Take pretty much any team in the Valley not named “Wichita State” or “Missouri State”, remove their two best players, and what you wind up with is a pretty terrible team. That’s Bradley this year. Picked to finish fifth by pretty much everyone, including us, the Braves started out the season 4-0 including a win over USC. They’ve won just twice since, going 2-12 in their last 14 games including a ghastly 0-7 mark in the MVC.
Before the season, the Braves had a lineup featuring 10 returning players, including four starters. They welcomed back 82.0% of their scoring and 70.8% of their rebounding from the 2009-10 squad. The Braves also were prepared to return six of their top seven scorers, including their top three scorers for the first time since the 2005-06 season, which ended with a run to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Unfortunately for them, while Bradley placed three players on the 2010-11 preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference squad, senior guard Andrew Warren is the only member of the honored trio still on the active roster.
Already playing without second-leading scorer Taylor Brown, sidelined indefinitely with a heart condition, on November 30 they announced that preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference guard Sam Maniscalco would not play the rest of this season, opting to pursue a medical redshirt due to the on-going pain in his left ankle. A third-year team captain, Maniscalco has scored 1,210 points in his career and is The Valley’s active leader with 355 assists. His loss alone would be tough to swallow; as one of the best point guards in the league he’s darn near irreplaceable anyway, but couple in his leadership on the floor and his scoring ability with the existing loss of Taylor Brown…and his loss becomes something most teams simply cannot overcome.
Bradley has not. Brown and Maniscalco both averaged 31+ minutes a game last year, and combined for 26 points a game. Brown led the team in rebounds at just under 7 a game; Maniscalco led the team in assists with 3.8 a game. Jim Les was counting on both players to contribute at the same or a higher level this year; instead, he was suddenly faced with piecing together a roster without both players.
The results, as mentioned, are horrific. The 0-7 start in league play is their worst ever, and now they enter a stretch where four of their next six games are on the road…and it begins in a venue where they’ve never won. Ouch. Is Jim Les’ job at stake? When WBR’s Patrick Marshall asked that of their beat writer, Dave Reynolds, he didn’t rule it out. Les is the dean of the Valley after the departure of Dana Altman, and given his struggles against the Jays, no one in Omaha is in any hurry to see him depart Peoria.
In the absence of Maniscalco and Brown, the only remaining player of their three preseason all-MVC selections, Andrew Warren, has tried to do everything he could to keep them rolling. To that end, he leads the Valley in scoring at 18.9 points per game, and his 341 points through 18 games represent 30.0% of Bradley’s overall offensive output (1,137 points), easily the largest individual scoring ratio in the MVC. Warren’s individual scoring ratio ranks as the largest by a Brave since Curtis Stuckey (25.1 ppg) scored 34.5% of Bradley’s points during the 1990-91 season and currently ranks as the eighth-greatest ratio at Bradley since World War II. So obviously, as Warren goes, the Braves go.
He’s having a marvelous year. In addition to leading The Valley in free throws made (92), he comes into tonight leading the league with the most 3-point field goals (45). Only two players in the 24-year history of the college 3-point line have led the Valley in both free throws made and 3-pointers made and both won the Larry Bird Player of the Year Award. Marcus Wilson of Evansville did it in 1998-99, and Hersey Hawkins of Bradley did it in 1987-88. Could Warren, if he holds on, win MVC Player of the Year on a last place team?
It sounds laughable, but consider this. Warren is the only player in the country that has made more free throws (92) than any other player in his league has attempted — Creighton’s Antoine Young and Missouri State’s Will Creekmore are tied for second to Warren with 84 free throw attempts. He also leads the league in free throw percentage (.911), free throws made (92) and attempts (101), 3-point field goals made (45) and minutes (36.4 mpg); and he is tied for second with 1.4 steals per game. And he has a chance to become the first player to lead the Valley in both scoring and steals since Drake’s Curt Smith in 1992-93. In addition, Warren leads the Braves in rebounding at 5.7 rpg and has three double-doubles this season.
Further, he had a streak of consecutive free throws made that ended at 40 when he missed his third attempt Jan. 4 versus Southern Illinois. The 40 straight makes is the second-longest streak in Bradley history and eighth-longest in Valley annals. His 13-for-13 effort Jan. 9 at UNI was his THIRD game this season of double-digit makes at the line without a miss.
He’s having an all-time season on one of the worst Bradley teams in decades, which is too bad. It makes them a deceptively dangerous 0-7 team, though. Most such teams do not have a weapon like Andrew Warren. The Jays should push them to 0-8 tonight, unless Warren single-handedly wills the Braves to victory.
About the Braves: Bradley’s seven-game skid to start The Valley season is the team’s longest losing streak since an eight-game slide from Jan. 5-28, 2004 … The 12-game losing streak at Creighton equals the longest road skid Bradley ever has suffered against another opponent … Bradley is playing its 107th men’s basketball season and the Braves rank 26th in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history with 1,559 all-time victories … Jim Les now sports a 148-132 overall record and his teams have finished in the upper half of the Valley race each of the last five seasons, though he’s never won the league, and has never really contended … As a requirement of Taylor Brown’s cardiac testing, he must not participate in any physical activity for three months. A communications (photography) major, Brown is collaborating with Bradley professor Shannon Benine on a documentary entitled “90 Days,” which will chronicle his three-month rest period … In his ninth year at Bradley, Jim Les now boasts a 14-9 record against teams from the six “BCS” leagues … In 10 games as the starting point guard following Maniscalco’s injury, Dodie Dunson has averaged 9.9 ppg, 4.1 apg, 4.2 rpg and 1.3 spg. Although he had previously not played point guard at Bradley, Dunson was a point guard in high school and handled the position at times during his freshman season at Iowa State (2006-07) and throughout his sophomore year at Vincennes (2007-08) … In the first seven Valley games, junior center Will Egolf is averaging 10.3 ppg and 3.9 rpg in just 22.0 minutes per game. Egolf has committed 27 fouls in seven MVC games, an average of 3.9 fouls per game, while fouling out in four of the seven games.
One Big Paragraph with Lots O’Dots™: Creighton is 52-14 at home all-time at Qwest Center Omaha in MVC games (.788), compared to a 34-33 (.507) road record in the MVC during that stretch … Only six MVC visiting schools (Drake, Illinois State, Missouri State, UNI, SIU and Wichita State) have ever won a game in the eight-year old Qwest Center Omaha. The other three Valley schools each have an Omaha losing streak of 10 or longer. Last Wednesday, Wichita State snapped a 17-game losing streak in Omaha that dated to 1992 … Kenny Lawson Jr. did not grab a rebound in 19 minutes of play at Indiana State, which was his first contest without a board since Feb. 2, 2008 vs. Wichita State during his freshman year … Before Sunday, Lawson had owned four previous games this season with two rebounds or less. He’s followed those performances with a combined 42 rebounds in his next game, an average of 10.5 per game, including two such games with 12 or more caroms corralled … With a win Wednesday against Bradley, Creighton can win its 10th home game this season. Creighton has won 10 or more home games in 14 straight seasons, a streak they will push to 15 with its next home win … The current streak is already a school-record, two more than the previous standard of 12 straight seasons from the 1969-70 season to the 1980-81 campaign with 10 or more home wins … Wednesday will be the 300th game as a Division I head coach for Greg McDermott, who owns a 161-138 mark in such games so far. He earned his 56th win in his 100th game over Illinois State on Jan. 3, 2005, and his 85th loss in his 200th game at Baylor on Jan. 12, 2008.
The Last Time They Played: Some would say the final nail in the coffin of last year’s disappointing season came not in the CIT, but in the quarterfinals of Arch Madness. That’s where Bradley ended the Jays hopes of advancing in St. Louis with an 81-62 win. Sam Maniscalco had a career-high 31 points and Bradley used a 14-0 run midway through the second half to take control of the game, to the disgust of the fans in attendance.
Maniscalco, held to three points in Creighton’s win over Bradley in the season finale the previous Saturday, was 18-of-19 at the line, including 9-for-9 shooting after being fouled on three different attempts from three-point range.
The Series: Creighton leads the all-time series with Bradley by a narrow 41-40 margin. Much of that difference has been made up in the past 10 years, as the Jays have won 18 of the past 22 meetings. Creighton is 24-13 in Omaha vs. Bradley all-time, including 12 straight home victories. All but three of those 12 wins have been by 11 or more points. The Braves have not won in Omaha since a 61-58 victory Jan. 17, 1998 and the Braves are 0-7 all-time at Qwest Center. Their 12-game losing streak at Creighton equals the longest road skid Bradley ever has suffered against another opponent.
In the last 30 meetings between the schools, Creighton is 15-1 when holding Bradley to 65 points or less but 6-8 when it allows more than 65 points. Creighton has also won the last 22 meetings when it scores 70 points or more against BU. Of note, Creighton and Missouri State are the only two current Valley members with winning records against the Braves.
Creighton coach Greg McDermott is 6-7 all-time against Bradley (5-1 in home games) and 4-7 against Jim Les.
Gratuitous Linkage: I love Legos. Always have. Its a design thing, I think — I like visualizing things, and then building them whether its a Lego castle or a three-panel brochure for a client.
That might be why this blows me away. A Lego version of Ohio Stadium — The Horseshoe — using over 1 million blocks. Its 1/100 scale, and seats 6,000 Lego dudes! Pretty awesome if you ask me.
Out of Context Simpsons quote: “This is the greatest case of false advertising I’ve seen since I sued the movie ‘The Never Ending Story.’” -Lionel Hutz
This Date in Creighton Hoops History: On January 19, 2002, Kyle Korver scored 27 points and Larry House added 12 as Creighton beat Bradley 76-63. The win moved the Jays to 6-1 in the MVC, at the time their best conference start since opening Missouri Valley play with an 8-1 record in 1989.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day: Having edited a fair number of videos in my time, this thing still amazes me 25 years later.
The Bottom Line: If Bradley isn’t 0-8 in the MVC after tonight, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Creighton 71, Bradley 60