College Hoops Top 50

Last Year: 23-12; 13-7, Third in the Missouri Valley Conference, lost in the second round of the NIT

Head Coach: Brian Wardle (Tenth Year; 158-138 at Bradley, with one NCAA Tournament appearance)

Projected Starting Lineup

PG Duke Deen – 5’8″, 170 5th-year Senior

G Zek Montgomery – 6’6″, 210 Senior

G Christian Davis – 6’7″, 205 Senior

F Darius Hannah – 6’9″, 205 5th-year Senior

C Ahmet ‘Meta’ Jonović – 7’1″, 250 Junior

Experienced Reserves

G Demarion Burch – 6’4″, 200 Sophomore

G Connor Dillon – 6’2″, 190 Senior

F Almar Atlason – 6’8″, 230 Sophomore

F Corey Thomas – 6’10”, 210 Junior

Freshmen

G Jaquan Johnson – 5’11”, 190

F Timoty van der Knaap – 6’8″, 195

There weren’t many teams which took their fans on more of a roller-coaster ride to start last season than the merry men from Peoria. 

Things began wonderfully. Back-to-back overtime victories at eventual American Conference tournament champion UAB and over Mountain West title-winners Utah State catapulted Bradley to a 6-0 start. Then, things got dicey: five losses in a row plus an injury to leading scorer Connor Hickman sapped the team’s confidence. Fortunately, the veteran Braves sorted themselves out, Hickman returned, and Bradley ripped off nine wins in a row following that swoon. In proving their resilience, Bradley returned to their place as a Missouri Valley Conference power and advanced to yet another postseason. 

Bradley has won 48 games and an MVC regular season title over the past two seasons. Neither performance was enough to send Bradley to the NCAA Tournament, though. After an offseason of tremendous tumult among the Valley’s top programs, head coach Brian Wardle’s crew has emerged with probably the best depth and most proven quality of any team in the league. Of course, it will be a team coached by Wardle, and that’s also an advantage. Entering his 10th season, the fiery Wardle is one of the clear elder statesmen in the Valley following a host of coaching changes within the league. With so much change, and after all of the near frustrating misses, is now Bradley’s time?

Almost unbelievably, the MVC saw all but one of the players on its first, second, and third all-conference teams – combined – washed away by the twin tides of expired eligibility and the transfer portal. All of which means that returning first-team All-MVC selection Duke Deen provides Wardle with a true luxury. The fourth-year point guard may be small, but Deen is a spirited set-up man who turned in some unforgettable performances last season. This fall, Wardle will expect Deen to lead the reworked backcourt to even greater things. Given his growth so far, it’s a reasonable expectation. 

In addition to taking over as a scorer last season, Deen cut his turnover total by four despite playing nearly seven more minutes per game than he averaged two years ago. Though he’s occasionally a streaky outside shooter, Deen was on fire from the land of trey for much of last winter. Five times last season, Deen made at least a half dozen three-point shots in a game, and four of those instances came after the new year. Over Bradley’s final 22 games, Deen made 41.8% of his triple tries, and many of his biggest performances came when the squad most needed a jolt. With Hickman shelved and his team facing a potential sixth-straight loss against SIU-Edwardsville, Deen splashed seven triples en route to 27 points in a major get-right win. Across three consecutive wins a couple of weeks later as Hickman got back up to speed, Deen piled up 66 points and 16 assists. His pièce de resistánce, though, came at Missouri State. In an 86-62 romp over the Bears, Deen went wild for 35 points in nine made triples and 13/17 shooting from the floor. 

This season, Deen will hope to get more consistent help and turn in the most consistent performance of his career at the same time. A shifty and slippery ballhandler, Deen has the burst needed to leave defenders in his wake and maneuver through the lane. Getting to the free throw line more often would be nice, and now that opponents fear the range on his jumper, Deen may be able to get more opportunities. His assist rate has climbed steadily since coming to Bradley, and this year, Deen will look to get all of his friends involved more than ever. He’ll need to, because the Braves have put the pieces in place to help Deen lead them higher. 

Unfortunately, Hickman has gone to Cincinnati – the team which ended Bradley’s season in the second round of the NIT last year. In his place, Deen will hope to find a similar symbiosis with a similar player who has a similar name. Connor Dillon is a Peoria native who has spent the last two seasons starring at Division II Winona (MN) State, and now the local kid is coming home to fill some big shoes. 

Dillon is an accomplished deep threat who posted a career-best 39.0% mark from deep last year. He’s also a keen mid-range threat, and Dillon actually does more damage inside the arc than from beyond it. He moves without the ball with great awareness and shows great effort in fighting through defenders; Wardle will need Dillon to bring all the savvy he’s accumulated to bear against the bigger, tougher defenses he’ll see in the Valley. Like Hickman (and Deen, to an extent), Dillon is not a particularly drive-oriented scorer, but when he puts it on the floor – like Hickman – Dillon has proven to be an adept playmaker. With two experienced shooters who know how to find an open teammate when the defense closes out aggressively, Bradley’s other scorers should see plenty of quality opportunities. 

Some of the hallmarks of Bradley since Wardle took over have been defense, quality big guys, and more defense. The past couple of years, Malevy Leons was the guy who combined those elements in abrasive harmony. This time around, Darius Hannah will carry the torch. 

Last year, Hannah emerged from a reserve role to become one of the Valley’s most exciting two-way forwards. Beginning with his bucket before the buzzer to beat UAB in Bradley’s first game, Hannah enjoyed a breakout year. He finished his junior season ranked third in the MVC in blocks and offensive rebounds, and now that he’s the top dog up front, Hannah is looking to grow his offensive repertoire. Hannah was tremendously effective from about 10 feet and closer to the goal last winter, making 76.1% of his tries near the rim and 46.3% of his 123 deeper two-point shots. He’s becoming capable of knocking elbow jumpers when people dare him to, and Hannah’s quick feet are worth a great deal when he works to open up space in the lane. He’s also hell on wheels in transition following a block or steal, and since there will be plenty of those opportunities with the way Hannah bothers the opposition. Long and long-armed, Hannah’s quick feet also show up defensively, and he’s both a playmaker on that end and flat-out tough to score against. 

To support Hannah, Wardle is hoping to see significant strides from two very different young frontcourt players. Ahmet Jonović and Almar Atlason both came to Peoria from overseas, but their frames and games couldn’t be much different. The contrast they offer should bring intriguing diversity to this team’s rotation. 

WELCOME TO THE "META"VERSE pic.twitter.com/b6xSktR9qM

— Bradley Basketball (@BradleyUMBB) November 26, 2023

Jonović, who is from Serbia, joined Bradley late in his freshman season and saw the first extensive action of his collegiate career last season. The man they call ‘Meta’ stands a sturdy 7’1″ and hopes to grow into an even more imposing presence than he’s been so far. That’s not to say Jonović is simply a helpful huge guy; as he showed against Vermont, Jonović has quick hands and feet combined with a willingness to bust it down the court. He’s begun to flash dangerous awareness at both ends of the floor, too, and to influence the action outside of his usual spot deep in the post. This season, Wardle will be looking for upwards of 20 impact minutes from Jonović in each game, and his influence as a true pivot is going to give Bradley a useful new look. 

Atlason, who hails from Iceland and got his first taste of American competition at high school hoops power Sunrise Christian in Kansas, was locked & loaded when he showed up on campus. In just his third college game, Atlason hit six of his seven attempts from distance for 18 points against Tarleton State. By the new year, Atlason was in Wardle’s starting lineup, and by season’s end, the young forward had rattled home 41 triples – one of five players on the team with at least 40 makes from deep. Now, Wardle is hoping to see more of a post game from the sharpshooting Atlason. He’s got a good sense of what’s going on in the halfcourt, and Atlason has flashed nimble feet and good passing skills. As he grows stronger and joins the fray chasing rebounds with more alacrity, Atlason has the potential to develop into the latest in Bradley’s growing line of do-it-all forwards. 

Zek Montgomery is a ‘Marfo’ transfer who spent last season in the Atlantic 10 with Rhode Island, but has returned to Peoria for a second attempt to become a star scorer on the wing. Across the first dozen games of his tenure as a Ram, Montgomery averaged 13.2 points on 35.8% shooting from the land of trey. Over the later portion of the season, though – especially after Louisiana Tech transfer David Green became eligible to take up prime minutes on the wing – Montgomery took more of a back seat in the lineup. Now that he’s a season wiser and has proven more of his skill as a scorer against varied competition, Montgomery is hoping to make a big return to the Hilltop.

Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks)

+ 6.5 – Average Score Margin (46th)

0.275 – Free Throw Attempts Per FG Attempt (319th)

55.1% – Team Effective FG Percentage (18th)

47.6% – Opponent Effective FG Percentage (40th)

0.922 – Opponent Assists Per Turnover (49th)

“Full circle…Having Zek come back is a testament to our culture, our city and fans and Bradley University,” Wardle told Dave Eminian of the Peoria Journal Star this spring. “We’ll use Zek a lot like we did Hickman…Zek can score and play-make and handle the ball.” In his first go-round as a Brave, Montgomery made 40.7% of his three-point attempts. At 6’6″ and capable of occasional bursts to the rim when a defender plays him to shoot, Montgomery’s deep threat is the foundation of a potentially dangerous repertoire. That is, if he can nudge his percentage back up from last year’s 31.5% rate. 

Just as the fortunes of his team rose and fell, shooting wing Christian Davis had his ups and downs last winter. His development has been steady over the past two years, though, and he’s now looking to join Montgomery in answering the need for reliable scoring and outside shooting on the wing. The former Le Moyne transfer stepped out as a tantalizing 3-and-D piece in Wardle’s rotation last fall, and kicked in a couple of key scoring performances while Hickman was shelved. At 6’7″, Davis has reach, quickness, and anticipation to be a problem to run offense against. He gets steals, deflections, the occasional blocked shot, and Davis knows how to tip offensive rebounds to himself or towards teammates.

The team’s second freshman last winter was Demarion Burch. A big, strong combo guard who pushed for more minutes as his rookie year went on, Burch is a burgeoning matchup problem. Like Hannah, Burch hails from Milwaukee, and both of them know how to bring the noise around the paint. His handle is confident and Burch is all about using his dribble to get defenders backpedaling. Burch can generate opportunities on drop-off’s inside or kick-outs, and he dropped in some smooth runners as a freshman. With a more refined jump shot going forward, Burch should play a great deal and can provide a burly counterpoint to Deen. No matter how Wardle puts together his rotations, Bradley is going to have big guards. 

Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on

vs San Francisco – December 18

N Princeton/Wright State – December 22

@ Washington State – November 8

N Santa Clara – December 14

Myrtle Beach Invitational 3rd game – November 24

In addition to the returnees up front, Bradley is welcoming a big-time junior college prospect in Corey Thomas. Last year at Crowley (KS) College, Thomas was a double-double machine. Mobile and athletic at 6’10”, Thomas is very effective around the basket at both ends of the floor. If he can function as a quicker pivot to bookend with Jonović, Thomas should make Bradley particularly tough to score on inside. Offensively, Thomas is always happy to throw down a good look and even has three-point range on his jumper. If he can avoid fouls and turnovers as he acclimated to the Valley, Thomas should be a quality addition. A pair of true freshmen will get a look as well. Timoty van der Knaap brings a Euro-style face-up game, and the Italian-born forward will look to become Bradley’s latest imported success story inside. The latest youngster from Milwaukee is Jaquan Johnson, a tough and wiry-strong playmaker. 

Like usual, Bradley will be facing some other strong mid-major programs before Valley play begins. Their appearance at the Myrtle Beach Invitational will afford the Braves chances to measure themselves against a terrific Princeton side, as well as potentially Ohio or South Florida. A true road game on the Palouse will be difficult early in November, while San Francisco will bring a serious challenge to Peoria in December. 

They say that chaos is a ladder. If that’s the case, this Bradley team stands tall amidst the wrack and ruin of all that’s raged in the Valley this spring, and they’re poised to start climbing. Having some of the most proven standouts in the league is great. The chemistry that Bradley’s got is worth even more, and if the new guys can smoothly incorporate their skills, Wardle’s bunch will have a chance to dominate. The target on Bradley’s back will be huge once conference play starts, but the Braves have been in contention each of the past two years and learned from the battles. Look for them in Arch Madness and beyond, because Bradley is dangerous.