The Bradley men’s basketball team plays this afternoon at 2:30, but it wants to play Sunday at 1 p.m. on CBS in the Arch Madness championship game.
In order do so the team needs to play together and know they can battle through adversity while staying composed. Last season the Braves beat Missouri State, Loyola and UNI by two or three points in the tournament.
Prior to the tourney getting underway the MVC league office released postseason awards. Senior guard Darrell Brown and junior forward Elijah Childs were named to the all-MVC second team and senior Nate Kennell earned placement on the third team. Sophomore forward Ja’Shon Henry was named to the most improved team while freshman Ville Tahvanainen was named to the all-bench team. The team as a whole said deserved more postseason awards.
“It is what it is, you know, we have no control over it,” Childs said. “But, it definitely adds fuel to the fire, you know, because I felt like DB should’ve been on first, Nate should’ve been at least on second. [Redshirt-junior Danya Kingsby] should’ve won an award … Other guys should’ve got accolades.”
Despite the frustration with the awards, the Braves have kept their focus on winning.
“I think certain guys in this league is worried about individual accolades and we’re worried about team accolades,” Childs said. “We wanted people to get stuff, but it doesn’t work out that way sometimes, but we are ready to go and we’re ready to defend our championship, that’s what it’s really all about.”
Head coach Brian Wardle said the team is focusing on minor adjustments ahead of the tournament. But during the games, Bradley needs to perform in big, key moments and most importantly play together.
Bradley has been in the No. 4/5 seed game the last three seasons. To Henry, it’s all about keeping their bodies fresh if the Braves want to make a deep run. Kennell said the team needs to stay composed and fight through fatigue.
“You got to find that energy, got to find that juice, you got to find that motivation and then really go in there, play smart and execute,” Wardle said.
As the starting point guard, Brown will lead that execution, but knows that each player’s role can be different each game.
“Giving everything you got each possession, communicating and just doing whatever it takes to win, because some games it could be your night scoring, some night you might have to just be a defensive guy, some nights you have to get other people involved,” Brown said.
Childs said the Braves need everyone in the program to buy into the game plan no matter their role, especially being the defending champions.
“We know we’re the team to beat now, we know teams is afraid to play us, we know how teams feel about us,” Childs said. “We just got to be ready to bring our A-game, because we know we’re gonna get everybody’s A-game coming to this tournament.”
