Bradley women’s basketball enters the 2021 NCAA Tournament as a no. 11 seed in the Hemisfair Region and will play no. 6 Texas on Monday night at 7 p.m.
After surviving a wild Missouri Valley Conference tournament and winning a conference title for the first time in school history, the mood is one of optimism as the Braves prepare for their first-ever game in the big dance.
“It’s been one of the hardest years I’ve ever been through basketball-wise,” Bradley senior Gabi Haack said. “But it honestly feels amazing, I’m so proud of this team and we deserved to win that.”
The Braves are 17-11 entering Monday’s game, which will be held in San Antonio. The Longhorns enter the tournament with an 18-11 mark, having earned an at-large bid after falling to Baylor in the second round of the Big 12 tournament. The Bears are a 2-seed in the RiverWalk Region.
The Longhorns feature a deep roster that has four players averaging 10 or more points per game. The scoring is led by junior forward Charli Collier’s 20.1 points per game, while fellow juniors Audrey Warren, Celeste Allen-Taylor and sophomore Celeste Taylor are close behind.
“They’ve got [Collier] inside,” Gorski said. “Obviously that’s going to have to be a focal point, right away, she’s likely the number one draft pick in the WNBA this year. So that’s going to be a good challenge for us.”
Of course, the Braves found themselves paying attention to bracket projections between the end of the MVC title game and the announcement that they would be playing the Longhorns. The scene stood in stark contrast to the one the Braves were in just over a year ago.
“It was pretty devastating last year to have the tournament canceled,” Haack said. “We were all ready to get on the bus and everything and then we were told a couple of hours later the tournament was cancelled … I know I used that as motivation for the summer and the upcoming season.”
Though the Braves and Longhorns won’t tip-off until Monday night, a packed week lies ahead for the Braves. They’ll arrive in San Antonio tomorrow and begin a 48-hour quarantine before getting back in the swing of things in the days leading up to the game.
With this being the first tournament berth in the history of Bradley women’s basketball, all of the additional work is well worth enduring.
“We were all just waiting there because we had no idea what seed we were going to get,” Haack said of watching the selection show. “It’s surreal to just see ‘Bradley Braves’ on the tournament bracket. We’re all really excited, I’m ready to play, we’re ready to keep going and we’re ready to go to Texas.”
