Paula Buscher begins her 13th season at Bradley after taking the Braves to the postseason for the second time in three years and the most victories in a four-year period for the team in nearly 30 years. In fact, BU enters the 2012-13 season having won 15 or more games in four consecutive years for the first time in program history.
The longest tenured coach in program history, Buscher's 167 wins with the Braves rank as the ninth highest total in Missouri Valley Conference history and her 91 career conference victories are also ninth in Valley history. She enters her 13th season at BU fifth in league history in games coached (355) and will pass Barbara Hilke (378 games) of Eastern Illinois for fourth in games coached late in the 2012-13 campaign.
During her tenure on The Hilltop, Bradley has produced two MVC Defensive Players of the Year, four first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference selections, six CoSIDA Academic All-District picks, seven first-team Valley Scholar-Athletes and one Prairie Farms/MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The 2011-12 team tied the school record for road victories (8) en route to an 18-16 overall record and advanced to the Women's Basketball Invitational semifinals for the second time in three years with a thrilling 74-71 home win against Tennessee Tech in the opening round. Bradley's 18 wins were the fifth most in school history and included a convincing 96-88 home victory against NCAA Tournament participant Iowa. The Braves went on to finish eighth in the MVC race with a 7-11 record as BU finished a four-year period with a winning conference record (37-35) for the first time since 1992-93.
After falling behind by 20 points in the first half against Tennessee Tech in the opening round of the WBI, Bradley completed what might be the biggest comebacks in school history. The Braves bench scored 40 of the team's 50 second-half points to spur BU to a 74-71 win in the first on-campus postseason basketball game since the men's basketball team hosted a 1982 NIT game. The season ended with a loss at eventual WBI champion Minnesota.
In 2010-11, Bradley followed up a 7-4 non-conference record with a 7-11 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Braves earned a come-from-behind victory at preseason Valley favorite Missouri State to start a late-season surge and finished the year with a 15-16 overall record.
On the heels of a school-record 21 victories in 2008-09, the Braves followed it up with a 17-14 overall mark in 2009-10 and advanced to the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitational.
After a slow start to the year, the 2009-10 team found its stride in conference play, winning six consecutive Valley contests and matching a school record with a 12-6 Missouri Valley Conference mark. The Braves finished in a tie with Missouri State for third in the regular-season standings to match the best conference finish in school history.
Bradley went on to make the first postseason appearance in program history, where the Braves defeated Big East Conference foe Louisville in the Cardinals final game at historic Freedom Hall. Louisville, which had advanced to the NCAA Championship game the previous year, owned a 129-23 (.849) record at Freedom Hall since the start of the 1998-99 season. Bradley's season came to an end in the quarterfinals of the inaugural WBI with a loss at College of Charleston.
Buscher broke the program record for career wins with her 124th victory at Bradley with a 74-62 home win against NCAA Tournament participant Northern Iowa in mid-January of the 2009-10 season. The Braves swept four Missouri Valley Conference opponents during the regular season, marking the most series sweeps for BU since the 2002-03 and also became the first Valley team to sweep Creighton and Drake in a season since the 2006-07 campaign.
Sonya Harris garnered MVC Defensive Player of the Year honors and was a second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference pick for the second consecutive year. Jenny Van Kirk was named a First-Team Capital One Academic All-District selection in addition to earning First-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete honors. Katie Yohn was honorable mention All-MVC, making her just the second freshman to earn all-conference honors in program history, and is the first frosh to lead the team in scoring since Connie Griffith in 1977-78.
The 2008-09 season culminated in a school-record 21 wins (21-10 overall) and included a 71-53 win against instate rival Illinois at the United Center in Chicago to cap a 6-1 start to the season. Bradley matched a school record for non-conference wins with a 9-2 mark opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a 4-0 mark for the first time in program history. Buscher earned 2008-09 Rawlings Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors after guiding the team to the first 20-win season since 1979-80 and fourth-place finish in the Valley at 11-7.
The Braves' success didn't end there; however, as Bradley went on to post a 70-49 victory against Indiana State in the quarterfinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, to advance to the semifinals for just the second time in program history and first semifinal appearance since 1997. Bradley's season came to an end with an 84-81 overtime loss to eventual MVC Tournament champion Evansville. The 21-10 season included an impressive 12-2 "home" mark as the Braves played all 14 "home" games off campus at Illinois Central College's Lorene Ramsey Gym due to current construction of a new on-campus facility.
Her success should come as no surprise, however, as she led teams to improved records in each of her first five seasons as a collegiate head coach, including her first two at Bradley, culminating in a 16-12 record in 2001-02.
Inheriting a team which posted a 23-67 (.256) conference record in the five season prior to her arrival and was only one year removed from an 0-18 league record, Buscher has led BU to a 91-125 (.421) conference record during her tenure and 50-58 (.463) Valley record over the six seasons.
She starts her 13th season on the Hilltop and 17th overall as a collegiate head coach with a career record of 210-226 (.482) and a 167-188 (.470) mark at Bradley.
The Braves have also set several attendance marks over the past 12 seasons. Bradley averaged over 1,000 fans per home game for the first time in 2001-02, drawing 1,404 fans per contest and has averaged better than 1,000 four times. In fact Bradley has drawn eight of the top 10 and 21 of the 25 largest home crowds in program history during Burscher's tenure.
Finishing seasons on a strong note has been a trademark during Buscher's time on The Hilltop and the 2007-08 was a strong example of that fact. After a 9-16 start to the year, the Braves went 3-1 in the final four games of the regular season. Skye Johnson became the first player in program history to earn Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors after leading the MVC in steals and Devyn Flanagan became the 14th BU player to score 1,000 points.
Bradley opened the 2006-07 season with a 4-9 record, but went 7-6 over the next 13 games and went on to post a 65-56 victory over Missouri State in the first round of the State Farm MVC Tournament.
In 2005-06, the Braves entered the final four games of the regular season with a 5-18 overall mark and 2-12 Valley record but won three consecutive games, including a home win against eventual NCAA participant Missouri State and a road victory at Creighton to end an 18-game losing streak in the series with the Bluejays.
Buscher led the Braves to a 15-13 overall record in 2004-05, including the program's first-ever victory against Illinois. Bradley also defeated regular-season Valley champion Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., joining top-ranked LSU as the only teams in the country to defeat the Bears at the Hammons Student Center.
The Braves tied for sixth in the Valley with an 8-10 league mark. The sixth place tie marked the third consecutive year Bradley tied for sixth and is the best three-year run since Lisa Boyer's teams finished fourth (1989-90), tied for fifth (1990-91) and tied for third (1991-92) during a three-year span.
First-team all-conference pick Dena Williams became the Braves career rebounding leader and finished her career ranked fourth in Valley history in blocked shots. Williams also became the second Bradley player to play under Buscher to sign a professional contract. Genny Mueller garnered Division I-AAA National Scholar-Athlete honors for the second consecutive year and was a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-District V selection again after becoming Bradley's career leader in three-point field goals and free throw percentage.
Coaching a team which featured no seniors in 2003-04, Buscher's Braves struggled to find an identity early in the year but closed on a high note, finishing the regular-season with wins in five of their last seven games to tie for sixth in the MVC with a 7-11 record.
In 2002-03, Buscher's squad had a highly successful season in Missouri Valley Conference play, posting a 9-9 league mark. The nine conference wins were the most for a Braves' team since 1996-97 and gave Bradley its highest Valley finish, sixth, since tying for fifth in 1996-97.
The Braves winning record in 2001-02 marked the most victories and first winning season since the 1996-97 squad posted a similar 16-12 mark.
Bradley set numerous records during the 2001-02 campaign, completing the regular-season non-conference slate in perfect fashion (9-0) for the first time in school history. The Braves also had the longest win streak in program history at nine games and posted its third best start in Missouri Valley Conference history. In addition, Bradley set a school season records for 3-point field goal percentage, making 36.6 percent from beyond the arc.
In Buscher's first season, Bradley's win total in 2000-01 (10) nearly matched the win total from the previous two seasons (12) while playing with a limited roster that featured just eight scholarship players, including three seniors as she guided the Braves to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the first time in four seasons.
Buscher was named as one of Peoria's "40 Leaders Under 40" in 2002. She also was awarded the Exemplary Service Award from the Bradley Parents Association in April of 2001.
Bradley was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association 2005-06 Academic Team Honor Roll, tying for 24th among all NCAA Division I schools with a 3.298 grade point average.
Rebuilding programs is nothing new for Buscher. A former assistant coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Buscher took her first head coaching position at Minnesota State-Mankato in 1997. At Mankato, Buscher inherited a team that was 7-20 before her arrival and a program that had not managed a winning season since the 1993-94 campaign. In her lone season at Mankato, Buscher led the Mavericks to 10 more wins than the previous year, a 17-10 mark, while giving Mankato the second-best turnaround in NCAA Division II history.
Buscher returned to Omaha the very next season as head coach at UNO, where she had previously served as an assistant coach for nine years. The Mavericks, who had a 10-17 record during Buscher's tenure at Minnesota-Mankato, displayed improvement in both of Buscher's two seasons as head coach, with records of 11-16 (1998-99) and 15-12 (1999-00).
As a prep player at Peoria's Richwoods High School, Buscher was the team captain and earned first-team All-Mid-State 10 Conference honors for the 1980-81 squad that finished second in the IHSA Class AA State Tournament. Buscher also starred on the basketball and softball teams at Illinois Central College from 1981 to 1983.
Playing both sports for Hall of Fame coach Lorene Ramsey, Buscher helped lead the Lady Cougars basketball team to a fifth-place national finish during the 1981-82 season, earning first-team NJCAA Region IV All-Tournament honors. The team captain as a sophomore, Buscher helped ICC to a third-place finish in the 1983 national tournament and was named to the first-team all-tournament squad during the NJCAA national championship event.
On the softball field, Buscher helped Ramsey's 1982 squad to the NJCAA national title and was inducted into the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 as a member of ICC's 1982 national championship softball team.
Continuing her collegiate basketball career at Missouri State for two seasons (1983-85). She also played softball for the Lady Bears during the 1984 and 1986 campaigns.
After receiving her bachelor of science degree in physical education from Missouri State in 1986, Buscher began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Illinois State under Hall of Fame coach Jill Hutchison. In her two years in Normal, Ill., the Redbirds were 32-26, including a 20-11 mark in 1987-88, when Illinois State claimed the Gateway Conference championship and earned a fourth-place finish in the Women's National Invitational Tournament.
After earning her master's degree in physical education with an emphasis in athletic administration from Illinois State, Buscher joined the staff at the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 1988, where she spent nine seasons as an assistant coach before beginning her head coaching career at Minnesota St.-Mankato in 1997.
In addition to her work on and off the court, Buscher has also helped with fund-raising efforts for the Komen For The Cure Foundation. Over the last nine seasons the Braves have helped raise over $60,000 for the Foundation by sponsoring an annual "Hoops for the Cure" event.
Buscher has served as the Missouri Valley Conference Captain for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and on the WBCA Region 6 Coach of the Year Committee. She is currently a member of the Division I Women's Basketball Midwest Regional Advisory Committee.