Possible Bradley schedule changes- SD State game moved to Friday, and new opponent added next Monday

[Da Coach]

It's being reported by ESPN that the South Dakota State game will be moved up from next Tuesday to this Friday, Dec. 4, at 7:00 pm. And a new opponent, St. Francis College of Brooklyn, NY has reportedly been added to the schedule Monday, Dec. 7, at 7:00 pm.
If this is true, both games are now listed to be video streamed on ESPN3, the free streaming platform of ESPN.-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...hedule/_/id/71

These changes have not been announced by Bradley, and do not appear on Bradley's schedule yet, so it is not a certainty yet- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...tball/schedule

However, one problem I see is that if it is St. Francis of Brooklyn, they already have conference games scheduled at home for Tuesday, Dec. 8 and Wednesday, Dec. 9-
https://sfcathletics.com/sports/mens...tball/schedule (their schedule page has not been updated to show the game at Bradley)

If they played at Bradley on Monday, Dec. 7, that would require them to fly home to Brooklyn and quickly prepare to play the next 2 nights at home in important back-to-back conference games. Plus, it would mean 3 games in 3 days, which doesn't seem likely they would agree to that.
So note that this information is still tentative, until official announcements are made.

It is possible that ESPN has the wrong St. Francis. There is a University of St. Francis in Joliet, IL. They are NAIA. There is also a University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, IN, which is also NAIA. And there is a D1 St. Francis University in Loretto, PA.

[Classof77]

Thanks Coach. Every game we get to play is a bonus at this point. Getting to watch on ESPN3 is icing on the cake.

[Da_Braves21]

So I'm thinking it's not St. Francis Brooklyn. Let's hope it the Loretto one and not another NAIA opponent but we'll take what we can get I guess.

[Da Coach]

It does seem unlikely St. Francis Brooklyn, as ESPN is reporting, would find time to come to Peoria to play Bradley.

[houstonbrave]

I hope it is not another NAIA. Not sure it makes sense to move South Dakota State around to play another NAIA team. Also I always like to watch BU play but Did they really get more out of the last game than they would have from a practice ? Maybe it built some confidence but not sure it did much else-sorry if that is being negative.

[Da Coach]

Probably, the most likely way the ESPN website would have had these changes before anyone else is because Bradley may have arranged the deal this morning with ESPN for the games to be streamed on ESPN3. Once that was in ESPN's computer files, it would show up on the upcoming Watch ESPN Schedule, which it does (Friday's game and Monday's game), and it would also show up on every other ESPN page relevant to Bradley's schedule, and the pages with SDSU's schedule or SFC's schedule, which it does. It also is now showing on ESPN's daily game schedule-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../date/20201207
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../date/20201204

But ESPN does make mistakes (recall they once had Bradley located in Indiana). So it is possible they have their St. Francis schools mixed up.

There still hasn't been any official announcement from Bradley, or anyone else. So this may not be finalized yet.

[Da_Braves21]

Probably, the most likely way the ESPN website would have had these changes before anyone else is because Bradley may have arranged the deal this morning with ESPN for the games to be streamed on ESPN3. Once that was in ESPN's computer files, it would show up on the upcoming Watch ESPN Schedule, which it does (Friday's game and Monday's game), and it would also show up on every other ESPN page relevant to Bradley's schedule, and the pages with SDSU's schedule or SFC's schedule, which it does. It also is now showing on ESPN's daily game schedule-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../date/20201207
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../date/20201204

But ESPN does make mistakes (recall they once had Bradley located in Indiana). So it is possible they have their St. Francis schools mixed up.

There still hasn't been any official announcement from Bradley, or anyone else. So this may not be finalized yet.

Yes I would agree. This does seem to make sense. Also why so many games on ESPN3? I'm not complaining because it's free lol.... But I wonder why they are having so many games on there vs ESPN+. Any ideas?

[houstonbrave]

BU website now confirms South Dakota State moves to Friday at 7 pm but no word on any other game.

[Da Coach]

Hold everything! The game with St. Francis sounds like it won't happen. According to new Bradley beat writer Dave Eminian, the ESPN schedule was not accurate, and that Bradley was not trying to schedule St. Francis of Brooklyn as ESPN was reporting.
Eminian is now reporting that it was the NAIA University of St. Francis in Joliet that was who Bradley was working to schedule, and that may have fallen through.
https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/...oe/3798201001/

Bradley men's basketball has re-scheduled one nonconference game and is attempting to add another, possibly with NAIA opponent St. Francis.
Bradley spokesman Jason Veniskey said the ESPN schedule was not accurate. He said the schedule situation is very fluid, and that it now seems more likely St. Francis will not be added. It's possible another opponent will be found, or no game will be added at all.

So that is where things stand currently. The South Dakota State game was moved to Friday to accommodate the addition of a new opponent, and that will remain on the schedule for Friday, Dec. 3.
But Bradley has gone back to working on getting a new deal done with team for early next week. It sounds like the St. Francis plan is not entirely off the table, but less likely.