Illinois men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood has yet to face Bradley in his tenure at Illinois. 
Bradley hasn’t played against Illinois since 2013, well before Brian Wardle’s time in Peoria
The circumstances have aligned for a matchup that basketball fans across Central Illinois have been yearning for: Bradley versus Illinois.
As COVID-19 has pushed back the start date of the college basketball season to Nov. 25, teams’ non-conference schedules have been dramatically altered. Pre-season tournaments and previously-arranged matchups have been canceled, leaving schools to fill open dates with games. The Fighting Illini and the Braves are no exception.
The timing could not be better for these two teams to square off once again.
Illinois and Bradley haven’t played since Nov. 17, 2013, when the Illini drubbed BU 81-55 at the State Farm Center. Bradley would go on to finish with a mediocre 12-20 record in the 2013-14 season, and Illinois posted a 20-15 mark, with a lackluster 7-10 record in conference play.
The two programs have changed a lot since that blowout nearly seven years ago. After a prolonged down stretch, these historically good basketball schools are in the midst of their best stretches in recent memory.
A game between these two schools in 2020 would certainly be higher-quality basketball than the 2013 matchup.
Bradley has improved every year since head coach Brian Wardle took the helm in 2015 and has won back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference tournament titles. This year, they look primed to contend again with senior forward Elijah Childs leading the way along with junior transfer guards Terry Nolan and Kevin McAdoo and sophomore Sean East.
Meanwhile in Champaign, the Illini are reemerging as a national power under Brad Underwood. Illinois would’ve made the tournament last season after a strong showing in the Big Ten and are charged up to be a top-10 team in the nation to start the year. With top players Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn returning to school rather than entering the NBA draft, the squad is looking like a Final Four contender.
In terms of scheduling, the game would be mutually beneficial.
High major teams, like Illinois, tend to stack their schedule with early season “cupcake games” against bad mid to low-major schools. Not only are these games usually poor, but they are high-risk and low-reward.
The NCAA evaluates schools’ candidacy and seeding for the March Madness tournament using the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking system. The system evaluates the strength of each team based on the quality of their wins and losses. The higher a team’s ranking, the more likely they are to make March Madness and receive a better seed.
Using NET, teams are ranked and divided into four quadrants, with the best teams residing in Quadrant 1, and the worst teams sitting in Quadrant 4. Games and wins versus Q1 teams are worth more than a game versus a Q4 team. On the flip side, a loss to a good team is less costly to your ranking than a loss to a bad team.
Of Illinois’ 10 non-conference games last season, seven were against quadrant 4 schools such as Nicholls State, Hampton and The Citadel.
Of those seven games, their opponents’ average NET ranking was 276. For reference, a Q4 team is a team ranked 161 or worse.
The Illini went 7-0 in those games against quadrant 4 teams. While those wins against bad opponents boosted their record, they weren’t valuable whatsoever to their NET ranking, and a loss to one of them would’ve damaged their rank a great deal.
Illinois finished the season ranked 39th, behind Eastern Tennessee State, Richmond and Colorado, mid-major teams that are not as good as the Illini in terms of talent.
Here’s where Bradley comes into play.
The Braves finished last year ranked 102nd in the NET, well entrenched in quadrant 3. Had Illinois scheduled the Braves and won, it would’ve given their NET more of a boost than a victory over a Q4 team. On the other side of the coin, a loss wouldn’t have damaged their ranking as much as a loss to a team such as Nicholls State – a team that took to Illinois overtime.
To put it simply: why play a bad team when you could play a better one?
For the Braves, a game versus Illinois would provide the team with a March Madness caliber matchup. When Bradley appeared in the tournament in 2019, they nearly beat Big Ten champ Michigan State. Perhaps a game versus another top-tier Big Ten team would’ve given them the experience they needed to get over the hump.
The bottom line is the result of a Bradley vs. Illinois matchup wouldn’t make or break either team’s chances at March Madness. Realistically, it might improve them.
In a world with COVID-19, a matchup between the schools makes even more sense. The University of Illinois and Bradley are separated by a mere 84 miles, which equates to an hour-and-a-half bus trip.
The geographical proximity makes the logistics of travel less of a challenge. Teams wouldn’t need to deal with the possible risks of flying or staying in a hotel. This proximity between the two fan bases in Peoria and Champaign would generate hype and sell tickets, if fans are in attendance.
Additionally, the short bus trip would cost much less money than a game against a far-flung opponent.
Brad Underwood: please invite Brian Wardle and his boys for a visit to Champaign.
Bradley and Illinois are two of the best basketball programs in the state of Illinois, and now more than ever, the stars appear to be aligned for a great matchup that would benefit both teams.
The Illini are the stronger team on paper, so they should be up for the challenge. Unless they are, dare I say, scared to lose to an in-state rival …
It’s well past time to rekindle a rivalry between the two best teams on Interstate 74.
