The last time Bradley men’s basketball took the floor in front of a home crowd at Carver Arena in downtown Peoria was Feb. 29, 2020. Nate Kennell lobbed an inbounds pass to Elijah Childs, whose tip-in shot at the final buzzer rimmed in and out as Darrell Brown — and 8,000 plus in the stands — jumped up and subsequently exclaimed their disappointment.
That 67-66 loss to Loyola would be the Braves’ last of the season, as Bradley rattled off three straight wins the following weekend at Arch Madness to win back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference titles.
All five starters (Brown, Childs, Kennell, Danya Kingsby and Koch Bar) from those four memorable games are no longer on the roster. Seven of the nine players who helped Bradley defeat Valparaiso in the 2020 Valley title game have since moved on.
In case last year’s roller coaster, COVID-19 complicated season — which culminated in an 8th place finish and a Thursday exit at Arch Madness — didn’t convey it, when the team takes the court at Carver this year, we will have turned to a new page of Bradley basketball.
“Last year wasn’t the year that we wanted at all, but now that’s in the past,” senior forward Ja’Shon Henry, who is the only remaining player to register minutes in both the Braves title-clinching wins, said. “I think we took all the right steps in the offseason and all the right steps in the preseason.”
“There was a long list of things out of our control that happened to our team,” seventh-year head coach Brian Wardle said. “We just [have] to control what we can control though. I think you learn your lessons in that area, but the things out of our control last year … I just kind of put an asterisk by that, because there were so many things that were not normal last year.”
While this season’s team includes an influx of six new scholarship athletes, the protagonists of the story are familiar.
As one of two seniors, the three-year stalwart Henry has been designated as the leader of the group, while junior guard Ville Tahvanainen and redshirt sophomore Rienk Mast will be integral parts on and off the floor.
“Every year, veterans are important [for] their experience, their wisdom,” Wardle said. “They understand the program, the culture, how we do things, how we work.”
7-foot-1-inch center Ari Boya is also back for the Braves to start at the five spot after missing all of conference play last season with a foot injury. Wardle and the coaching staff plan to be cautious with the big man, but when healthy, Boya has shown he can leave an impact on both ends of the floor.
The departure of Childs and his 14.2 PPG leaves a hole in the frontcourt that needs to be filled by Boya, Mast, Henry and reigning NJCAA DI player of the year, junior forward Malevy Leons.
The 6-foot-9-inch Dutchman could prove to be a scoring option from the jump after he filled the bucket at a clip of over 18 PPG in his final season at Mineral Area College.
However, Mast could be the scorer Bradley relies on the most in the post after a strong finish last season, in which he stepped up in place of several absent teammates to average 13.3 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in the final 11 games.
“You get the same Rienk every day; he works his tail off,” Wardle said. “He executes, he’s a very smart player and we’re going to need him to stay aggressive for 40 minutes [a game] and really kind of take charge and know that how you finish those last 10 games, you can do for a full season.”
The conference took notice of Mast’s strong finish — which was capped off with a 24-point, 10-rebound double-double at Arch Madness — as he was named to the preseason all-conference third team alongside Henry.
“That just proves that that last little stretch last year really showed people what I can really do,” Mast said of the honor. “I was happy about the last couple games of last season, but I’ve just got to come out and continue what I was doing; [you] can’t live in the past.”
Henry, the team’s leading returning scorer at 10.9 PPG, spent the offseason developing his guard skills and will likely slide into the small forward spot for the Braves as a true swingman.
The rest of the frontcourt will be filled out by sophomores Darius Hannah and Jayson Kent, who Wardle notes have improved over the offseason after both made key contributions down the stretch last season.
“If we can stay healthy, I love our depth,” Wardle said of the front court. “But, [we’ve] still got to get better. One thing you learn after you play somebody is there’s so much more room for improvement. Backcourt and frontcourt, we’ve got to continue to gel.”
The gelling might take a bit longer in the backcourt, as five newcomers join Tahvanainen, who averaged 8.6 PPG last season.
Grad transfer Mikey Howell, junior transfer Terry Roberts and freshman Connor Hickman are slated to be key cogs, replacing last year’s leading passer Sean East II (3.6 APG) and backcourt scorer Terry Nolan Jr. (11.2 PPG), who transfered.
With Tahvanainen out for at least the first game or two of non-conference play with an ankle injury, the trio has an early opportunity to be the go-to-guys.
“It’s what you do every day that will get you on the court in this program, and those guys have been really consistent,” Wardle said. “I’m kind of excited to see what Terry, Connor and Mikey — with Ville out — how those three can play together, because they’ve been good in practice together.”
After becoming the all-time assists leader at UC San Diego, Howell’s experience and pass-first mentality will be utilized heavily as a leader at the one spot.
“I want to come into this year just being a leader [and being] vocal out there,” Howell said. “Coach really emphasized during timeouts, during huddles, just be vocal and really just call out the shots.”
As the only team in the conference to not return at least three starters from 2020-21 (per the MVC’s count), Bradley was selected sixth in the preseason poll.
However, at least for now, the group’s goals for the season aren’t focused on wins, losses or even necessarily quantifiable benchmarks.
“We have private goals, team goals,” Wardle said. “I do know this: it’s all process goals, not results. It’s not ‘win this many [games] or get this many stats,’ it’s all about the process and doing the little things every day… Usually the results work out for themselves.”
After last year’s equivalent of a fever dream of a season with an empty Carver Arena, eroded roster and inconsistent results, Bradley is ready for the next page of the history book to write itself.
Last season’s page was an unsettling reminder of the tumultuous nature of college sports — main characters come and go and heroes become outcasts with a turn of a page. After two pages of fairy tales, last year resembled a sci-fi horror.
This year’s entry provides an opportunity for the supporting cast to become the center of the story, and for newcomers to become folk heroes. While the next page is completely blank, the book of Bradley history tells us that Brian Wardle’s chapter has been a page-turner.
Time to get back to reading.
