PEORIA — The Bradley Braves are not done yet.
The 26-8 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament runner-up will play in the National Invitation Tournament, accepting an automatic bid under the tournament’s new rules.
“Everybody can be calm now,” Bradley coach Brian Wardle said Wednesday, laughing. “We’re going to play in the NIT. We always were. We’re excited for the competition. We’re getting back to work tomorrow.”
The Braves went to the NIT last season and beat Loyola in the first round at Carver Arena, then lost a second-round matchup to Cincinnati. Two years ago, Bradley went to the NIT and lost a first-round game at Wisconsin.
Bradley lost in the championship game of the MVC Tournament on Sunday, March 9. After the game, Wardle said at the time BU would “kind of take a couple days after this and re-evaluate where we are as a team. Right now, we’re too emotional to make any thoughts about what’s going to happen down the road.”
Bradley is projected to get a high seed in the 32-team NIT bracket. BU is predicted as a No. 3 seed by bracketology site DRatings. The Braves project to line up for a game against Penn State, Iowa, George Mason or Santa Clara. Bradley is a projected No. 4 seed by The Barking Crow, which has them in a pod playing Colorado State in the first round. Another site has Bradley as a No. 4 seed hosting Iowa in the first round.
And yes, there will be a Bradley home game, with the program working with the Peoria Civic Center for compatible scheduling at Carver Arena. There are a lot of moving parts.
For instance, it is possible that not all of BU’s players will participate in the NIT. A player could enter the transfer portal or simply decide they are finished with their 2024-25 season. It’s similar to the NCAA football culture where players opt out of postseason games. The team won’t know that until later in the week.
How the NIT landed on Bradley
The tournament will begin on March 18, with the championship game scheduled for April 3, 2025, at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
A new bid category has been created, called “exempt teams,” and Bradley falls in that category. All 16 exempt status teams are guaranteed to host a first-round game.
That group includes four spots reserved for the top two non-NCAA Tournament teams from the ACC and SEC and 12 spots for the top non-NCAA Tournament team from each of the top 12 conferences, based on KenPom ratings. The Missouri Valley Conference is ranked among those top 12 conferences, and Bradley is that top team in it not going to the NCAA.
Other ways the NIT fills its field
• Automatic qualifiers: Regular-season conference champions not selected for NCAA Tournament. They must have an average ranking of 125 or better across seven metrics (BPI, KPI, NET, KenPom, SOR, Torvik, WAB).
• At-large selections: Remaining spots filled by NIT Committee selection.
What is the College Basketball Crown?
The introduction of the College Basketball Crown tournament in 2025 will impact the NIT field and projections.
A new 16-team event that launches March 31 to April 6, in Las Vegas, the Crown will compete directly with the NIT for teams that don’t make the NCAA Tournament.
The Crown plans automatic entries for two teams each from the Big Ten, Big 12, and Big East, plus additional selections by a committee.
It will likely attract high-quality teams that might have otherwise considered the NIT. But it’s not expected to be a welcome option for mid-majors, which have an increasingly hard task in finding a postseason home outside the NCAA tourney.
In years to come, the NIT field could be weakened by the Crown as it competes for those Power 5 teams.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
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