Home of the Brave

yoda said:

so where do I go to buy my Ben Thornbrue T-shirt?

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Don't worry, we'll still be doing the merch stuff as needed. I think Ben will be a fan favorite around here.

I just hope that the people who control the money at Bradley will spend whatever it takes to Field a super competitive team! Hello St.Louis and Dayton to name a few! Us fans want to feel we always have a shot at upending other very good teams! If we do this and continue Bradley tradition then I'm always a fan! I wish I understood how Evansville gets such a nice turnout at home games? Because, me personally can not support a losing team! I hear Dayton sells out its games. Would a dream for Bradley to do this? I'm sure Bradley Fans are on notice waiting to see how there school moves forward in the new Era of College .You either advance, move forward, compete or you fall down hard.

LittleBrave said:

Sometimes we are so hungry to either win Arch Madness or get better after every season that we forget to reflect on how consistently good we've been since 2022...also nice to see the development of players who stay at BU for 3 or 4 years, which is a rarity at any D-1 school nowadays.

The regular season the 3 years prior to this one sure have been fun to watch as you pointed out, and even this past season was enjoyable the 2nd half of the Valley reg. season to find our way to the #2 seed!

So much up in the air right now, but heck yeah - another Top 3 conf. finish (as we've accomplished 4 yrs straight) and 20+ wins by the time Arch Madness ends would be NICE. The non-conference season anymore is to see how the BU team comes together in prep for the Valley season.
Hopefully being the 2nd year with our new coaching staff will help.

THANK YOU for the reminder to look at the positives during this time of uncertainty (bracing for players to possibly enter the portal this week) as I have been down (sports-wise) since my 1st ever Arch Madness trip. It's hard to be a fan of mid major hoops with NIL and the inevitability of not being considered for an At-Large bid, as the cards are stacked against us. We can still aim high within reason!

And we'll keep holding our heads high as the Bradley fan support still goes STRONG and is the cream of the crop at the top of the Valley!

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I actually find it harder now to be a fan of high major basketball. The more they stick it to the mid majors the less of a fan I am of high major ball and the NCAA tournament. The only thing that makes the tournament fun is seeing the unexpected upsets. Who really cares if Duke beats North Carolina or whatever? I want to see David beat Goliath.

I agree that there are no Cinderella teams left in the Sweet 16. Even on today’s Morning Joe this was acknowledged that is the second year in a row that this happened and will likely repeat. It used to be entertaining to watch Princeton beat seeded teams. The power conferences control everything now. I will watch Illinois play and I was happy that Florida got beat, but I don’t have the interest that I had in prior years.

Root for Rienk and Nebraska. I know it's a big school, but to see them paint that arena completely red is like Bradley does at Arch Madness, just on a much larger scale. And they haven't been a perennial winner. They're the perfect team to root for in this tournament with so few smaller schools.

And on the Bradley side of it all, just root for who is here. I know that's different than the past but just know that the guys are giving their all when they are here and their legendary status goes up every year they stay, regardless of their skill level.

I hadn't really thought about it much, but I think that's why I have always leaned to defend Meta. Yes, I know it's harder for guys who are not from the US to jump around to schools, but the fact he put in so much time and did improve a ton throughout his career will make him WAY more memorable than a guy like Wheeler, who I also liked but don't connect the same amount of memories purely because he decided to do something else.

I'll take an overperforming 20 win team yearly if we retain most of our roster. I'd much rather have that and grow with the team throughout the season than have what Murray State did, with a ton of money thrown at the team and have them underperform and probably have many of them transfer out after a season.

The longer term view is what this program looks like whenever someday Wardle steps down - maybe once his kids are through college (except maybe his son). Wardle has created an identity for this school that we can all latch onto and even if you want to complain about his over substitutions and hit-and-miss work in the portal and with transfers, he still gets the absolute most out of every roster.

Canton BU fan said:

I actually find it harder now to be a fan of high major basketball. The more they stick it to the mid majors the less of a fan I am of high major ball and the NCAA tournament. The only thing that makes the tournament fun is seeing the unexpected upsets. Who really cares if Duke beats North Carolina or whatever? I want to see David beat Goliath.

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AGREED! That just rocks my world that the Big 10 has 6 teams in the Sweet 16!! (NOT) Kinda cool, but oh well...not as memorable as (just to name a few in the MVC):

Terrell Taylor's (CU Jays) 2nd half (and OT) explosion of 28 pts, including game-winning 3 at the buzzer in OT vs the Gators in 2002 (after Korver fouled out)

SIU's run in 2007 as a very respectable #4 seed (the best since WSU's #1 seed in 2014), almost defeating #1 Kansas to the Elite 8.

Western Kentucky's (12-seed) long bomb at the buzzer to defeat #5 seed Drake 100-98.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwOzyE_S5AY

Ali Farokmanesh's "You can't be SERIOUS with that shot!" to defeat #1 ranked Kansas in 2010.
Loyola's incredible Final 4 run in 2018 with Sister Jean, where the Ramblers made 3 game-winning shots, all with 8 seconds or less in regulation, to advance to the Elite 8.
The year that Wichita St. and Bradley made the Sweet 16 as big underdogs!
Then you've got so many other memorable individual performances like Marquette's Dwayne Wade, BYU's Jimmer Fredette, Davidson's Steph Curry (who never made it far in the nba), and Cinderella stories/moments like Bryce Drew's shot, Butler's championship runs (2x), Loyola Marymount's run-and-gun offense in 1990 to a Sweet 16 appearance (honoring the late Hank Gathers), FGCU's DUNK CITY (Little Brave's alma mater) in 2013 as 1st 15-seed to make the Sweet 16, St. Peter's Elite 8 run in 2022 as a 15-seed, UVA's 1st round loss as a 1-seed, only to win the Nat'l Championship the following season.

There were a few memorable games so far in this year's tournament, but as many of us are mid-major fans, always sweeter when there is an underdog who makes a game-winning shot over one of the Big Boys!