Last Year: 25-10; Missouri Valley Regular Season (16-4) Champions, lost in the first round of the NIT
Head Coach: Brian Wardle (Ninth Year; 135-126 at Bradley with one NCAA Tournament appearance)
Projected Starting Lineup
| PG Cody ‘Duke’ Deen – 5’8″, 170 – Senior |
| SG Connor Hickman – 6’3″, 190 – Junior |
| G Emarion Ellis – 6’5″, 200 – Sophomore |
| PF Malevy Leons – 6’9″, 220 – Senior (5th) |
| F/C Darius Hannah – 6’9″, 220 – Senior |
Projected Starters’ 2022-23 Stats
Duke Deen: 9.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.8 apg, 0.9 spg – 35.9% 3FG
Connor Hickman: 8.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.1 apg, 0.8 spg – 33.6% 3FG
Emarion Ellis: 2.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 0.4 apg – 41.2% FG @ Marquette in 2021-22
Malevy Leons: 11.1 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 1.5 spg – 35.4% 3FG
Darius Hannah: 5.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.9 bpg – 61.4% FG
Experienced Reserves
| G Trey Pettigrew – 6’3″, 180 – Sophomore |
| W Christian Davis – 6’7″, 190 – Junior |
| F/C Kyle Thomas – 6’10”, 240 – Sophomore |
| C Ahmet Jonovic – 7’1″, 250 – Sophomore |
| F Goanar Biliew – 6’8″, 215 – Senior |
| F Connor Linke – 6’9″, 225 – Senior |
Experienced Reserves’ 2022-23 Stats
Trey Pettigrew: 3.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 0.3 apg, 0.3 bpg – 36.5% FG @ Nevada
Christian Davis: 1.9 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.3 spg – 31.3% 3FG
Kyle Thomas: 5.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.3 apg, 0.5 bpg – 45.7% FG @ Eastern Illinois
Ahmet Jonovic: 1.2 ppg in five games last season
Goanar Biliew: 1.4 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.3 apg
Connor Linke: 0.2 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 0.4 apg
Freshmen
| G Demarion Burch – 6’4″, 190 – Freshman |
| F Almar Atlason – 6’8″, 215 – Freshman / Iceland |
Bradley was so, so close to an exceptional season last March. With 23 wins and a regular season Missouri Valley Conference title in their back pocket at the end of the regular season, the stage was set for a run through Arch Madness which would crown all of head coach Brian Wardle’s efforts over the previous three years.
You see, in 2019, Wardle’s Bradley team had won 23 games and the Missouri Valley Tournament behind veteran stars Darrell Brown, Nate Kennell and Elijah Childs. They were going to the NCAA Tournament. And then, the Covid-19 Pandemic struck, and there was no NCAA Tournament in which Bradley could play.
Last season was the payoff earned by slowly, fastidiously rebuilding Bradley into a tournament-contending team. Wardle, the league’s Coach of the Year, led his guys back to the Arch Madness finale…only to find Drake – a team which had cleared many hurdles themselves – waiting to deliver a 26-point thrashing in the tournament title game. So, Bradley settled for an NIT bid. Which became a 19-point first-round loss to Wisconsin.
Then, leading scorer and rebounder Rienk Mast transferred to Nebraska, while deep threat Ville Tahvanainen decided to turn pro instead of using his extra year. After accomplishing so much, the end of last season had to sting.
Undaunted, Bradley’s remaining core is back to make another run.
The biggest star around whom this team will rally is reigning MVC Defensive Player of the Year Malevy Leons. The second half of Wardle’s All-Dutch frontcourt last season, Leons is one of the most versatile and disruptive defenders at his size in the country. With great length, quick feet, tremendous awareness and prescient anticipation, Leons is tough for pretty much anyone to score against. Last season he blocked 52 shots and pilfered the opposition 52 times in addition to locking folks up, becoming the first player in MVC history to accomplish the feat of 50 & 50 in the same season. He is the heart of Wardle’s swarming man defense, and led a unit which ranked 21st in the country in scoring defense and 26th in FG% against. Bradley was also one of the best teams in the country at cleaning up the boards last season – they gave up so few offensive boards that their opponents ranked just 16th in the country in offensive rebound percentage. Though his countryman headed for the big time, Leons is ready to step up this winter. “I’m staying,” Leons declared on social media this spring. “I will be here at Bradley next season using my fifth year. I want to play professional basketball. I think my development as a player at Bradley is helping me toward that dream.”
Leons is not just a defensive specialist; in addition to blocks & steals, he led the team in minutes played, free throws attempted & made, and offensive boards, while ranking second in scoring and third in made 3FG’s. A couple of those free throws ended up being Bradleys’s biggest of the season. Leons knocked down the go-ahead freebies – after grabbing a key offensive rebound, of course – to advance Bradley past Indiana State and into the Arch Madness title game last March. While Leons does not rely upon backing his man onto the block, he has great touch when he slips and cuts to the rim, and can put it on the floor and use his agility to make slower post players into turnstyles. Levy’s greatest strength offensively is his dangerous shooting ability. He doesn’t bother much with mid-range scoring, choosing rather to concentrate either inside, or on the three point arc, where he has made 82 shots at a 37% rate over two years on The Hilltop. He will ne asked for even more of everything this year, but Wardle is confident that Leons will respond to the challenge.”Sometimes the guys who fill the stat sheet aren’t great defenders,” Wardle told the Peoria Journal-Star this summer. “Malevy is a good defender and he has the stats and he doesn’t give up a lot of points. That’s what has impressed me.”
The past three years have been quite an adventure for Cody ‘Duke’ Deen. As a freshman at Panola (TX) College, Deen was named to the Junior College All-American team, and transferred up to Troy University. In his season as a Trojan, Deen was named the Sun Belt’s Rookie of the Year, and helped Troy to 20 wins and a CBI berth. Last year, the Shreveport native arrived in Peoria, took over as Wardle’s point guard, and went on a run with Bradley. While small, Deen – who is an accomplished football player and considers himself to be a better baseball player than anything else – has proven at each stop that he’s a winner. Now, suddenly an elder statesman of Wardle’s backcourt, Deen is hoping to truly become an offensive maestro. “Cody has a winning DNA,” Wardle tells Dave Eminian for the Peoria Journal-Star. “And has had a successful impact wherever he goes and whatever sport he plays.”
While he is small, Deen likes to put the ball on the floor in order to get to his spots, and while he isn’t going to finish many drives at the rim, Deen has a terrific floater and is great at using screens and pick action to set up his teammates. Deen is also very crafty in using his smooth handle, quickness and low center of gravity to accelerate, then change direction and open up space for his looks. Deen has proven to be a great outside shooter, and while he may be wee when he ventures into the paint, Deen can stretch defenses out onto the perimeter with his shooting and crisp passing. Deen splashed a career-best 70 triples at 35.9% last year, and Wardle hopes that there is even more where that came from.
Connor Hickman was named to the MVC All-Freshman team two years ago, and he averaged the second-most minutes on the team as a sophomore. Hickman had a strange year shooting the ball, though, and is hoping to get it right from the outside as a junior. A Bloomington native, Hickman shot 37.4% from downtown and hit 80% of his foul shots in his first year, but fell to 33.6% outside and just 57% at the stripe last winter. He still made the team’s second-most three’s, but Hickman undoubtedly wants to return to a higher level of efficiency. Wardle needs him to do so – and to step forward as one of the Valley’s top deep threats. As a larger guard than Deen, Hickman has needed to take on the tougher of two backcourt matchups most of the time. While he’s not an explosive athlete, Hickman has good strength and feet, and always gives a tremendous effort while providing some physicality on the perimeter. He’s also a strong passer who keeps the ball moving and helps open up good looks inside for his teammates, and is adept at shot-faking into a post feed.
If there’s something in particular which Wardle needs from his three veteran scoring options, it’s more free throw attempts. And more free throw makes. At a higher percentage. Bradley ranked 336th in the country in made foul shots per game last year, and shot just 66.5% on them – bad for 328th. Departed scoring forward Ja’Shon Henry and Mast accounted for 193 of the team’s 546 total attempts last year, and the guys who Wardle will look to for points have got to do more.
While he doesn’t have the bulk of Mast, Darius Hannah is a veteran who returns up front after serving as the third big guy last season. The Milwaukee product is, like Leons, a long, lithe, mobile defender and rim protector. Unlike Leons, Hannah is also Bradley’s most emphatic rim-rattler. Despite an ACL injury in high school, Hannah still very much plays a bouncy, above-the-rim game, and has provided a contrast to Bradley’s other frontcourt players in his three seasons. “Bradley was my second school that offered,” Hannah told the Peoria Journal Star. “I tore my ACL in AAU summer league, but after surgery Bradley was always there for me. They treated me like family.”
Now in his fourth season, Hannah will step into his biggest role yet as a starter next to Leons. Hannah shot 71% at the rim and 51% on all other 2FG’s last year, per Bart Torvik. While he doesn’t face up and knock down jumpers, Hannah’s springy rebounding skills are very valuable – one out of every five shots he made at the rim came from an offensive board, and Hannah thundered home 32 dunks as a junior. As a starter, Wardle expects that Hannah can improve upon his 40% career mark at the foul stripe, and given the career-best 54% he shot last year, there is hope. What’s already proven is that Hannah will be an impactful, important player at both ends of the court – he’s even a fairly slick passer inside. And with two strong shot blockers in the paint, an outstanding Bradley defense may be even more fierce than before.
Hannah is not the only former Cream City hooper that Wardle will feature this winter, as Marquette transfer Emarion Ellis and Milwaukee Hamilton High School product Demarion Burch have also traveled across the border to play on The Hilltop. Ellis is a former 4-star product who was the highest-rated player coming out of Iowa two years ago, and then followed Shaka Smart from Texas to Marquette as a recruit. Despite his potential as a prospect, Ellis only played 85 total minutes as a Golden Eagle before going down with a stress fracture in his knee prior to his second season. Now healthy, and having found a situation which should allow him a bigger role, Ellis is ready to start showing off his talents.
With playmaking skills as well as tremendous length, Ellis is a big guard who could combine with the smaller Deen to form a tremendous and contrasting pair of lead playmakers. Given the slashing and dribble-drive scoring ability which Ellis displayed in high school, he should be able to play with Deen most of the time. Though he has not yet proven to be a dangerous outside shooter, Ellis has a good feel for running offense and a ton of athletic potential defensively. “He’s a good defender…He knows how to play,” Wardle has said of his new guard. “We jumped on him as soon as he went into the portal. He was highly recruited out of high school. We started building a relationship. He has true winning intangibles. He can be a downhill playmaker who can really get to the paint.” If Ellis can function as a playmaking, lane-driving 2 guard, it should make both Deen and also Hickman on the wing into more dangerous jump shooters. Wardle has high hopes that Ellis will hit the ground running, and he may quickly emerge as one of Bradley’s best players.
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| 62.8 – Opponent Points Per Game (19th) |
| 70.0 – Points Per Game (191st) |
| +7.2 – Average Score Margin (40th) |
| .269 – Free Throw Attempts Per Field Goal Attempt (321st) |
| 7.2% – Block Percentage (29th) |
Burch is Wardle’s top incoming freshman, and gives Bradley another big guard. Like Ellis, Burch brings a versatile skillset along with his large frame. “Our program is a perfect fit for him,” Wardle says of his youngest addition. “I don’t know what his best position will be in college because he’s so versatile. He can get to the paint, he’s very explosive, and some things he can do are things we need.” While leading Hamilton to the state title game as a senior, Burch averaged more than 27 points while also dishing out five assists on average. He can be a disruptive defender, and with his length, and that of Ellis, Wardle will have more mismatch potential and versatility with his lineups this winter. Wardle’s second incoming freshman is from even further north than Wisconsin. Atlason played last season for prep powerhouse Sunrise Christian in Kansas, but brings a wealth of international experience with the Icelandic U-18 national team. The forward from Reykjavík has good shooting range and can mix it up inside, where he has shown great rebounding instincts. While there are experienced players in front of Atlason, the young stretch-4 has great upside and should learn a couple of things from Leons this year.
Wardle has added two other young transfers who he hopes will become key parts of the rotation. Trey Pettigrew is a Chicago product who spent his freshman year at Nevada, while Kyle Thomas is from Bolingbrook and spent his first college season at Eastern Illinois. With the Wolfpack featuring two outstanding guards in Jarod Lucas and Kenan Blackshear, there weren’t many minutes available for Pettigrew. The freshman still earned more than 11 minutes per game, though a deep thigh injury didn’t help things, and now he’s moved on hoping to find a better situation.
Pettigrew has plenty of experience with the ball in his hands, and though he may not be a primary playmaker, he will create opportunities for his teammates when they’re open. He’s shown potential as a three-level scorer and if most effective driving the lane and scoring at the rim or off of pull-up jumpers. Pettigrew held offers from Illinois, Missouri and Georgia – in addition to Nevada and Bradley – coming out of Chicago’s Kenwood Academy, and now he’s ready to reintroduce himself.
| Five Out-of-Conference Game to Keep an Eye on |
| N – California / UTEP – November 22 |
| @ UAB – November 6 |
| N – Tulane – November 20 |
| @ Akron – December 5 |
| vs Vermont – November 25 |
Thomas stands 6’10” and is more broad than Leons or Hannah, and if he can begin to play some solid minutes off the bench to replace a bit of what Mast gave Bradley, Wardle will be very pleased. Though he averaged less than 14 minutes as a freshman, Thomas started eight games and flashed potential as an inside-outside scorer. A good area rebounder, Thomas has an effective face-up game – he even knocked down four triples as a freshman – and will flip in a hook shot when he bodies up defenders in the post. He will have to prove that he can hold up defensively in the rougher MVC, but Thomas has the frame to succeed and has found a system which should help him to thrive.
He only got onto the floor for six games after arriving mid-season, but Ahmet ‘Meta’ Jonović is back for a full year. Wardle is excited to see how the young pivot develops, because Jonović checks in at 7’1″ and 250 pounds and has some touch inside. The Serbian youngster played with a prestigious Serbian pro team before coming stateside, and has some unteachable ability for Wardle’s staff to cultivate. While he’s not as imposing, Wardle also expects to see a contribution this year from Christian Davis. A former Division II standout, Davi came aboard ar Bradley last year but played a reserve role, averaging less than nine minutes per contest. A talented outside shooter, Davis has the length needled to get good looks outside or closer to the rim. He made seven out of 11 2FG tries last year, but concentrated most of his effort behind the three-point arc. If he can improve upon last year’s 31.3% mark from deep, Davis should become a quite helpful presence to have in reserve.
Connor Linke has size and has played some useful fill-in minutes over the past three years, mostly at the end of wins. He’s back for year four up front, and Wardle trusts his deep reserve big man to do predictable things when he’s out there. Goanar Biliew didn’t play much in his first season after arriving from junior college, but has the size and rebounding skills to help out off the bench. His brother, Omaha, is quite the 2023 prospect, and will debut this season for Iowa State. With Hannah moving up to a starting role Goanar would love to establish himself better this year.
Bradley doesn’t play a particularly flashy style of basketball, but they get the job done consistently. Wardle’s guys averaged 67.2 possessions per game last season, 314th nationally. They made those opportunities count, though, posting solid shooting percentages, valuing each possession, and cleaning up the glass. The ending wasn’t out of a storybook, but Wardle has again seen his contract extended by the university, and continues to build his program.
“I think your habits every day, how you play throughout the season – are you improving? You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse; you’re either trending up or trending down,” Wardle has told Peoria’s WCBU Radio. “We want to keep trending up and keep trying to find ways to get better.”
With a strong first month of opponents on the schedule, Bradley will likely have a sense of who they are by early December. If Leons and Hannah can keep the Braves rolling on the boards, Hickman returns to form from deep, Deen sprinkles in his dynamism, and Ellis translates talent into production, Bradley is going to be just fine. This is a program which has self-confidence and a way of doing things that has kept them near the top of the league each year. And with the memory of last season’s ending to drive them, Bradley looks like a sure bet to remain a contender.
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