Bradley 2021-22 schedule

[Da Coach]

No more news yet on the Bradley schedule, other than the games in the Paradise Jam, and a couple return games that were predetermined-
Home games against Miami (OH) and St. Joseph's
Road game at Toledo

But this was just announced- Indiana State will play a game at Mackey Arena on the campus of Purdue next season on November 13-
https://gosycamores.com/news/2020/4/...led-story.aspx

This is the first announced game by an MVC team vs. a Power 6 team.

[64NIT]

Evansville released part of its non-con schedule (no dates, yet):

The Aces will open the season at Purdue and make a return trip to Southern Methodist. They'll also play Belmont twice, both home and away, as part of a four-game deal over three years. Other home games include IUPUI, Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech, and they will travel to Ball State.

UE is still part of the yet-to-be-announced Dana Point Southern California Challenge, which will be played around Thanksgiving. I had mentioned this in a mailbag back in December, but details remain scarce. Spencer said the field also includes Fresno State, Pepperdine and Oakland.

There also will be a home game with a non-Division I opponent and another series that hasn't been finalized. UE will play at least one exhibition, too.

https://www.courierpress.com/story/sports/college/evansville/2020/04/10/mailbag-evansville-basketball-schedule-next-season/2940268001/

[egib52]

How do we get SMU and Belmont on our schedule?

[Da Coach]

How do we get SMU and Belmont on our schedule?

If Bradley got really bad, like maybe going 0-18 in the MVC, then bigger schools would be more likely to allow us a "buy game", and quality mid-majors like Belmont would be more likely to schedule a home-and-home.

The bigger conference schools are so fearful of losing to a mid-major that they won't schedule any quality mid-majors, and they will only schedule buy games if they have virtually a 100% likelihood of winning.

The exception is if someone has a connection, like when Bradley got a 2 for 1 against Michigan. Bradley had hired Michigan Head Coach John Beilein's son Patrick as DBO, and because Bradley was a rebuilding team, John Beilein felt confident that Michigan would win all 3 games. And last season, Evanville head coach Walter McCarty was able to get his old college team, Kentucky, to play Evansville. But I am sure UK ultimately regretted that decision.
For the record, Coach Wardle has tried to get a game with Marquette, but so far they are not interested.

[egib52]

If Bradley got really bad, like maybe going 0-18 in the MVC, then bigger schools would be more likely to allow us a "buy game", and quality mid-majors like Belmont would be more likely to schedule a home-and-home.

The bigger conference schools are so fearful of losing to a mid-major that they won't schedule any quality mid-majors, and they will only schedule buy games if they have virtually a 100% likelihood of winning.

The exception is if someone has a connection, like when Bradley got a 2 for 1 against Michigan. Bradley had hired Michigan Head Coach John Beilein's son Patrick as DBO, and because Bradley was a rebuilding team, John Beilein felt confident that Michigan would win all 3 games. And last season, Evanville head coach Walter McCarty was able to get his old college team, Kentucky, to play Evansville. But I am sure UK ultimately regretted that decision.
For the record, Coach Wardle has tried to get a game with Marquette, but so far they are not interested.

Oh I know the difficulties of scheduling, especially now that we are having success, however, Belmont and SMU are the type of schools I would love to see us get because they are quality but still very winnable.

[64NIT]

If I remember correctly, BU beat SMU in a tournament a couple years ago. Of course, I understand playing them on their court or ours is preferable to a tourney but, at least, BU got to play them.

[BRAVE82]

This has been going on for decades. I remember in the 1980's Bradley tried to schedule big fish, and very few would bite. When you suck, only then are they interested.

[Dub]

Like it or not, sometimes the only shot you have as a mid major is to win your league and advance to the NCAA tournament... where sooner or later you’ll face a big fish on a neutral court, like we did against Michigan State. That’s a tall hill to climb each year, but at least you’ve got a pathway! Far better than no pathway.

[Tommy]

We keep winning and we’ll start getting ranked. If that happens, it will open up scheduling options to us.
honestly though, I don’t care who we play as long as we keep winning. They all can’t hide from us forever!

[bradleyfan124]

This has been going on for decades. I remember in the 1980's Bradley tried to schedule big fish, and very few would bite. When you suck, only then are they interested.

I remember several years ago Bradley played Illinois up in Chicago and beat them pretty bad. After the game Illinois's coach at the time ( I don't remember who it was ) said they would never play us again

[Da Coach]

If I remember correctly, BU beat SMU in a tournament a couple years ago. Of course, I understand playing them on their court or ours is preferable to a tourney but, at least, BU got to play them.

I remember several years ago Bradley played Illinois up in Chicago and beat them pretty bad. After the game Illinois's coach at the time ( I don't remember who it was ) said they would never play us again

You are both correct!

Bradley beat SMU just a year and a half ago on November 20, 2018, in the early part of the 2018-19 season in the Cancun Challenge. Bradley pulled away and beat SMU rather easily 75-62 in the opening game in Mexico at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya-
Recap- https://bradleybraves.com/news/2018/...mpionship.aspx
Box score- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...boxscore/16408
Bradley went on to win the Cancun Challenge Championship with a 59-56 win over Penn State the following night.


And I also fondly recall the game bradleyfan124 is referring to. The old Chicago Stadium used to host college basketball games several times a year, including doubleheaders featuring prominent teams from all over the country. January 24, 1974, they hosted a game featuring Bradley vs. Illinois.
I don't remember a lot of details, but Bradley dominated the game and beat Illinois 105-88.
The Illinois coach in 1973-74 was Harv Schmidt, who was fired after that year.

The 1973-74 team was one of Joe Stowell's better teams. They finished the season 20-8 overall, and 9-3 in the MVC, finishing second to Louisville.
The team featured Greg Smith, Seymour Reed, Jim Caruthers, Mark Dohner, Mike Harrell, Dave Klobucher, Doug Shank, Doug Pomatto, and Tom Les.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...dley/1974.html

One other bit of trivia....
In the 1973-74 postseason, Bradley played in the newly formed Collegiate Commissioners Association Tournament, held in St. Louis at the old St. Louis Arena. In their first game, Bradley beat a very good Kansas State team 68-64. Kansas State, the 2nd place team in the Big 8 Conference (now called the Big 12) featured leading scorer Lon Kruger, one of the top guards in the country that year. Their coach was the legendary Jack Hartman. They had a freshman backup point guard named Jim Molinari.
2 nights later, Bradley lost a close game in the semifinals to USC (2nd to UCLA in the PAC 8 Conference) 76-73.

The Collegiate Commissioners Association Tournament was started by the NCAA as an attempt to kill off the NIT by taking the 2nd place teams and other top teams that did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament. It lasted only 2 years and was discontinued after the NCAA expanded the NCAA Tournament and made changes that allowed more than one team per conference to participate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation...nal_Tournament

[elmerb]

I went to that game in Chicago. It was the second game of a double hitter. I think the first game was Wichita St. and Loyola. Seems like Bradley was up by 20 at halftime. I'm sure I was the only student from NIU there!

[64NIT]

BU/Notre Dame and Wichita/Loyola doubleheaders were held in the Chicago Stadium a number of times.

[Da Coach]

Here is an interesting report from CBS Sports college basketball writer Jon Rothstein-

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1250565230301773828

He has head from "sources" that many mid-major colleges are being encouraged to schedule "guarantee games" (also known as "buy games") in 2020-21, which is something the MVC and many other mid-majors usually try to avoid. The coronavirus epidemic is costing colleges enormous amounts of money. And especially the smaller and private colleges are being hurt by this. Playing guarantee games, even if just for one season, would be a way for them to generate more revenue.

[Chico]

I remember seeing the Kansas St game. A very good friend of mine from Peoria, the late Jerry Janovetz had played for Kansas State and Tex Winter.