Coming out of halftime against Illinois State, head coach Brian Wardle and the men’s basketball team faced a 39-26 deficit in hostile territory.
While Illinois State’s campus is roughly 30 minutes away from Bradley on a normal day, Doug Collins Court in Redbird Arena felt like an agitated gymnasium last Sunday.
Fans there are always more vocal than anywhere else I’ve been, with fans hollering at high deciblies and admonishing every foul like a soccer mom at their kids’ grade school sports game.
But, man, did Bradley shut them up.
A 14-4 run spanning around five minutes into the half cut the Redbirds lead to one measly point, with a chance to sieze control in a game lackidaisically left by Illinois State for the taking.
Alas, if that did happen, then this column’s tone would be rather different, wouldn’t it?
Instead, the Braves fell victim to a Redbird 17-7 run that sealed the deal, along with foul trouble which resulted in three Bradley starters fouling out.
As the 75-60 score went final for another Bradley loss, walking off the floor felt like a missed opportunity, rather than a 15-point loss to the second ranked team in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC).
And it honestly was, as Wardle said after the game the Bradley players showed they have what it takes to beat good teams.
“We came out, we came fighting, we cut it to one, and then they responded with a run,” Wardle said. “Overall, we came out and showed the heart we can have, we just got to have it for 40 minutes.”
This wa also evident in the previous game against Loyola-Chicago, where the most inexperienced team in America missed 10 free throws on 16 attempts.
Bradley lost by 11, in a game where their defense performed wonderfully.
Okay, so the Braves lost by over 10 in two games against better teams, so what?
Well, I wouldn’t be even writing this column if Bradley didn’t beat Indiana State 63-58 at Carver two weeks ago.
It might have been the most complete MVC game Carver has seen in a year, since Bradley beat Southern Illinois (coincidentally, the Braves’ last opponent) 63-44.
Wardle’s squad held former MVC freshman of the year Brenton Scott to nine points, well below his season average of 15, and the Indiana State bench to eight points.
Again; So what?
As we come upon the one year anniversary past the Geno Ford-era, it’s not false to acknowledge the play on the court in Ford’s last season will show a better final record than this year.
However, this current team is one more conference win away from matching last year’s conference win total, which was only three wins in what was a relatively weak year for the MVC.
Honestly, I expect the Braves to surpass three conference wins before the season is over, because it’s entirely doable.
Drake is not much better than this team talent-wise, and Indiana State couldn’t figure out Bradley’s full court press at Carver, not to mention those two teams happen to be two of the final three teams remaining on Bradley schedule.
I’m not going to commend the Braves on its effort; every team should give its best every night it’s on the floor.
I will, however, commend them on their improvement, which Wardle said goes beyond the team’s record.
“There is success for this program in a lot of ways,” Wardle said. “It may not be in the win-loss column, but there are successes we’ve had within our program, our culture, how we do things and how we’re working and that will pay off one day.”
If the team that played at SIU two nights ago played Towson, Seton Hall, New Orleans, North Dakota and TCU instead, Bradley might have five more wins to its name instead of just four.
This is a team that’s seen its fair share of learning curves.
Obviously, once they figure out how to sustain the momentum of a 9-0 run instead of letting a team immediately go on a 9-0 run of their own, they’ll be good.
If sustaining momentum can be chalked up to an intangible trait, then once this team gains heart in the intangible sense, it’ll be out of the basement of the MVC.
And really, if that’s all it takes, Bradley basketball will be back sooner rather than later.
