December 29, 2009

Some good information going into conference play

I was going to go through all of the teams before conference action starts tonight, but USA Today has done a really impressive job of providing information about each team in this article:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/mvc/home.htm?csp=34

Bradley heads to Drake tonight for its first game of the conference season. Nobody can really be too sure what to expect. Will the team that beat Illinois and looked good against BYU show up? Or will the squad that had two bad home losses (Western Carolina, Loyola) and a road beatdown (at Iowa State) wimper out of Des Moines with another loss?

It's anyone's best guess really, but after some intense practices over Christmas break, I'd expect a pretty good response from the Braves. Outside of the Iowa State game, most of Bradley's best basketball has actually been away from Carver Arena so far this season.

This will truly be a "measuring stick" game, as if the Braves hope to compete for the upper level of the conference, a victory is the only acceptable result. Drake should be a "play-in" team this season in the Missouri Valley Conference, so Bradley should be able to take care of business. If they don't, who knows where the Braves may finish?

Prediction: Bradley 76 Drake 70

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