Basketball Game Notes: CIT at UNI

BradleyBraves.com Men's Basketball 3/25/2013 3:31:00 PM

Gm 35: Bradley Braves (18-16) at UNI Panthers (20-14)

What	2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament \| Third Round
When	Tuesday, March 26, 2013 \| 7 p.m.
Location	Cedar Falls, Iowa \| McLeod Center (6,650)
Tickets	$10 adults, $5 youth \| Buy online at unianthers.com
Television	None
Radio	1470 WMBD \| Dave Snell (pbp), Chad Kleine (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (studio)
Live Video	WatchCollegeInsider.com
Live Links	Live Audio \| Live Stats
Twitter	@BPtheBrave \| #BRADvUNI
Game Notes	Bradley Notes Packet (PDF) \| UNI Notes Packet (PDF)

Tip-Off
• For the third time in Missouri Valley Conference history, two league rivals will meet in a postseason game when Bradley visits Northern Iowa Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
• In the last postseason meeting of Valley rivals, host Missouri State downed Creighton, 67-61, in the semifinals of the 2010 CIT en route to the tournament title (Southern Illinois beat Missouri State in the second round of the 1991 NIT in the first postseason MVC matchup).
• UNI swept the regular-season series against Bradley by rolling to an 84-53 win Jan. 12 at the McLeod Center, then holding on for a 68-65 victory Feb. 10 at Carver Arena.
• UNI coach Ben Jacobson has a chance to continue his mastery of the state of Illinois: the 7th-year Panthers head coach is 42-18 (.700) all-time against Illinois schools, including 36-14 against Valley rivals Bradley (13-4), Illinois State (12-6) and Southern Illinois (11-4).
• While the CIT and CBI events often are viewed as an opportunity to develop younger players, Bradley sixth-year senior center Will Egolf has starred through the first two rounds, averaging 21.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Postseason History

• 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 11-win improvement over last year is tied for sixth-best in the nation this season
Team 2011-12 2012-13 +W's
Bryant 2-28 19-12 +17
Towson 1-31 18-13 +17
Canisius 5-25 20-13 +15
Santa Clara 8-22 22-11 +14
Arizona State 10-21 22-13 +12
Bradley 7-25 18-16 +11
Florida Gulf Coast 15-17 26-10 +11
Pacific 11-19 22-13 +11
Florida Int'l 8-21 18-14 +10
Illinois-Chicago 8-22 18-16 +10
Mount St. Mary's 8-21 18-14 +10
Louisiana Tech 18-16 27-6 +9
Miami (Fla.) 20-13 29-6 +9
UC Irvine 12-20 21-15 +9
Wright State 13-19 22-12 +9

Double-Digit Improvement
• By winning its first two games in the 2013 CIT, Bradley now has pushed its record to 18-16, 11 wins better than last season.
• The Braves have jumped by double-digit wins from one year to the nextfor 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 18-16 +11

Improved Field
• Of the 15 teams that have experienced the greatest turnarounds this season, four are in the 2013 CIT field and three advanced to the second round.
• Canisius leads the pack with a +15 improvement this season, jumping from 5-25 last season to 20-13 this year.
• Bradley's +11 jump is second in the CIT field, one better than 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 5-3 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
50th Meeting | Bradley leads 27-22
• Tuesday's game at UNI will be the 50th all-time meeting between the MVC rivals and the second in a non-league or conference tournament setting.
• Bradley won the first-ever meeting against UNI, 117-71, Jan. 27, 1971 in a non-conference game at Robertson Fieldhouse.
• After the Panthers joined The Valley for the 1991-92 season, the Braves dominated the series during UNI's first 10 years in the league by winning 17 of the first 21 matchups as MVC rivals.
• The teams split 10 meetings during the Greg McDermott coaching tenure at UNI from 2001-06, but the Panthers have dominated the series in Ben Jacobson's seven years as UNI head coach.
• Jacobson is 13-4 (.765) all-time against Bradley since taking over the UNI controls to start the 2006-07 campaign.
• With a win Tuesday, UNI would earn its fourth straight win against Bradley to match its longest winning streak in the history of the series.

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 16-8 (.667) all-time when playing after March 20, including 7-3 (.700) in this millennium.

What To Watch For
• The winner of Tuesday's Valley clash will reach the semifinals of the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
• Bradley has not won a game played west of Peoria since a 63-48 victory against Drake in the first round of the 2011 MVC Tournament, a drought that now has extended to 16 games.
• The Braves have lost five straight road games against UNI since a 75-73 win Jan. 12, 2008.
• Bradley is 3-4 all-time in postseason road games, not counting NIT and NCAA games at Madison Square Garden against Long Island (0-2) St. John's (2-1), New York (2-1) and CCNY (0-2).
• A win would be Bradley's third postseason win in its last three postseason tournament appearances: 2008 CBI (4-2), 2009 CIT (3-1).
• Senior guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards needs six points to become the 25th player in program history to score 1,250 career points.
• Simms-Edwards can jump as many as four places and into 22nd on the all-time scoring list with a 19-point effort.
• Now with 1,127 career points, junior guard Walt Lemon Jr. needs 12 points to jump two more spots on Bradley's career scoring list and into 33rd place.

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