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Surreal.
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Larry Bird
I've got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end. -
The Champions of the Missouri Valley Conference, your Bradley Braves! How sweet it is.Comment
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Official box score-
Attendance was 10,458, which apparently is 100% capacity now that both "end zones" have had all the seating removed.
Bradley holds Drake to 24-63 shooting (38.1%), and 5-21 from three (23.8%).
Bradley shot 28-50 (56.0%) for the game, and 7-14 from three (50.0%). They were 10-15 on FTs, though there were multiple missed front-ends of 1 and 1 opportunities.
Connor Hickman lead Bradley with 19 points, and he also had 3 rebounds and 3 assists. He also played terrific defense against the Drake guard.
Zek Montgomery had just 6 points and 3 rebounds, but was impressive on his defense against Roman Penn. Penn had 12 points, but it took 14 shots.
Malevy Leons had 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. He also played incredible defense, holding Tucker DeVries to just 11 points on 3-13 shooting, and just 1-8 from three.
Rienk Mast- 12 points & 13 rebounds, to go along with 3 assists, and terrific inside defense. He held Darnell Brodie to 12 points on 11 shots.
Duke Deen, Darius Hannah, and Ville Tahvanainen all had a solid games, and Ja'Shon Henry had 6 points and 8 rebounds in 19 minutes.
A great offensive and defensive game against the team picked to win the conference.
The only downside, IMO, was 16 turnovers, many of them caused by Drake's aggressive defense, including poking, bumping, hacking, and grabbing the Bradley players, and officials who were oblivious to many fouls and flops.Comment
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Great game Braves! While there were some sketchy calls, I thought the refs let them play most of the time, as the number of fouls called seemed fairly low until late in the second half, when Drake had to foul. I think coach must have told Hick to be aggressive and shoot the ball, as he had a great game at both ends of the court, and he made 3 or 4 three’s in the first half alone. Drake is a good ball club, I would not be surprised if we see them again in the Lou. Go Braves!Comment
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A wonderful time had by all!!! That was the best game of Conner Hickman’s career. He’s such a tough hard nosed player and he took the bit by the mouth and ran with it. And Leons was in beast mode today against DeVries and even though he only had 3 baskets they were all key ones. For the most part we controlled Penn and didn’t let him dictate to us on offense like he normally does. When we got up by 14 about halfway through the second half I thought we let up a little bit and to Drake’s credit they got it down to 7 with 7:00 left. But we wevmaintained our poise and got the game er back under control. Can’t say enough about the crowd and the atmosphere it created. You only hope that in the extra 5,000 plus fans that came today will return next season. I always look forward to going to Arch Madness every year but I think this year will be the most competitive one yet. BU is at least guaranteed an NIT bid by winning the conference but this team has a different post season tournament in mind I’m sure. Need to take care of business in the quarter finals first however so it’s pretty simple. GET ER DONE BOYS!!!!
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Some pictures from the post-game celebration-
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DC, love those pics, West Coaster here didn't get to see any of this on ESPN2, love them all, especially cutting down the nets!!Comment
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Great photos DC - thanks for sharing!Comment
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When did you flee the Midwest and land on the West Coast, bubraves82? Hope you are well and staying dry.Originally posted by bubraves82 View Post
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A couple more points...
The 16 MVC wins ties the 1985-86 team that went 16-0 for the most MVC wins in a season by Bradley.
Bradley has won their last 10 games, while no other team in the MVC has won ore than 2 in a row.
Bradley finishes the regular season 23-8. They have the best home record in the MVC at 15-1, and the best road record in the MVC at 8-4.
And the win secures the #1 seed, which guarantees Bradley will be playing in either the NCAA Tournament, or the NIT Tournament.
Final standings
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We won the regular season but come Thursday we start a new season and we have a 0-0 record. 3-0 is the goal but it will be tough.
The top 8 teams can all play with BU or Drake so both teams will need their A game if they are going to play next Sunday.Comment
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1992, DC, all good and back to normal and sunny now, thanks.Originally posted by Da Coach View Post
When did you flee the Midwest and land on the West Coast, bubraves82? Hope you are well and staying dry.Comment
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There were several former Bradley players at the game...
Marcellus Sommerville, Daniel Ruffin, and Tony Bennett-
I also saw Danny Adams (he's at a lot of games), and Bayo Akinkunle, too.Comment
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It amazes me every year that coach has the team improve throughout the season. Except the disastrous year with the legal issues at Missouri State, we are at our best at the end of the year.
I thought this team was in trouble a few months ago. We are so forward heavy, I thought the lack of guards who could create shots and limit turnovers would doom us. We’d be okay defensively but have to win some real rock fights. Leons seems like the obvious defensive player of the year, and I’d make Henry the sixth man of the year favorite. But the development of Hickman as a point guard and Montgomery’s all around leap forward are the two key reasons we won the title. Obviously we need Leons and Mast to come back to remain at the top, but if either Connor or Zek leave it will be devastating.
Congrats guys
Gotta stop feeding the trolls.
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