What's on the Horizon for Bradley Basketball

 Coming off two back-to-back conference tournament title runs and what should've been two straight NCAA tournament appearances, confidence was at an all time high for the Bradley Braves Men's Basketball program coming into the 2020-2021 season. It would be a tough test for the Braves who were losing their best player, team leader, and all-time Bradley great Darrell Brown, knockdown 3-point marksman Nate Kennell, and the other half of their twin towers in 7 footer Koch Bar. Despite all that this Bradley team had key players returning such as Elijah Childs, Ville Tahvanainen, Danya Kingsby, Ari Boya, and JaShon Henry who all were key in last year's team having the success it did. Perhaps most exciting were the fresh new faces on campus; transfers Terry Nolan Jr, Kevin McAdoo, and Sean East II gave the Braves much needed playmaking and guard depth, Rienk Mast, the Freshman forward who redshirted last season, was an exciting all around forward, and new recruits Connor Linke, Darrius Hannah, and Jayson Kent gave Bradley what many thought was it's deepest team in years. 

The season unfortunately didn't pan out the way anyone would have ever expected as the team finished the season 12-16 overall and just 6-12 in conference play before being bounced in the first round of Arch Madness by the Southern Illinois Salukis. The offseason hasn't been particularly kind to Bradley as they have seen 5 players enter the transfer portal and will have a new home next season. Those players were all guards; Danya Kingsby, Antonio Thomas, Sean East II, Kevin McAdoo, and Terry Nolan Jr, leaving a massive hole at guard for Bradley next season. The expected departure of Elijah Childs also leaves 15 ppg and 8 rpg unaccounted for. With all these players leaving the program, where does Bradley go from here?

The first option is recruitment. With the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling most state basketball tournaments and shortening the high school season this year, recruiting has gotten considerably tougher because the players don't have as much tape and with fewer games harder for players to get exposure. For their 2021 recruiting class they have already secured 6-3 Combo Guard Connor Hickman from Bloomington, Indiana which helps fill a much needed void at guard. They also put out an offer to 6-8 Small Forward Kacper Klaczek from Glen Head, New York to give them some shooting and length. 

The second option is looking at the transfer portal for talent. Bradley has already offered Terry Roberts, a 6-1 Combo Guard who played at Florida Southwestern State College last season a scholarship. There was also a rumor that Bradley was interested in Guard Jordan McCabe who is transferring from West Virginia after having a very successful high school career in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. It is clear that Bradley is making guard a high priority in the offseason, which every great team needs. To fill their need at power forward maybe they could tap the Massachusetts well again, that is where Sean East II transferred in from, and give an offer to 6-9 Tre Mitchell, who averaged an impressive 17.7 ppg and 7.2 rpg on 48% from the field and 33% from 3. Stretch bigs can play a vital role in Bradley's offense, look at Rienk Mast and even Elijah Childs learning how to shoot the 3 ball, so getting him would be a big get for the Braves. I would also look into Donovan Clay, who the Braves should be very familiar with since he's played at Valpo for the past 2 seasons, the 6-7 forward who averaged 10.1 ppg and grabbed 5.5 rpg. 

There is still talent on this Bradley roster, they return JaShon Henry, Ville Tahvanainen, Jayson Kent, Darrius Hannah, Connor Linke, Rienk Mast and then walk-ons Thomas Hall and Riley Burger round out the returnees. If the Braves can continue to nail it in recruiting and can pick up some big names in the transfer portal, with Wardle at the helm this team has all the tools to reload and make another run at the Valley crown next season.