A nationally televised Drake and Bradley showdown is on tap Wednesday night. The Missouri Valley Conference’s top-two NET ranked teams meet in Peoria, Illinois at 6 pm on CBS Sports Network.
Bradley (13-2, 4-0) is the Valley’s only undefeated team and hosts a Drake team that has suddenly dropped two-in-a-row. Drake had been one of only four undefeated teams nationally until last week, and the Bulldogs (12-2, 2-2) find themselves in a seven-way tie for fourth place and closing in on a ‘must-win’ neighborhood.
Bradley (89), Drake (85) and Northern Iowa (100) are the Valley’s three top-100 kenpom.com teams and more importantly its three top-100 teams in the NET. Bradley (75), Drake (79) and UNI (81) all have very respectable rankings and Drake’s visit to Peoria is a Quadrant One game for the Bulldogs.
In some ways, this is a ‘must win’ for each team as they hope to build an NCAA Tournament at-large-worthy case. It’s a Q2 game for the Braves.
These two Valley powerhouses have star power and coaches that are proven winners. McCollum won four Division 2 national championships and Wardle’s teams vie for the Valley title on an annual basis.
Bradley’s depth, size and athleticism gives them an edge. While Drake’s twenty-eight game, home-winning streak was just snapped, the Braves are 8-0 this year and 48-4 in home games during the past four seasons.
These two ancient rivals are meeting for the 167th time. Drake leads all current Valley teams with 651 conference wins and Bradley is second with 622. The Braves have a wide 73 to 53 winning margin during their head-to-head matchups, but Drake has won the last four meetings.
During the four previous seasons Drake has won two, conference tournaments and has been the regular season runner-up all four years. Bradley captured one regular season crown and lost to Drake in the 2023 tournament championship game.