The quest for a third Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title in seven seasons begins Friday for the Bradley University men’s basketball team.
The No. 2-seeded Braves bring a 24-7 overall record into their matchup against Murray State (16-16) in the 6 p.m. third quarterfinal at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
Bradley coach Brian Wardle says his team is “battle-tested” after a challenging nonconference schedule and an always difficult run through the Valley slate.
“Coming into league it's always a battle. There's such good coaches and good programs, and our conference schedule is really tough, too, compared to most,” Wardle said during this week’s MVC coaches’ teleconference. “So we had to battle and play a really good conference schedule and compete against teams that brought a little bit more pop in their step, it seemed like, coming into Carver Arena this year.”
Bradley, the Valley’s preseason favorite, is led by fifth-year standout guard Duke Deen, who was named to the MVC all-conference first team after topping the Braves with 14.1 points per game.
“He's a winner, through and through, I can't say it enough,” Wardle said of Deen. “He's an unselfish guy. He's all those intangibles a coach wants. And you hear coaches talk about their players all the time, I don't know if every coach is telling the truth when they talk about their players publicly. But I am, I am.
“I mean, it's legit, and people that are around our program and meet him and see him know it is. So it’s just a special ride with him, and we want it to last a lot longer because he is that type of player you just want to keep coaching.”
Joining Deen in receiving MVC honors were fifth-year forward Darius Hannah as an all-defensive and all-conference second-team pick, senior guard Zek Montgomery on the third team, and guard Jaquan Johnson on the all-freshman and all-bench teams.
Following tourney titles in 2019 and 2020, the Braves head into this year’s edition of Arch Madness after falling to eventual champion Drake in each of the past two seasons. The Bulldogs held the No. 2 spot both times.
Drake is now seeded No. 1 after posting a 27-3 overall record while going unbeaten in 10 nonconference games. Bradley handed the Bulldogs one of those losses in a 61-59 road victory on Feb. 16.
The Braves are coming off Sunday’s 73-56 win over Northern Iowa that clinched second place behind Drake with a 15-5 record in Valley games.
“We obviously had a few setbacks, but I give credit to our opponents and coaches, and it's hard to win,” said Wardle. “You're not going undefeated ever in the Valley; you're going to lose games. It's how you handle those losses in adversity and how you respond that's big.”
Long-range shooting has been a major factor in Bradley’s success. Through Tuesday’s NCAA Division I games, the Braves ranked No. 1 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at just under 41%. Deen sets the pace, making 99 of his 241 attempts from beyond the arc.
Wardle said their outside shooting success stems from a combination of recruiting and coaching.
“You can improve shooting, I do believe in that. I think that's one thing that if you can coach it and a young man is open minded to changing his shot a little bit or tweaking it, they can improve if they put the work in,” said Wardle, who is in his 10th season at Bradley. “So I think we've improved some guys in their shooting. We've recruited more skill; shooting became more of a priority. We obviously had success in ’19 and ’20 winning Arch Madness, and we were ‘good’ shooting teams, but we had really big post players then, too. So I'd say we had a really good balance offensively.
“But this year's team is definitely, probably the best overall shooting team we've had. And then it comes down to quality, not quantity. If you want to be a good shooting team, it's not how many you shoot; it's, are you taking the right ones with the right players in rhythm? We've tried to really emphasize that over the years, too.”
Bradley won both matchups with Murray State this season, including an 85-83 overtime triumph Feb. 19 at Carver Arena. The No. 7-seeded Racers moved into the quarterfinals with a 74-53 first-round victory over Evansville on Thursday.
With a win Friday, the Braves would advance to Saturday’s 5 p.m. second semifinal. The championship game is set for 1:15 p.m. Sunday, with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
