• Bradley is making its 35th all-time postseason appearance, the most of any team in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• The Braves are making their second all-time appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament after reaching the championship game of the inaugural CIT in 2009.
• Bradley now has won at least one game in each of its last five postseason tournaments and in 22 of its 35 postseason tournaments overall.
National Turnaround
• After going six years without improving its win total from one year to the next, Bradley's current 10-win improvement over last year is tied for ninth-best in the nation:
Team 2011-12 2012-13 +W's
Bryant 2-28 19-12 +17
Towson 1-31 18-13 +17
Canisius 5-25 19-13 +14
Santa Clara 8-22 22-11 +14
Arizona State 10-21 22-12 +12
Pacific 11-19 22-12 +11
Bradley 7-25 17-16 +10
Florida Int'l 8-21 18-14 +10
Illinois-Chicago 8-22 18-15 +10
Mount St. Mary's 8-21 18-14 +10
Florida Gulf Coast 15-17 24-10 +9
Gardner-Webb 12-20 21-13 +9
Oklahoma State 15-18 24-9 +9
UC Davis 5-26 14-17 +9
Utah 6-25 15-18 +9
Double-Digit Improvement
• By winning its first-round game versus Green Bay in the CIT, Bradley now has enjoyed a double-digit win improvement compared to last season (7-25).
• The Braves have jumped by 10 wins from one year to the next for the first time since 1992-93 (11-16) to 1993-94 (23-8).
• Since athletics resumed at Bradley following World War II, the men's basketball program has experienced a 10-win improvement in five seasons:
1st Year W-L 2nd Year W-L +/-
1984-85 17-13 1985-86 32-3 +15
1978-79 9-17 1979-80 23-10 +14
1945-46 11-12 1946-47 25-7 +14
1992-93 11-16 1993-94 23-8 +12
2011-12 7-25 2012-13 17-16 +10
Improved Field
• Of the 15 teams that have experience the greatest turnarounds this season, four are in the 2013 CIT field and three have advanced to the second round.
• Canisius leads the pack with a +14 improvement this season, jumping from 5-25 last season to 19-13 this year.
• Bradley's +10 jump is tied for second in the CIT field with Illinois-Chicago.
Four Out of Five for Ford
• In his fifth year as a NCAA Division I head coach, Geno Ford now has directed his team to the postseason four times.
• Ford directed Kent State to the CIT in 2009, followed by NIT appearances in 2010 and 2011.
• Ford owns a 4-3 postseason record.
• Ironically, Ford's 2009 Kent State team lost at Oakland in the first round, setting up one of the more memorable moments in Bradley history as the Braves knocked out Oakland in the second round on Chris Roberts' 75-foot buzzer beater, the longest post-season buzzer beater in NCAA Division I history.
Series History
4th Meeting | Bradley leads 2-1
• Saturday's game in the second round of the CIT will be the fourth all-time meeting between Bradley and Tulane.
• Bradley owns a 2-1 lead in the all-time series, though Tulane won the last matchup, 65-56, Dec. 1, 1984 in New Orleans.
• In Tulane's only previous trip to Peoria, Bradley earned a 77-61 victory March 18, 1982 at Robertson Fieldhouse in the third round of the National Invitation Tournament.
• That game proved to be the final against a NCAA Division I opponent before the Braves moved their home contests to the Peoria Civic Center's Carver Arena to start the 1982-83 season.
12-29-49 at Tulane W 72-46
03-18-82 NIT - Robertson FH W 77-61
12-01-84 at Tulane L 56-65
Late March Runs
• Bradley has enjoyed plenty of memorable runs in late March, including four NIT championships and two NCAA Tournament runner-up finishes.
• Bradley is 15-8 (.652) all-time when playing after March 20.
What To Watch For
• Bradley can earn its 18th win of the season Wednesday, which would secure a final winning record for the first time since 2009-10 (16-15) and would represent its most wins in a season since 2008-09 (21-15).
• The Braves are 3-0 all-time at Renaissance Coliseum, the 4,200-seat on-campus venue that has been home to the Bradley volleyball and women's basketball teams since opening in August 2010.
• Bradley is 17-5 all-time in postseason tournament home games, including a 6-1 record in postseason home games played on campus.
• Senior guard
Dyricus Simms-Edwards needs 19 points to become the 25th player in program history to score 1,250 career points.
• Now with 1,115 career points, junior guard
Walt Lemon Jr. needs 14 points to move into 34th place on Bradley's all-time list and 24 to move into 33rd place.
