Bradley Basketball: Offense key for the Braves in 2018-19

Bradley Basketballis one of the better defensive teams in the country. if they can improve offensively, the Missouri Valley becomes even tougher.

Brian Wardle went 64-32 in his last three seasons as the head coach at Green Bay but he failed to reach the NCAA Tournament in any of those years, despite finishing in the top 3 of the Horizon League and winning the regular-season title. After the 2015 season, he decided to move on and took the job leading the Bradley Braves. The Braves had won just 12 games prior to Wardle’s arrival. His first season was a struggle as the team won just five games, his second year saw an eight-game improvement and last season they eclipsed the 20-win mark and finished .500 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Last season the Braves were the epitome of, “a tale of two teams.” The offensive end of the floor was the team’s kryptonite. They scored just 67.4 points per game last season, good enough for 311th in the country. Scoring was a struggle all the way around, they ranked 267th in field goal percentage (43.0), 155th in three-point field goal percentage (35.4), 202nd in free throw percentage (70.7) and 205th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.01). On the defensive end, however, the Braves were one of the better teams in the country. They gave up just 64.7 points per game, 15th best and ranked 18th in field goal percentage defense at 40.5%.

They also ranked 88th in rebound margin at 2.6, which looks good but they ranked just 119th in offensive rebounds per game at 10.88, 212th in defensive rebounds (24.85) and 154th in total rebounds (35.73). For a team that was so successful at limiting opponents’ points, being better at limiting them to one shot per possession is critical.

The recipe isn’t likely to change for Wardle and the Braves, so how can the Braves get back to the top of the MVC? Getting players to continue to buy into his philosophies and continue to build on the year before.

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For 2018-19 the Braves return four of their top five scorers which, for a team that struggles offensively is important. Leading scorer and rebounder, junior guard Darrell Brown is the team’s top returner, the diminutive 5-10 floor general averaged 13.5 points per game while dishing out 4.3 assists and a team-high 80% from the free throw line.

Two other guards also return, senior Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye and junior Nate Kennell. Lautier-Ogunleye didn’t light up the stat sheet as a junior but he was productive across the board, averaging 7.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. Kennel averaged 9.2 points and netted a season-high 25 in a win over Indiana State. The guy who could be in for a big offensive uptick is sophomore forward Elijah Childs. The 6-7 Childs averaged 8.4 points and a top returning 6.2 rebounds per game and with the team looking to replace the production of Donte Thomas, Childs seems primed to fill that role.

The rest of the Bradley frontcourt could be intriguing with junior big man Koch Bar and freshman center Ari Boya. Bar is a 6-11 native of Sudan who averaged four points and three rebounds in 17 minutes per game last season. Boya is a three-star recruit from Sudan who stands 7-1 and averaged a double-double last season while swatting over six shots per game.

MVC Rankings for 2018-19. dark. Next

Despite the success at Green Bay, the knock against Wardle is that he was unable to get his teams to the NCAA Tournament. With the spotlight never brighter on the conference and Wardle entering his fourth season, this is an important year in the progression for Bradley.