Final score: Evansville 73 Bradley 70

[BUfan14]

Concur.

Actually I am thinking this team is not as good as we may have thought. We have scored a lot and done well winning against the below average teams in the MVC. Now, we have Drake twice and we already lost twice to the other top team, ISUb. Plus road gamesa at UNI and MoST as well as a game at home vs SIU coming up. I honestly would not be surprised if BU loses 3-4 more games before heading to St. Louis since the MoST and UNI games are both on the road. BU could do well though, you just never know.

It's really been a roller coaster season hasn't it? I don't disagree with you it could go south, especially with injury to a guard, but I've settled on us being the third best team (right where we were picked) in the conference when at our best. This team just seems to lose focus at times, which is bizarre with what's been at stake.

For all the improved non-con stuff the Valley did this year, there still just aren't many good teams. SIU, UNI are maybe slightly above average, Drake and ISU Blue are really good. We are in the middle of those two groups right now, and there really isn't much else. Belmont, Murray State, maybe Missouri State, and Evansville are not horrible, but I'm not even sure average. The other three are really bad. So I think Bradley can finish third if they decide to put their best effort in on both ends.

[BUfan14]

Our ball movement and offensive flow is excellent and generates great shots. Our defense is really good, sometimes great.

These things are sometimes true, but as Brian stated the defensive effort hasn't been 40 minutes often lately. The first 15 minutes against Evansville our offensive flow was terrible. That's the thing about this team....they are capable of being everything you said. They also have shown they're capable of not executing for large stretches. I certainly hope you are right!

[Stevezall]

Just to Reiterate, we need to get a first round Bye for Arch Madness and preferably keep our 3rd seed. That way, if you can get by Drake and face Indiana St. For a third time in the finals, that could be the Charm! If I.S.U. believes it will get an at-Large Bid, then I believe that would favor whoever the opposing team is! It's just human nature: they would not be as Motivated to win the tourney, I believe! I hope the MVC gets 2 teams in the field of 68! But to me as a Bradley fan, my ultimate hope this year, is for us to get another shot to take down Indiana State! It would be just such a exciting scenario!!!! Go Braves!!!!

[Da Coach]

Our ball movement and offensive flow is excellent and generates great shots. Our defense is really good, sometimes great. Our rebounding is solid. Our free throws are much better. I look for us to put it all together down the stretch and crush it in STL where it matters.

I rewatched the game against Evansville, and the shots Bradley got in the first 8-9 minutes of the game were good shots, the kind the Braves usually make a good share of. But for some reason, they just weren't falling. There were a few too many turnovers early, a couple of which were due to hacking by Evansville that didn't get called (there were inconsistent calls all game), but that hasn't been a problem in most recent games. So I think that was an oddity that will get corrected. Bradley had been playing so incredibly well the last couple months, but I think we all feared there would be some bumps in the road eventually. A win Saturday will help erase the sting of the loss at Evansville.

[ChiTownBrave]

Just to Reiterate, we need to get a first round Bye for Arch Madness and preferably keep our 3rd seed. That way, if you can get by Drake and face Indiana St. For a third time in the finals, that could be the Charm! If I.S.U. believes it will get an at-Large Bid, then I believe that would favor whoever the opposing team is! It's just human nature: they would not be as Motivated to win the tourney, I believe! I hope the MVC gets 2 teams in the field of 68! But to me as a Bradley fan, my ultimate hope this year, is for us to get another shot to take down Indiana State! It would be just such a exciting scenario!!!! Go Braves!!!!

I don't envision any scenario in which they get anything worse than the 4 seed. If you look at the probabilities there is almost no chance for them to get the 5 seed. They'll likely get the 2 or 3 depending on how the games shake out with Drake, which means "on paper" you will have to go through Drake and ISUb to make the tournament. As we all know anything can happen in St. Louis but looks like murderers row as the standings currently sit.

Which leads to a question, when was the last Arch Madness that had all top-4 seeds in the semifinals? Anyone remember it off hand?

[Tommy]

I don't envision any scenario in which they get anything worse than the 4 seed. If you look at the probabilities there is almost no chance for them to get the 5 seed. They'll likely get the 2 or 3 depending on how the games shake out with Drake, which means "on paper" you will have to go through Drake and ISUb to make the tournament. As we all know anything can happen in St. Louis but looks like murderers row as the standings currently sit.

Which leads to a question, when was the last Arch Madness that had all top-4 seeds in the semifinals? Anyone remember it off hand?

Pretty darn close last year, but for Indiana State (#5) beating Belmont (#4). Tried finding an easy way to check each tourney by year, but couldn't find anything. Maybe Coach knows of a way to find this info quickly and easily? You've got me curious now.

[Fetz86]

I think before the loss our at large hopes were about 2% if we ran the table to Sunday in St Louis and lost. The big money interests have really maximized keeping leagues like ours out in the current system. It also doesn't help that our signature win lost its luster with USU dropping two straight.

[Da Coach]

Pretty darn close last year, but for Indiana State (#5) beating Belmont (#4). Tried finding an easy way to check each tourney by year, but couldn't find anything. Maybe Coach knows of a way to find this info quickly and easily? You've got me curious now.

There are Wikipedia pages for each year's tournaments. Here is last year's (2023) tournament with the seeds and results - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023...all_tournament

For other years, just change the year in the URL
This would be the page for the 2022 tournament - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022...all_tournament

If you can't find a year, just search Wikipedia for it using the search terms "2014 (or any other year) Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament"

[Tommy]

Nice. I figured Coach would have a way. Looks like 2022 was all top 4 seeds in the semis!

Thanks Coach!

[Bradley8792]

If I.S.U. believes it will get an at-Large Bid, then I believe that would favor whoever the opposing team is! It's just human nature: they would not be as Motivated to win the tourney,

I would agree with you, but would also see ISUB wanting to prove themselves and doing everything they can to win the tournament and conference outright.

[Stryker]

I would agree with you, but would also see ISUB wanting to prove themselves and doing everything they can to win the tournament and conference outright.

I agree. We've seen MVC tournament champions getting pretty poor seeds before, BU got a #15 last time. If ISUb can win out and win in St. Louis they could be looking at a pretty strong NCAA tournament seed.

[battlebasset]

If we are lucky we can hang on to three. I suspect we will be four at the end of the regular season. Unless we beat Drake at least once. After the performance at Evansville I'm thinking the chances are slim and none. And Slim has left the building. We are an NIT team this year unless we win on Sunday.

[BUfan39]

If we are lucky we can hang on to three. I suspect we will be four at the end of the regular season. Unless we beat Drake at least once. After the performance at Evansville I'm thinking the chances are slim and none. And Slim has left the building. We are an NIT team this year unless we win on Sunday.

Well we don’t play on Sunday so… unless you meant Sunday under the Arch