Reynolds: Will Bradley keep playing?

For the third year in a row, Bradley is in the limbo position of being not good enough for the NCAA and NIT basketball tournaments but in the conversation for the two upstart postseason events, the Collegiate Basketball Invitational and the CollegeInsider.com tournament.

Bradley finished second in the CBI and the CIT, respectively, the past two seasons.

And this year’s Braves, with a 16-15 overall record and an RPI of 100, are a prime candidate for one of the lesser events, especially considering Bradley’s recent participation and ability to draw crowds for the on-campus games.

BU athletics director Mike Cross and coach Jim Les said following Saturday’s game they have not yet been contacted by officials of either tournament.

The plan is to meet Monday with BU president Joanne Glasser to weigh the pros and cons of accepting or declining an invitation if it comes.

”I haven’t talked to the team yet about it,” Les said. “Dr. Cross and President Glasser and I will sit down and talk about what’s best for the university and the basketball program and make a decision of what we’re going to do. But we haven’t talked about it or thought about it. I hate to make any  decisions right now after the emotion of a game.”

Les was asked how he felt the team benefited from the last two postseason tournaments.

“I definitely look at those as positives,” he said. “Some of the positive memories were winning at Virginia, the series with Tulsa, Chris’ (Roberts) buzzer-beater last year.”

The BU players also spoke emphatically about their wish to continue playing.

”Anytime you talk about playing more games, it’s good,” guard Andrew Warren said. “I missed a lot of games the last two years from injuries so I would definitely want to play more games. There’s a lot we could work on for next year. The guys would be excited to extend the season.”

Other than extending their run of 20-victory seasons to four, it’s debatable how much benefit the Braves received from their CBI and CIT experiences.

Certainly the seniors get a longer farewell, and younger players can gain more experience. But attendance at Carver was decidedly lower the second year and will have to be a consideration this time around. If interest continues to wane, another tournament might not be a financially viable venture for the university.

The host-school entry fee for the CBI was $60,000 per game last year, and the CIT was $28,000. The CBI fee is believed to be the same this year. The CIT has raised its fee by a few thousand dollars.

”The CBI was an enjoyable experience for Bradley,” MVC commissioner Doug Elgin said. “It was exciting and very interesting for me to see the renewal of the rivalry with Tulsa, especially in Tulsa’s new arena.”

MICROCOSM: Bradley’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament experience this year was a microcosm of the Braves’ season: an impressive win one day (thumping Creighton 81-62), followed by a flat, almost embarrassing performance (falling to Northern Iowa 57-40) the next.

”Like a roller coaster, very up and down,” Warren said about the season. “We’ve had good stretches this season; we’ve had bad stretches. And to have a good season you have to be consistent. We weren’t very consistent this year. That’s something to work toward for next year.”

Les blamed the contradictory season on have a young, inexperienced team.

“With youth comes immaturity and inconsistency,” he said. “I think all year that’s reared its head at different times. That’s a product of growing up and the growth process you need to make as a player and just getting experience.

”One of the things I told them is just getting a year older doesn’t make us better. There are some things we need to work on and get better at. And they’re not all just physical, some of those are mental.”

MVC FINALE: Bradley guard Sam Maniscalco was named to the five-team all-tournament team. He joined four championship-game players. Northern Iowa’s Kwadzo Ahelegbe was the tournament MVP, joined by teammate Jordan Eglseder and Wichita State’s Garrett Stutz and Clevin Hannah. ... A title-game crowd of 9,297 bumped total tournament attendance to 51,613, seventh-best all time and about 3,000 under last year’s total. The all-time best-attended tournament was in 2007, when 85,074 came to Scottrade Center.

Dave Reynolds is a Journal Star sports reporter and can be reached at 686-3210 or dreynolds@pjstar.com.