PEORIA, Ill. -- Fans wishing to follow the Bradley men's basketball team to Florida for its four games in the 2008 O'Reilly Autoparts CBE Classic may purchase their tickets through the University of Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University ticket offices.
The Braves will play their first round CBE Classic game Nov. 16 at the University of Florida, then will return to the Sunshine State a week later for three games Nov. 24, 25, 26 on the Florida Gulf Coast campus in Ft. Myers.
Tickets for the Nov. 16 game against the 2006 and 2007 national champion Gators will be $20. Fans may purchase tickets for the game by contacting the Florida Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683 and may ask to sit in the Bradley block of seats, while supplies last.
Bradley has made arrangements with the event organizers to use the same bench throughout the remainder of the exempt event at Florida Gulf Coast, allowing fans to purchase seats within a block behind the Braves bench for the three games at Alico Arena. The Braves will face UMKC Nov. 24 (5 p.m. ET), Florida Gulf Coast Nov. 25 (7 p.m. ET) and Richmond Nov. 26 (4 p.m. ET). The FGCU website indicates single-game tickets are $10 and fans should call the FGCU Ticket Office at (239) 590-7145 to purchase seats in the Bradley section.
The 2008-09 college basketball season will open Oct. 17 when practice begins around the country. Bradley will play exhibition games Nov. 3 versus Lewis and Nov. 9 against Wisconsin-Platteville at Carver Arena, before opening the regular season at home Nov. 14 against UIC. The Braves will face Florida in the season's second game.
The Bradley Basketball program is tied for eighth nationally with seven postseason victories the last three seasons and the Braves have won at least 21 games each of the last three seasons: 22-11 in 2005-06 (NCAA Tournament Sweet 16), 22-13 in 2006-07 (NIT Second Round) and 21-17 in 2007-08 (CBI Runner-Up). Bradley also ranks third nationally with 695 combined 3-point field goals made the last two seasons, a Missouri Valley Conference single-season record 349 in 2006-07 and 346 more last year.
