PEORIA — The Bradley basketball team landed a 7-footer from China to serve as a developmental center on Sunday.
Kai Yu, who played his freshman season at Liberty under former Bradley assistant coach Ritchie McKay (1991-93), entered the NCAA transfer portal and opted to join the Braves.
He made a visit recently to Bradley and met members of the team, and announced his commitment on Sunday afternoon. Later Sunday night his social media noted he was officially signed, although that was unconfirmed.
The 7-foot, 240-pounder comes to Bradley with three years of eligibility remaining. That fits the profile BU was looking for, a young 5-man in whom the team can invest developmental time. He is a very skilled big man who moves well and can shoot 3s, and if he develops fast, it could give BU the option of giving Corey Thomas minutes as a 4.
Yu is from Zhuhai, Guangdong, China, and grew up idolizing Yao Ming. He has a twin brother, Sean, who plays at Newman in Wichita, Kan.
Yu played at Link Year Prep in Branson, Missouri, and headed to Liberty in 2023-24, where he redshirted. The Braves faced Liberty in a November tournament in 2022-23, a 55-44 loss.
Yu appeared in 15 games last season with Liberty, against opponents including Valparaiso (four free throws in two minutes), Central Penn (6 rebounds in 8 minutes), Oregon, UTEP and UT Arlington.
The Flames went 28-7 and won the Conference USA tournament, moving on to the NCAA Tournament and a first-round loss to No. 5 seed Oregon.
Link Year Prep co-founder Adam Donyes observed Yu’s recruitiment process in 2022 and said then:
“Cal had been calling me a ton from the Pac-12. San Francisco, Boise State, I think those three were the most highly interested. There were a lot of schools that just didn’t feel like they even had a chance, like Missouri State, New Orleans, Louisiana Tech. There were a lot of schools that didn’t even want to mess with it because they thought there was no way they were going to get this kid.”
Yu also played with the NBA Global Academy and had interest from the Chinese National Team organizers and from a pro team, the Shanghai Sharks.
The Braves roster is at 13, including walk-on Gus Rugaard, with 12 scholarships committed. NCAA rules permit a 15-man roster — and 15 scholarships — although not all teams will utilize that maximum amount.
The Braves will weigh whether to seek one or two more young players to develop and give scholarships to, or perhaps give one to Rugaard, or even leave three in hand. But for now, Bradley is believed to be finished searching in the transfer portal for players for the 2025-26 season.
(This story has been updated to add additional information)
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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