After break for exams, Braves don't get easy return vs. W. Kentucky
PEORIA - Based on this week's RPI power rankings, tonight's Western Kentucky-Bradley matchup should be a fight to the end.
With 3-2 BU listed at 89 in the ratings of the 332 Division I men's basketball teams and 5-2 WKU at 91, look for the battle of the Hilltoppers at Carver Arena to be close. Or at least closer than the 75-60 margin of victory in last season's Bracket Buster game between the teams in Bowling Green, Ky.
At least that's how it shapes up on paper.
"It's a very good team," BU coach Jim Les said of the visitors. "A lot of the same personnel we saw last year is coming back. It's a team that poses a lot of problems. They will play a multitude of defenses, attack the glass very aggressively, push the tempo. It will be a tremendous test for us. They're the same team as last year, but better."
Bradley played that game without two key players - center Patrick O'Bryant and forward Lawrence Wright - who were suspended just prior to the game for being late for the bus on the ride to the arena.
O'Bryant is suspended again this year, out for the first eight games of the season because of too-hefty summer-work paychecks.
Reserve BU guard Will Franklin is sidelined for the same reason but is expected to return for Saturday's home game against Delaware State.
"We haven't talked a lot to the team about when they come back," Les said. "I don't want them to fell like they have a built-in excuse. We have the makings of a group that's here and now to have success."
They'll need to be hitting on all cylinders against the Hilltoppers, who have won tough road games at Alabama-Birmingham 92-76 and Eastern Kentucky 97-89 as well as beatings of Austin Peay (83-54), IUPUI (89-75) and Evansville (84-77). The two losses were at home to Georgia 69-65 and Pacific 91-75.
"Georgia and Pacific are pretty good basketball teams," Les said. "One thing both teams did was handle their pressure. That's something we have to do."
This is Bradley's first outing following an eight-day layoff for final exams.
"Even though it's been an erratic schedule, we've gotten insome good work and ratcheted up the intensity because I wasn't happy with our performance
at Butler," Les said. "What to expect, I don't know. To me, it was a breath of fresh air coming out of finals. You have that stress and strain behind you and now you can concentrate on just basketball."
Indeed, the next 11 games for the Braves will be held without having, as former Drake coach Rudy Washington once put it, "the distraction of having to go to class."
That includes a killer six-game Missouri Valley Conference opening slate beginning with O'Bryant's return Dec. 28 against Northern Iowa.
But first big challenges first. And they begin with WKU guards Courtney Lee and Anthony Winchester, who average better than 41 points between them.
That stellar backcourt was called this week by CBS SportsLine.com the best in Kentucky. That's saying a lot considering the college team based in Lexington has a pretty decent pair of guards.
"I wouldn't trade my two for anyone's (guards)," WKU coach Darrin Horn told the CBS reporter. "Offensively, Anthony's going to hurt you in a thousand ways. Courtney has that ability where, the bigger the moment, the more he thinks he's challenged, the later in the game, the more he wants the ball. And he's going to make a play for you."
Braves briefs: The Valley is ranked fourth in the first RPI conference ratings behind the Big Ten, Big East and the Atlantic Coast. The two unbeaten MVC teams are ranked among the nation's top eight - 6-0 Missouri State at No. 6 and 5-0 Indiana State at No. 8. Northern Iowa is 17th, Creighton 58th, Wichita State 73rd, BU 89th, Evansville 155th, Southern Illinois 156th, Drake 172nd and Illinois State 213th. "Now you're rooting for everybody and in two weeks you'll want to beat their brains out," Les said. "I think it's great but it doesn't surprise me. We hope to be one of the teams that benefits from the league's high RPI."
PEORIA - Based on this week's RPI power rankings, tonight's Western Kentucky-Bradley matchup should be a fight to the end.
With 3-2 BU listed at 89 in the ratings of the 332 Division I men's basketball teams and 5-2 WKU at 91, look for the battle of the Hilltoppers at Carver Arena to be close. Or at least closer than the 75-60 margin of victory in last season's Bracket Buster game between the teams in Bowling Green, Ky.
At least that's how it shapes up on paper.
"It's a very good team," BU coach Jim Les said of the visitors. "A lot of the same personnel we saw last year is coming back. It's a team that poses a lot of problems. They will play a multitude of defenses, attack the glass very aggressively, push the tempo. It will be a tremendous test for us. They're the same team as last year, but better."
Bradley played that game without two key players - center Patrick O'Bryant and forward Lawrence Wright - who were suspended just prior to the game for being late for the bus on the ride to the arena.
O'Bryant is suspended again this year, out for the first eight games of the season because of too-hefty summer-work paychecks.
Reserve BU guard Will Franklin is sidelined for the same reason but is expected to return for Saturday's home game against Delaware State.
"We haven't talked a lot to the team about when they come back," Les said. "I don't want them to fell like they have a built-in excuse. We have the makings of a group that's here and now to have success."
They'll need to be hitting on all cylinders against the Hilltoppers, who have won tough road games at Alabama-Birmingham 92-76 and Eastern Kentucky 97-89 as well as beatings of Austin Peay (83-54), IUPUI (89-75) and Evansville (84-77). The two losses were at home to Georgia 69-65 and Pacific 91-75.
"Georgia and Pacific are pretty good basketball teams," Les said. "One thing both teams did was handle their pressure. That's something we have to do."
This is Bradley's first outing following an eight-day layoff for final exams.
"Even though it's been an erratic schedule, we've gotten insome good work and ratcheted up the intensity because I wasn't happy with our performance
at Butler," Les said. "What to expect, I don't know. To me, it was a breath of fresh air coming out of finals. You have that stress and strain behind you and now you can concentrate on just basketball."
Indeed, the next 11 games for the Braves will be held without having, as former Drake coach Rudy Washington once put it, "the distraction of having to go to class."
That includes a killer six-game Missouri Valley Conference opening slate beginning with O'Bryant's return Dec. 28 against Northern Iowa.
But first big challenges first. And they begin with WKU guards Courtney Lee and Anthony Winchester, who average better than 41 points between them.
That stellar backcourt was called this week by CBS SportsLine.com the best in Kentucky. That's saying a lot considering the college team based in Lexington has a pretty decent pair of guards.
"I wouldn't trade my two for anyone's (guards)," WKU coach Darrin Horn told the CBS reporter. "Offensively, Anthony's going to hurt you in a thousand ways. Courtney has that ability where, the bigger the moment, the more he thinks he's challenged, the later in the game, the more he wants the ball. And he's going to make a play for you."
Braves briefs: The Valley is ranked fourth in the first RPI conference ratings behind the Big Ten, Big East and the Atlantic Coast. The two unbeaten MVC teams are ranked among the nation's top eight - 6-0 Missouri State at No. 6 and 5-0 Indiana State at No. 8. Northern Iowa is 17th, Creighton 58th, Wichita State 73rd, BU 89th, Evansville 155th, Southern Illinois 156th, Drake 172nd and Illinois State 213th. "Now you're rooting for everybody and in two weeks you'll want to beat their brains out," Les said. "I think it's great but it doesn't surprise me. We hope to be one of the teams that benefits from the league's high RPI."
