is 3-3. SIU is 4-2, and BU is 2-4. So SIU gets the 3 seed, and Bradley gets the 6 seed. MSU and UNI tie for 4 & 5 seeds, so seeding will be determined between them by best NET. Right now, MSU's NET is 157 and UNI's is 162. That is so close there is a good chance it could change after Saturday, but the lower (better) NET will get the 4 seed, and the lower will get the 5 seed.


Simply stated, Bradley can stay out of Thursday if they win, but if they lose at Loyola, then they need ISU to lose, too, or they will probably fall to the Thursday games, because of their 171 NET. Note that NET numbers can change, so some of my analysis above could change. But the only ones that are real close are UNI 162 and MSU 157.

[tornado]

if we don't beat Loyola to stay out of Thursday, then we really have nobody to blame - we'd just have to re-group and beat the odds again..

[pauly616]

Actually after further research if we end up in a 3 way tie with SIU& UNI, SIU wins the round robin pool play and it comes down to net ranking between UNI and BU.

UNI is up 9 spots currently but they play ISU blue and we play Loyola so could potentially gain enough spots to overtake them.

Going to be interesting on Sat.

Actually in this case we would be the 6 seed because round robin would have SIU(3-1) BU(2-2) and then UNI(1-3). Here are all the scenarios off of MVCfans forum. So basically if ISU or UNI lose we won't be in the play off game.

[basketball nut]

if we don't beat Loyola to stay out of Thursday, then we really have nobody to blame - we'd just have to re-group and beat the odds again..

So true but for the first time that I can remember this is a very wide open tournament and a Thursday team could make it to the championship game. The only 2 that I would give little chance, and still not count them out, would be ISU Blue and EU

[elmerb]

All I know for sure is my wife and I are driving down from Wisconsin for the game, and I'm going to be a nervous wreck. GO BRADLEY

[algotrader]

The first 5 minutes of this game were a bit hectic. The pace was quite fast, and I feel like our guys were a bit excited. Chalked it up to Senior Night, them needing to slow the game pace down a bit, and having a little too much energy out of the gate. Lots of missed passes, dunks, etc. But they settled down and kicked some butt. Good win.