• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

2025-26 Rankings

On Bidwells Morning in the Valley podcast yesterday he indicated there would not be preseason all Valley teams this year. Also he did interview Jaquan in yesterdays edition.
 
houstonbrave said:
On Bidwells Morning in the Valley podcast yesterday he indicated there would not be preseason all Valley teams this year. Also he did interview Jaquan in yesterdays edition.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I just watched his episode from yesterday, and you're right, he received his ballot from the MVC office, and it said they will be doing a preseason Poll as before, but they are not doing voting for the Preseason All-MVC teams like they have done for many years. He said that each team will have a "Watch List" of players. That list will probably be the top players from each team who would be the candidates for postseason honors. but with no preseason ranking.
 
ISU's Chase Walker was named the Blue Ribbon Preseason Player of the Year in the MVC.
No Bradley players named, sure to be a little incentive for the 2025-26 season.
The MAC Preseason Player of the Year is Peter Suder Almar's teammate at Miami (OH), a 6-5 wing player out of Carmel, IN
who was lightly recruited, and who shoots a lot & hits 35% on 3-pointers.


also, in case you want a chuckle.... I just ran across this comment on X,
"Ben McCollum will have Iowa in national championship talks for years to come"
ummm... I'm thinking maybe not??
 
Last edited:
Da Coach said:
...
I suspect they will again this year when they have their Media Day. It should happen in a couple weeks.
Click to expand...
This year's Media Day will be actually occur on two separate days-
Monday, October 20th and Tuesday, October 21st.
 
A preseason ranking by Erik Haslam, who has his own analytic formula called Haslametrics-

Here is how he ranks the MVC teams based on his preliminary metrics-
85) Bradley
101) Drake
103) Northern Iowa
109) Illinois State
124) Belmont
145) Indiana State
146) Murray State
147) SIU
167) UIC
273) Evansville
292) Valparaiso
 
Da Coach said:
Mid-Major Madness preseason picks-
https://twitter.com/x/status/1973479175077216491

They pick Bradley #2 behind ISU-
1. Illinois State
2. Bradley
3. Belmont
4. Murray State
5. Drake
6. Northern Iowa
7. Indiana State
8. Southern Illinois
9. UIC
10. Valparaiso
11. Evansville
Click to expand...
The guy who has run Mid-Major Madness for the last few years is Nick Lorenzen. He has done a good job promoting mid-major basketball, which has had a lot of coverage and promoting of the MVC, including Bradley.
Mid-Major Madness website- https://www.midmajormadness.com/
On X.com- https://x.com/mid_madness

He announced that he will step away from his website and social media and pursue other things.
I think it will continue and be run by others he has worked with.
Here is more-

https://twitter.com/x/status/1977757501866008863
 
Another math-inclined college basketball guy, Bart Torvik, who is a lawyer from Evanston, Illinois, does his own analytic evaluation of the D1 teams, which I find useful and interesting Here is this year's preseason Barttorvik rankings-
https://barttorvik.com/trankpre.php

He has Bradley at #109, which ranks 3rd in the MVC.
Here are his MVC rankings- https://barttorvik.com/conf.php?conf=MVC
#99- Illinois State
#106- Northern Iowa
#109- Bradley
#112- Belmont
#125- Murray State
#136- Drake
#139- Southern Illinois
#157- UIC
#214- Evansville
#228- Indiana State
#280- Valparaiso

Scroll to the bottom of that MVC page (https://barttorvik.com/conf.php?conf=MVC) to see his individual player rankings (ranked by a metric he calls PORPAGATU, which stands for Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game At That Usage).
Basically, it is his prediction of how many points per game the player will produce above what a replacement player (an average MVC player) would produce. His formula is adjusted for factors such as strength of opponent, pace of play, and a usage adjustment to account for it being more difficult to remain efficient the more minutes a player plays.
The rankings are heavily dependent on what these players did last season, so the list will change greatly once the games start being played.
In his player rankings, note that there are no Bradley players in the Top 10 (since all of Bradley's top producers left).
At #11 is Alex Huibregtse, followed by #14 A.J. Smith, and #18 Jaquan Johnson. No other player made the top 45.
 
Another blogger ranks the top 32 teams from One-Bid Leagues. The MVC is well represented- Link
#5- Bradley
#9- ISU
#10- UNI
#11- Belmont
#12- Murray State
#20- Drake
#29- SIU

And one more blogger's Top 20 mid-majors- Link
#2 ISU
#3 Bradley
#5 UNI
#10 Murray State
#16 Belmont
 
Last edited:
Well both U of I and ISU had a couple key players out yesterday in the exhibition. ISU has a bunch of guys who have played with each other for some time with the Illini have just a few from last returning from last season, and ISU-red got SMOKED.

If Kinzinger and Walker don't live up to the hype, then not sure this Redbird team is all it's cracked up to be.
They must be getting a lot of love for winning a 3rd tier postseason tourney. They played well vs the Braves last season, but most of their other games didn't impress me. Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but I'm picking them to finish 4th...Bradley is going to take the Valley.

In some areas, the Braves SHOULD be better than last season (defense & rebounding especially), and in some others (i.e. offensive cohesion, mental toughness, court leaders) it may take time to have it all come together, but eventually it will!

And that's the way it'll go down folks! ;)
 
Last edited:
here's another guy's opinion of a Mid-Major Top 25, ...but he's kinda clueless since he says "Others considered"
and lists Bradley, then he puts Bradley in at #24

IMG_4719.jpeg
 
Sports Illustrated writer Kevin Sweeney ranks all 365 Division I schools. He does not reveal the top 4 yet-
www.si.com

Sports Illustrated’s Complete 2025–26 Men’s College Basketball Rankings From No. 365 to No. 1

The annual preseason list takes into account all offseason moves and predicts how the march toward the NCAA tournament will play out.
www.si.com www.si.com
Bradley is ranked #109. Note that he picks St. Louis as the #1 team in the Atlantic-10.

Here is how he has the MVC schools ranked-
94- Northern Iowa
97- Murray State
104- Illinois State
109- Bradley
122- Belmont
126- Drake
148- UIC
152- Southern Illinois
172- Indiana State
216- Valparaiso
223- Evansville
 
Eleven college basketball gurus pick who they think will win the Valley (and other conferences)

Of their MVC picks,
5 pick UNI
3 pick ISU
and 1 each pick Murray State, Belmont & Bradley


G4xT1Y-WUAEyEPk[1].jpg
 
Hey everyone,

I hope you're all excited for the season starting today.

I've just posted my preview for the Bradley season. I have tried to go way more in depth than just about anyone has on the team and will continue to do so throughout the season. I'll be rolling out previews of the rest of the Valley once I see them in action today and this week. If you don't mind, please give it a look. I haven't publicized it too much, but I wanted to share it here on the board as I know this core group will hopefully appreciate the most on what I'm trying to do.
(I have a few other stories from the past few weeks and will of course do a write up of today's game, also.)

My post about the upcoming previews:
https://bubraves2006.substack.com/p/are-you-ready-for-some-basketball

The Bradley Preview:
https://bubraves2006.substack.com/p/team-preview-bradley-braves

(If you like my preview, please subscribe to my substack and then you'll be alerted every time I post.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top