Peoria, IL. The Bradley Braves 25-9 (16-4 MVC) have returned to campus after making it to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship game and will now begin preparations for the postseason which will feature an automatic bid to the NIT representing the MVC as its regular season champion.
Opponent: Wisconsin Badgers 17-11 (9-11 BIG 10)
Location: Kohl Center
Date: Tuesday, March 14th, 8:30 p.m.
What is the NIT?
The NIT or National Invitational Tournament is a postseason basketball tournament that takes the best 32 D-1 college basketball teams that do not make the NCAA Tournament. Conference regular season champions receive automatic bids, and a selection committee then selects the remainder of the 32-team field. This year's NIT will run from March 14th through March 30th with the semifinals being played in Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, NV. BU has a storied history of participating in the NIT. Bradley has previously appeared in 21 NITs and collected championships in 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1982. BU's most recent NIT appearance came in 2007. This will be Bradley's 22nd appearance in the NIT which is the most among the 2023 NIT field and third most all-time.
Bradley's path to Las Vegas
Bradley will open the 2023 NIT with a game against the Wisconsin Badgers out of the Big 10. The Badgers finished 17-11 on the season and a conference record of 9-11 finishing 11th in the Big 10. Wisconsin is led by a corral of double-digit scorers in Chucky Hepburn, Connor Essegian, Tyler Wahl, and Steven Crowl. The game will be played in the Kohl Center at 8:30 p.m. central time on Tuesday night and the game will be broadcast on ESPN. The winner of Bradley/Wisconsin will play the winner of Liberty/Villanova in the regional 2nd round matchup. The other matchups in Bradley's region are #1 Oregon vs UC-Irvine and #4 Florida vs UCF. Bradley owns a record of 26-18 all-time in the NIT and BU's last NIT run came in 2007 when they defeated Providence 90-68 in Peoria, BU would then lose in the 2nd round to Mississippi State.
HOW THE TEAMS STACK UP
|
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
FG% |
3P% |
FT% |
| Bradley |
70.9 |
35.3 |
13.4 |
46.3 |
35.9 |
66.9 |
| Wisconsin |
64.9 |
31.2 |
11.6 |
41.5 |
35.0 |
67.1 |
Series History
All-Time Series, WISC leads 3-2
at Bradley, BU leads 2-0
at Wisconsin, WISC leads 1-0
Neutral Site, WISC leads 2-0
Current Series Streak, WISC W2
Past Missouri Valley Conference bids in the NIT
-
2022 | Northern Iowa, 1ST Round win over St. Louis, 2ND Round loss to BYU
-
2021 | No Bid, Loyola-Chi Regular Season & MVC Tournament Championship
-
2020 | No Bid, Canceled due to Covid
-
2019 | Loyola-Chi, 1ST Round loss to Creighton
-
2018 | No Bid, Loyola-Chi Regular Season & MVC Tournament Championship
-
2017 | Illinois State, 1ST Round win over UC-Irvine, 2ND Round loss to UCF
-
2016 | No Bid, Wichita State makes the NCCA Tournament as an at-large team
-
2015 | Illinois State, 1ST Round win over Green Bay, 2ND Round loss to Old Dominion
-
2014 | Indiana State, 1ST Round loss to Arkansas
-
2013 | Indiana State, 1ST Round loss to Iowa
-
2012 | Northern Iowa & Illinois State, UNI 1ST Round win over St. Joes & ISU 1ST Round win over Ole Miss. UNI 2ND Round win loss to Drexel & ISU 2ND Round loss to Stanford.
Link to the NIT Digital Hub: Here
