PEORIA, Ill. -- A schedule that began road heavy turned to Bradley's favor this week when Illinois-Chicago was forced to give up its 2005 home date versus the Braves.  Because Illinois-Chicago will not yet have planned lighting in place at Flames Field, the game instead will be played Nov. 1 (7 p.m.) at Shea Stadium.

Instead of going on the road for 10 of its 19 regular-season games, Bradley now will host 10 contests at Shea Stadium, where the Braves boast a two-year record of 16-5-2 (.773) and have ranked among the national leaders in attendance.  The switch with Illinois-Chicago will give the Braves a fourth consecutive home game before closing out the regular-season Nov. 5 at Missouri State.

In other schedule news, Bradley and Northwestern have settled on a 4 p.m. start time for the Aug. 23 exhibition in Evanston.  The Braves will host their annual Red-White Game at 7 p.m. Aug. 25 at Shea Stadium before opening the regular season Sept. 2-3 by hosting Butler, DePaul and Western Illinois in the Holiday Inn City Centre Classic.

Picked to finish second in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference coaches poll, Bradley will open its preseason training camp Tuesday morning.  The Braves return 20 lettermen, including 10 starters, from the 2004 squad that finished 10-6-3 overall, tied for third in the Valley regular-season race and advanced to the State Farm MVC Tournament semifinals for a league-best seventh consecutive year.