MVC’s New Dean Likes His Team – Post SLU Exhibition

Bradley’s Brian Wardle

(St. Louis, MO) – When coach Ben Jacobson left Northern Iowa for Utah State, the MVC’s new dean title moved to Peoria, Illinois. Bradley’s Brian Wardle is now the longest tenured head coach in the Valley.

Wardle is beginning his twelfth season on the Hilltop and is managing one of the largest roster rebuilds of his Bradley career. While Bradley has won at least twenty games during seven of his last ten seasons and in four straight years, Wardle is hungry for more.

The 47-year-old Wardle was the Horizon League ‘Coach of the Year’ in 2014 and claimed the Valley’s top coach award in 2023. He says this year’s team, with ten newcomers has versatility and depth to compete in the MVC’s upper levels.

Being the MVC’s new dean, however feels strange to the former Marquette player. He says he continues to have a passion for helping players and teams to improve and grow. Wardle isn’t intimidated by the rebuilding process.

MVC’s New Dean Likes His Backcourt

Transfer Trevon Payton and sophomore returner Dietrich Richardson will likely be the Braves’ starting backcourt. Wardle says Payton (Arkansas Pine-Bluff) can play multiple postions, but will likely command the shooting guard spot. The 6’6 senior converted nearly fifty percent of his long distance shots last year.

Richardson is one of the highest rated players to ever sign at Bradley. Richardson played in just 18 games last year, but Wardle says the point-guard has added 25 pounds of muscle to his 6’8 frame.

Internationally signed freshmen Max Gaspa (Spain) and Dimitrije Pavlovic (Serbia) will be Richardson’s backups.

Wardle has confidence in his young backcourt.

Frontcourt Not as Big

Some of Bradley’s successful teams of the past have had great size and strength in its frontcourts. This year’s team will lack the big thumpers of the past, but Wardle says his team has ample size, length and skill to compete.

Junior Timoty van der Knapp (Italy) and transfers Xander Alarie, Noah Williams and Josh Ibukunoluwa will give Bradley depth and versatility. All four stand 6’8 or better and have ‘inside/outside’ skills.

Ibukunoluwa was a role player at High Point and Alarie battled injuries at Northeastern. Wardle believes his team has the kind of depth his 2023 championship team had and roster make up of some of his successful Green Bay teams.

van der Knaap and Payton note that 6’8 Kyle Grill and 6’8 Ben Thornbrue are strong physical players. Wardle calls them ‘the Bash Brothers’.

Saint Louis Exhibition

Friday night’s exhibition with Saint Louis was a good test for the remade Braves. SLU prevailed 88-75. Sophomore guard Dietrich Richardson led the Braves with 17 points, five assists and ZERO turnovers. Three other Braves finished with twelve points each. Josh Ibukunoluwa, Noah Williams and Max Gaspa turned that trick.

Xander Alarie led the Braves collecting seven rebounds.

Wardle says ‘competitive endurance’ is something his team is still trying to learn. He believes this game and Wednesday’s exhibition against Southern Illinois Edwardsville will provide great learning opportunities for his team.

“Competitive endurance is our issue in practice too. where we keep a high level of talk, focus, and competitive spirit to us, you know, for a two hour practice.” said Wardle. “We don’t practice long. 
We practice smart and efficient, and again, in the game, our competitive endurance wore down in the 2nd half, and St. Louis took advantage of us. So our discipline defensively broke down in the 2nd half. 
Offensively, we did some good things. We just we turned down some open shots. I had to get mad at guys for turning down open shots. 
And so, there’s some bright spots.”

“I thought, in the first half, we competed, we weren’t perfect, but we made up with it with effort,” added Wardle. “We played the right way, we battled back, we started slow with a lot of turnovers, then we took care of the ball, and then we got what we wanted, and I like how we competed in the first half. 
During the second half, I think, we have just got to keep that focus, that talk, and that discipline up for two halves, and we’re not there yet, ’cause we’re not even practicing that way yet, Harry. So I’m challenging them. This is great. 
Great for them to see. See, this is what I’m talking about in practice. This just happened in the game.”

Injured players, missing the game were forward Ben Thornbrue, van der Knaap and Race Kowalczyk.

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