New Look Braves – Expect Continued Success

One-On-One with Brian Wardle

(St. Louis, MO) – The next edition of Bradley basketball will be the ‘new look Braves’. After ten years of almost no coaching staff changes, Brian Wardle has a new look coaching staff and roster, but the same high expectations.

Gone are assistant coaches Mike Bargen and Jimmie Foster and Brian Jones returns to the staff two years after he first worked with Bradley basketball. Graduation removed Bradley stars Duke Deen, Darius Hannah, Christian Davis and Zek Montgomery.

So, Wardle begins his eleventh season at Bradley as the second longest tenured Missouri Valley Conference head coach. Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson just completed his nineteenth Panther season.

Wardle has accumulated the program’s fourth most wins (186) and will likely move into second place, all-time during this coming season. The Braves have averaged 25 wins during the last three seasons and six times, Wardle teams have accumulated at least twenty victories.

Last year’s win total of 28, was Bradley’s best since 1986.

New Look Coaching Staff

Most of Wardle’s coaching staff has stayed in tact during the entire ten-year run. But this offseason, long time assistants Jimmie Foster and Mike Bargen were hired away. While losing valued assistants and extremely good friends to other jobs, Wardle is happy for the Foster and Bargen.

He also says, there is a fresh energy on the current Bradley staff.

Brian Jones is a Valley vetaran. This will be his second Bradley stint and third on one or the other side of Bradley/Illinois State ‘War on 74’ rivalry. He previously assisted Dan Muller at Illinois State and was the interim head coach when Muller was released. He was an assistant at Missouri State during its 1999 Sweet Sixteen run and has coached numerous other places.

Wardle says Jones is a great coach and person and is particularly skilled at training big men.

Bradley’s Core Returners

While graduation losses were heavy, Bradley returns four players that logged significant support minutes last season. Guard Jaquan Johnson was named to the MVC’s all-freshmen and all-bench teams. Fellow guard Demarion Burch missed time with injuries and sickness, but the 6’4 lefty showed a unique explosiveness and could be poised for a big junior season.

Bradley’s frontcourt returners are big, talented and developing. 7’1 Ahmet Jonovic came to Bradley as a ‘project’ and has improved every season. The Serbian native averaged 5.6 points and 4.5 rebounds, but he tallied nearly eight points per game over the team’s final seven contests. 6’10 Corey Thomas is a player that grew into his role too.

The junior college transfer finished the season averaging 4.4 points, but poured in 21 points during BU’s National Invitation Tournament victory over George Mason. Those two provide wildly different problems for opposing defenses.

Wardle has a history of developing players and seeing those players emerge when needed.

The Bradley head coach is very high on returning forward Timoty Van Der Knapp.

New Look Veterans from the Portal

A.J. Smith, Alex Huibregste and Mayar Wol are players that have known genuine Division 1 success. Wardle doesn’t cast a wide net. He and his staff know what kind of players they are looking for and pursue them.

Smith has had tours at Southern Indiana and James Madison. The 6’6 Smith reminds some people of Bradley great Jashon Henry. Huibregste is a proven scorer. The Wright State transfer has scored over 1,000 points and averaged over 13 points per game last year.

Wol is the ASUN Conference’s reigning ‘Sixth Man of the Year’. The 6’8 forward averaged 8.9 points and 3.5 boards for the Colonels.

The fourth member of this ‘portal class’ is redshirt freshman Kai Yu. The 7’ Chinese native sat out last season as a member of the Liberty Flames team.

Wardle believes in being highly targeted when going ‘portal shopping’.

High Level Freshman Class

One of Brian Wardle’s greatest strengths is to know the kind of player he wants and then the outstanding ability to help those players develop. This year’s freshman class could be the best he’s ever recruited.

Local products Matthew Zobrist and Dietrich Richardson are two of the State of Illinois’ top ten high school seniors. Each player comes to the Hill Top from nearby prep programs. Wardle’s ability to keep those players ‘close to home’ is amazing.

Richardson is slightly taller (6’7) and very athletic. Wardle says he can guard multiple positions and is a unique high school player. Zobrist (6’5) can score in multiple ways and after playing the point guard position during his senior season, has proven he can ‘handle the rock’. The two high school rivals have been AAU teammates and come to Bradley with great talent and instant chemistry.

Two Houston, Texas high school teammates are making the trek north. Montana Wheeler is a 5’9 point guard (they thrive at Bradley) that plays with fire and toughness. Wheeler is the State of Texas’ fourteenth highest rated prep player. His teammate, Jackson Seastrunk is a 6’5 guard who averaged over 14 points-per-game. Wardle says he will likely redshirt this season.

We expect Zobrist and Richardson to contribute significantly this season and to see Wheeler emerge as the season wears on.

Wardle says this is one of his top all-time recruiting classes.

The New Look Valley

Just three of the Missouri Valley’s top 15 players return from last season. Two of them play for archrival Illinois State and the Redbirds have a great recruiting class on the way. With new coaches at Drake and Murray State, the league will have a different feel.

Each Valley program is working hard at developing its ‘collective money’, NIL packages and resources to be able to recruit during the ‘portal pandemic’.

Wardle says the Peoria area and Bradley administration are extremely supportive of his efforts to maintain and improve the Braves’ fortunes. He calls support of the Bradley program very healthy.

During our interview we talked about his daughter Mya transferring to Bradley to play basketball, the outstanding potential of Burch, how he goes about developing players and of course the ‘War on 74’.

Head to YouTube to watch that interview or to Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts for the audio-only version.

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