Team Preview: Bradley Braves
Can Wardle's stability lead the next group to similar heights?
2024-25 Record: (28-9 Overall, 15-5 2nd in MVC, lost in NIT quarterfinals to Chattanooga)
Head Coach: Brian Wardle (11th season at Bradley, 186-147 overall, 100-86 in MVC play; 281-212 across 15 years coaching)
“We are professionals now.”
This quote stuck with me from Coach Wardle in a few ways. At the surface level, it’s a blunt reminder of the costs involved with legitimately paying players in college. But maybe more telling is how Bradley is trying to keep its culture going this season.
For many teams, losing four starters might be a ticket to the bottom of the conference. But Wardle has found a way to keep building and avoiding too many portal casualties. So, even though the roster is a blender of a few returnees, experienced transfers and hyped up freshmen, the expectations remain the same. Growth is always the key.
Last Year
I could devote an entire article to recapping last season. There were so many layers to it all, but let me try to encapsulate it without using 5,000 words on it.
Leading into 2024-25, Bradley got the accolades they often desire even if they don’t always get them. They were picked to win the Valley. They had the Preseason Player of the Year (Duke Deen). Coach Wardle convinced not just Deen but Darius Hannah to come back for one last season. He even got Zek Montgomery to come back to Peoria after a year away at Rhode Island, something that’s almost unheard of these days. The Braves were flying high and through the preseason and easy win over SEMO to start the season, the predictions looked good.
Then came the game out at Washington State. It was the first measuring stick opportunity against a big school and boy, did it fall flat. While the Braves were only down 3 at the half, they got absolutely blitzed in the second, especially on the free throw line, where the Cougars made (27) more free throws than Bradley even attempted (21). This was the ultimate “pump the brakes” moment where quickly fans started to wonder how good this team really would be.
Non-conference success & the buildup to Drake
Credit the team, though. They followed up the dud on the west coast with seven straight wins, including a midseason tournament championship sandwiched in the middle of it. They won the 2024 Myrtle Beach Invitational by beating Texas State, Wright State and Middle Tennessee, the latter ending up as nearly a top 100 NET team by the end of the season.
One more dud against Santa Clara at a neutral site game in Nevada and off went the Braves again. They eek out a two-point win against a very good San Francisco team at home. Then there were the two thrilling OT wins against Valpo & Indiana State.
This set up the first game against Drake. Both teams only had two losses on the season and this felt like a conference championship preview (and as we all know, it was, later in St. Louis). Drake’s painful pace (and free throw advantage) really got Bradley out of a rhythm and the Braves lost their first home game of the season, 64-57.
Braves keep flying high
Bradley would rattle off five more wins in a row including a sweep of the southern swing (at Murray State, at Belmont), both of which I was able to attend in person. Great fan support as always by the Braves fans.
It was at this point that the chatter in the Bradley community was about if an at-large bid was still in play. The Braves really would have to finish strong to even get into the consideration. All that evaporated when Bradley lost three in a row, including two at home (UIC, Belmont) and the focus shifted to needing to win Arch Madness.
The rest of the regular season almost felt meaningless at that point as the focus was so heavily weighted towards the tournament in St. Louis. Even a big win AT Drake was a little muted because I remember feeling at the time that Drake was so good that I didn’t know if we could get them twice.
Once in St. Louis, it was really quite the weekend as the Bradley support swelled after each win, first a tough game against a Murray State team that always gave the Braves trouble. Then there was an even tougher semifinal game against Valpo that really could have gone either way down the stretch and I wonder if the Beacons hadn’t had to play the play-in game if they would have had enough gas to get past Bradley.
Regardless, the crash course to a Drake v. Bradley final happened. I won’t talk much about that game, but the Bulldogs well earned their NCAA tournament spot, suffocating the Braves again.
Onto the next?
Yet, the drama was only beginning for the Braves. The rumblings started right after the game - “it was NCAA tournament or nothing” we heard from the locker room. Rumors of players deciding whether or not to play in the upcoming NIT. Then Montgomery and Hannah actually opting out. THEN … Hannah opting back in. It was a great reminder that while we put these guys up on a pedestal, they are still young adults and handling the emotional pressure of such a season could get to anyone.
With a nearly full squad, the Braves sought out to see if they could win the NIT and they surely were one of the better teams in it. A first round home win against North Alabama (71-62) led to a game against a tough George Mason squad at their house in Virginia. Corey Thomas went nuts with a double-double (21 points, 11 rebounds) and the Braves pulled what most felt like an upset win on the road, 75-67.
Bradley was in the final eight of the NIT and the Chattanooga Mocs were next and the Braves would get one more home game as well. It looked good in the first half with Bradley leading by 13 at halftime. Unfortunately, Chattanooga looked like a different team in the second, putting up 43 points including eight 3-pointers. Just like that, the season was over as the Mocs held on to win, 67-65.
If it seems like there was a lot to say about last season, there truly was. It was one of those storybook seasons that had so many great parts to it, even if the ending (Drake) and the epilogue (Chattanooga) weren’t what fans wanted.
Returning Players
Jaquan Johnson (5’11”, 195, Sophomore, Guard; previous: Pius XI HS (Wis.))
Many times players get what I call “hockey nicknames”. Essentially, they’re not all that creative and it’s generally adding a “y” or “er” to the name. Johnson, on the other hand, has the perfect nickname that is both catchy and it suits his game perfectly:
Bully.
This just sums up who he is on both ends of the floor.
On the offensive end, when he gets a head of steam going, you just simply can’t stop him from getting to the basket. He’s only 5’11 but he’s built like a Brinks truck and finds ways with his shiftiness and strength to make impossible shots near the basket, or at least get fouled. While he’s a score first point guard, he did have just better than a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio as well.
When he’s defending, he’s quick and has great hands which led to being fourth in the league with 1.5 steals per game. He’s irritating to play against in all the best ways.
He was on the all freshmen team in 2024-25 and now the next step is to the upper echelon of the league. Where does he have to improve to get there?
As good as his slashing is, his shooting has to get better. He shot under 35% from 3-point range and more worrisome was his 68.4% from the line. He’s got the ability - two games he shot at least seven free throws and made all of them. But consistency has to improve.
Defensively, he can get a little handsy and with the way that the referees call MVC games so tightly, he seems to pick up 1-2 cheap fouls a game. But, you don’t want to coach that aggressiveness out of him.
His growth in year two will be a massive indicator on where the Braves will be this year as he doesn’t have Duke Deen to fall back on anymore when his shot isn’t falling.
Demarion Burch (6’4”, 200, Junior, Guard; previous: Milwaukee-Hamilton High School (Wis.))
Burch is always going to be linked to Johnson and Darius Hannah because of the Milwaukee roots. When he puts his head down to score, he might even remind you of Bully on the first few dribbles, but where Burch’s game excels is when he uses his quickness to create space, stop and hit a jumper. For a guard who really took a lot of jump shots, it’s unbelievable that he shot 55.6% from the floor last year. Well, it’s unbelievable until you watch his body of work and you just realize he’s just a really good shooter.
I think that one question mark for Burch is health. It’s hard to think he’ll miss four games again with an illness. But, he also missed six games with an ankle injury. With the way that he plays and is so reliant on his ankles for his movement and space creation, you just hope it isn’t a reoccurring thing.
He’s going to be counted on to fill that Zek Montgomery role and as a result we’ll need to see an increased scoring load now with more minutes.
Corey Thomas (6’ 10”, 210, Senior, Forward; previous: Cowley Community College)
Thomas is a fairly common name in general. But for probably the first ten games last year, I couldn’t remember Corey’s first name. Why? Well, Coach Wardle added Corey Thomas to replace … a 6’10” mobile forward … named … Kyle Thomas. Why did you do this to us?
Sarcasm aside, Corey gave the Braves much more than Kyle did in his first year on the Hilltop. He’s a great compliment to past stars like Deen but also to Johnson/Burch for his ability to set screens and roll to the basket and score but also be fairly accurate from 3-point range (only made 17, but shot at a 37% clip). Since he’s mobile, he definitely causes issues for teams coming into the paint.
He, along with the other big man I’ll discuss next, seemed to irritate Coach Wardle with mistakes more than other players. As a result, Thomas went from starting in the early part of the season to averaging less than 10 minutes per game during the second half of the Valley season.
You almost could have been concerned he might get annoyed with the lessened playing time and be a candidate to leave, and then he goes bananas in that George Mason game, almost single-handedly winning that game for Bradley. It shows you the potential that if he can just harness it more consistently.
Ahmet Jonovic (7’ 1”, 250, Senior, Center; previous: Serbia)
(Disclaimer: Everyone calls Jonovic, “Meta”, so he shall referred to as such throughout this section.)
Mid season transfers are always a wild card. You aren’t quite sure what you’re going to get out of them in that particular season. So, when Meta came over from Serbia in the middle of the 2022-23 season, we knew we were getting a big man who was classic back-to-basket scorer and rebounder.
I have watched all of his games and know he’s a big dude, but I got a chance to see this up close and personal when I had a chance to be in Peoria for the Judson game last year. My kid was in the starting lineup high-five line on the baseline and Meta came down for a thundering dunk. If it weren’t for an alert usher, my kid (and possibly a few others) might have been a bit crushed by this exceptionally large man.
(This actually wasn’t the dunk in question, but one other one from warmups.)
During the last two seasons, there has been a lot of steady growth to Meta’s game. His low post moves have gotten less robotic and he has improved his ability to take a dribble or two and get really close to the hoop to score.
His rebounding has become a major asset as his minutes have increased, up from 2 to 4.5 per game from sophomore to junior seasons.
He’s also got an impressive touch at the line for a guy who isn’t a shooter with a ton of range, hitting nearly 71 percent across 2 and a fraction seasons.
If there are flaws, he does suffer at times like many seven footers do about being too easy to take the ball from. I’ve heard the phrase, “he put it down to be stripped” too many times on the Bradley radio calls.
He can also get into foul trouble and similar to Thomas, Coach Wardle seems to have a really short leash for his mistakes as well. Lastly, he does tend to wear down if he’s in for lengthy periods of time.
So, can he play 20-25 minutes a game? Meta averaged 16 minutes per game last season. His continued growth and ability to stay on the floor will be a factor in the Braves’ ability to stay near the top of the conference.
Timoty van der Knaap (6’ 8”, 195, Sophomore, Guard/Forward; previous: U18/U20 Italian Team)
Timo (or TvR) is one of those interesting cases that if you don’t follow the team closely, you’d probably just skip past him when looking at potential contributors for this season. Truly, he really didn’t see much time throughout the regular season, only seeing spot time when starters needed rest or the bench was shorter due to injuries.
Yet, when Zek Montgomery opted out of the NIT, minutes were available and Timo grabbed them. You could see someone who was still a freshman who had confidence to go and score:
He had eight points in that game and looked the part of someone who will be in the rotation for this season. He played a lot in the exhibition against Green Bay that I was able to watch and had one noticeable play where he was aggressive and got free throws, similar to the play above.
Will he make that next leap? I haven’t seen enough yet to be fully convinced, but it does seem like Coach Wardle is poised to give him that chance.
Transfer additions
Alex Huibregtse (6’ 4”, 200, Graduate student, Guard; previous: Wright State)
I know the first thing you’re thinking, and don’t worry I was there, too.
It’s pronounced “HUE-breks”. Say it with me, Alex … HUE-breks.
Now that is out of the way, let’s talk about who he on the floor. He fills one 3-pointer shooter that was lost from last year’s team. He’s shot between 37 and 41 percent the last three years at Wright State.
But, he’s got a lot more to his game than just a long range game. He’s grown his offensive game as well. If you remember Bradley’s game against Wright State last year, you’ll remember some plays like these:
He’s also efficient on the offensive end with a nearly 3-to-1 assist to turnover ratio the last two seasons. An experienced leader, Huibregtse will surely slot into the starting lineup and fill a similar role that Montgomery had.
AJ Smith (6’ 7”, 220, Senior, Forward; previous: James Madison)
If Coach Wardle needed to find his Montgomery replacement with Huibregtse, he also had to find someone to fill the role of Darius Hannah. That in itself would be difficult considering Hannah’s high end athleticism and his game that influenced play on both ends.
Maybe Smith doesn’t have the high end that Hannah did, but he still ought to be able to check a lot of the boxes.
He’s clearly a strong rebounder from his time at both Southern Indiana and James Madison, averaging 8.8 and 6.3 rebounds per game, respectively. The James Madison stats are all the more impressive considering he only played 24 minutes per game.
What I hope is that he doesn’t carry over something about Hannah that became a major source of frustration: not knowing your best ways to help the team win. While an occasional 3-pointer will help stretch the defense, Smith is going to help the Braves smaller guards most if he’s staying in the paint and helping the centers secure rebounds.
His offensive game didn’t look the best in the Green Bay exhibition game but from what I heard he was very effective in the St. Louis scrimmage. I’m reserving a lot of judgement here because I think the range of outcomes here is large. He’s definitely a starter even if he’s mostly a big time rebounder. But, Coach Wardle has noted how much he worked on his 3-point shooting during the summer. We will see how that translates to games.
Kai Yu (7’ 0”, 240, Redshirt Sophomore, Center; previous: Liberty University)
I wrote about Yu in my recap about the Green Bay exhibition. He got a lot of playing time and he was definitely noticeable, both in good and frustrating ways. He feels like that perfect “raw talent” big man that needs time to develop and mature. Since he’s already got Meta and Thomas blocking his path to time, I’m going to imagine he only sees time if both get in foul trouble. This really isn’t an indictment on his potential on the team, but with Coach Wardle only usually running a regular rotation of 8 or 9 guys, he might be one of the odd men out of that group but is there for use in a pinch.
High-end Freshmen Class
“They’re going to be a big part of how we find consistency in practice,” Wardle said in reference to his incoming group of decorated freshman players.
Dietrich Richardson (6’7”, 185, Freshman, Guard; previous: Peoria Manual High School (Ill.))
Getting Richardson is a big deal. Coach Wardle has brought in a lot of great players, but getting a four-star recruit that had bigger schools across the country (Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Illinois, Xavier, Iowa, Wisconsin) after him is at another level.
“He’s an explosive player. Talented as heck,” Coach Wardle said.
He lights up the highlight reels for his ability to get to the basket and jumping ability, just just name a few traits:
The sense I gather is that he still needs time to build up physically as well as mentally. That’s not to say he won’t end up being a major contributor by the end of the season, but that we might only see him in limited minutes as he gets used to college game.
Matthew Zobrist (6’5”, 205, Freshman, Guard; previous: Metamora Township (Ill.))
There’s always an extra level of pressure when you’re going to the school that not one but two family members had great careers. But, for Zobrist, he follows in the footsteps of both his dad (Aaron) as well as his cousin (Nate Kennell), both of whom were prolific 3-point shooters for Bradley in their careers. Add in the fact that he was ranked as the #4 prospect in Illinois by at least one publication, he has some pretty high expectations.
In some ways, his game against Green Bay is why I try to not look too heavily into the preseason games/exhibitions. In his case, on the positive side, he looked good shooting and made some really intelligent plays on both ends of the floor.
So, the optimist in me thinks he could fit heavily into the rotation. But will he?
Montana Wheeler (5’10”, 170, Freshman, Guard; previous: Xavier Academy (Tex.))
The third of the trio of highly touted freshmen is Wheeler. Just from a need perspective, he seems the most likely to be counted on for minutes in his first season purely because there’s not another immediate candidate for the backup point guard role behind Johnson.
Wardle has spoken glowingly of him.
“He’s probably our most consistent freshman right now everyday. We know what we’re getting,” Wardle said. “He can apply pressure, handle pressure, play makes, gets the to the paint.”
In my limited watching of him so far, he looks very quick and has the ability to create space for his own shots as well as look for open teammates. He made some rushed shots in the Green Bay exhibition and your usual freshmen mistakes.
He seems like one of those guys whose upside isn’t as high as a few of the other guys but that his floor is also higher and that will surely earn him minutes.
Other players
Coach Wardle always stresses the importance of his practice players. Since Bradley is allotted 15 scholarships now, all of these guys do have a scholarship. But, in terms of playing time, I wouldn’t anticipate much from this group, even though they are still valuable teammates.
Handy Toussaint III (6’ 8”, 230, Junior, Forward; previous: Weatherford College (Tex.))
Gus Rugaard (6’ 1”, 180, Sophomore, Guard; previous: Morton High School (Ill.))
Two other players were noted by Wardle as redshirts (even though they are not listed that way on the Bradley page to this point):
Gustavo Guimarães (6’ 11”, 225, Freshman, Center; previous: Riviera Preparatory School (Fla.))
Jackson Seastrunk (6’ 5”, 200, Freshman, Guard; previous: Xavier Academy (Tex.))
Non-Conference Schedule
Wardle, just like other coaches in the Valley, continue to note how hard it is to get power conference schools on the schedule. With that as the backdrop, the opponents in non-conference are not bad. A neutral site game with St. Bonaventure, a true road game at San Francisco and Washington State coming to Peoria are the normal highlights. Throw in a game against Princeton and either Temple or UC San Diego in the Thanksgiving week tournament (Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational) and you can rate this schedule pretty highly for where we are in basketball right now.
Outlook
This season will test Wardle’s ability to just keep “building”. How quickly will the team come together? How does that rotation shake out if everyone stays healthy? We know Wardle generally likes to run no more than a 9-man rotation most of the time and there’s 11 legitimate guys who make a case for playing time.
If I’m guessing on a high level depth chart, it’s probably something like:
C - Meta, Yu
F - Smith, Thomas
G - Burch, TvK, Richardson
G - Huibregtse, Zobrist
G - Johnson, Wheeler
(Obviously, I wouldn’t nitpick this too much because with a versatile roster, you’re going to see plenty of combinations on the same line in the game at the same time.)
Prediction: Contender?
And after all of this discussion, where does it land Bradley? I am okay cautiously putting Bradley in the contender category, but if the group doesn’t come together quickly enough, they could fall into the middle tier of the league. The talent is obviously there to be top-end team in the league. Wardle’s teams do always get better throughout the season and if he can get them together by Christmas, there’s a good shot for this team to be very good, again.
References: Quotes from Brian Wardle were taken from the Field of 68 and MVC Media Day interviews.