Bradley guard one of the globetrotters

Bradley is planning to use its new on-campus arena for select men’s basketball games.


The 4,200-seat facility that replaces Robertson Field House will be the home for women’s basketball and volleyball and will be christened Aug. 27 for the volleyball home opener.

Jim Platt has been on the job less than two weeks as Bradley’s newest men’s basketball assistant. But the 59-year-old coach, named as Jim Les’ top assistant a month ago, already feels right at home.

The Bradley Braves have drawn a familiar name for the opener of their pre-Thanksgiving exempt tournament.

The Braves will play Southern California in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 20 in Springfield, Mass.

Former Bradley assistant basketball coach Steve Merfeld has been offered a position as an aide on Greg McDermott's new staff at Creighton and is expected to be officially hired soon, according to the Omaha World-Herald.

John Wilkins has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball next season at Illinois State, the university confirmed Monday.

On Sunday, the website Rivals.com first reported the former Bradley recruit had committed to play for the Braves’ Missouri Valley Conference archrival.

Wilkins is a 6-foot-9, 205-pound guard. His father, Jeff Wilkins, played for ISU from 1974-77. Jeff Wilkins played high school basketball at Elgin and professionally for six years in the NBA and for 18 in Europe.

Alvin Brooks, a Bradley assistant men’s basketball coach the past three seasons, is leaving the Hilltop for an associate head coach position at a Division I college near his hometown of Houston.

 Iowa State basketball coach Greg McDermott has accepted Creighton's offer to become the Bluejays' new coach, replacing the just-departed Dana Altman.

Creighton men’s basketball coach Dana Altman, above, has been offered the Oregon head coaching job, according to The Omaha World-Herald website.

Upon accepting the assistant coaching vacancy on the Bradley men’s basketball staff Friday, 59-year-old Jim Platt has come full circle in his career.


A native of Aurora who began his 31-year collegiate coaching odyssey as an aide to Bob Donewald at Illinois State, Platt landed at DePaul, Arkansas-Little Rock, Tulsa, Florida State, Charleston Southern and Army before joining the Braves.

Sam Maniscalco was named Most Valuable Player of the Bradley Braves men’s basketball team for the 2009-10 season during the program’s private postseason banquet Thursday night.

Maniscalco, a junior point guard from Chicago, averaged 13.1 points and led the team with 3.4 assists while committing just 1.8 turnovers per game. He was a second-team all-Missouri Valley Conference selection.

Walter Lemon, Jr., a 6-foot-3 combination guard from Chicago Julian High School, made it official Wednesday when he signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Bradley.

On the first day of the spring signing period, Jim Les had other news to reveal about the program besides the addition of guard Walter Lemon Jr. to the team.

Bradley will play host to Utah on Dec. 4 at Carver Arena in the second year of the Missouri Valley Conference-Mountain West Conference Challenge, the leagues announced Tuesday.

“Utah-Bradley is a great matchup in terms of brand names,” said MVC commissioner Doug Elgin. “It should be a competitive game.”

Bradley’s baseball team will host "Basketball Night at the Ballpark" on Friday at O’Brien Field.

Bradley University is one of two schools to place both a male and a female on the 2010 Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete teams as basketball players Sam Maniscalco and Jenny Van Kirk were honored.

BU and LaSalle were the only two institutions among the 95 NCAA Division I schools that do not sponsor football to place one of each gender on the honor teams.

John Wilkins, the 6-foot-9 Belgian who originally committed to Bradley, will make an official visit to Illinois State this weekend, according to the Bloomington Pantagraph.

Bradley coach Jim Les stood in Bracket Town, beaming after watching BU senior Chris Roberts take second place in the State Farm Slam Dunk Championships.
 

“I love to see that Bradley jersey on ESPN,” Les said.

Roberts was the highlight show at the contest Thursday night, matched up against seven other dunk artists from across the nation. Although he was beaten, 41-40, by Vermont’s Marqus Blakely in the final, Roberts threw down the biggest dunk of the night with his second slam of the prelims.

Bradley senior Chris Roberts will compete in the dunk contest at the State Farm College Slam Dunk and Three-Point Championships, scheduled for Thursday night at Bracket Town in Indianapolis. The annual contest is part of the NCAA Final Four weekend activities.

Roberts appeared on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 plays four times during his two-year BU career. Three of those were dunks; the most recent being his rebound jam against Creighton in the Missouri Valley Conference quarterfinals on March 5.

Two days before Bradley University announced basketball player Eddren McCain was leaving the program, the sophomore point guard was arrested for possession of marijuana.

McCain, 20, and Aimee D. Fisher, 26, of Peoria were arrested about 4:25 a.m. Tuesday in the 1300 block of West Barker Avenue.

The Bradley men’s basketball postseason banquet is going private.
 

After decades of hundreds of fans sending the Braves out with an annual spring party complete with videos and individual awards, this year’s April affair will be attended by just the team, coaches, parents of the seniors and top BU administrators.

Two days after the Bradley Braves beefed up their backcourt for the future with the commitment of Chicagoan Walter Lemon, Jr. comes the departure of sophomore point guard Eddren McCain.
 

McCain, the Braves’ starting point guard as a freshman, was buried at the end of the bench the last half of this past season, hampered by an injured hand, a bruised psyche and the development of freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards.

Jeff Wilkins, the father of Bradley recruit John Wilkins, told the Journal Star on Wednesday that his son has not committed to Iowa State and his recruitment is still open.

Bradley added depth to its backcourt Tuesday with the oral commitment of Walter Lemon Jr., a 6-foot-3 senior combination guard from Chicago Julian High School.

Lemon, Jr., chose BU over offers from Southern Illinois, Loyola, New Mexico State and Detroit. According to his past coach, Loren Jackson, he is an academic qualifier and will be eligible at Bradley this fall.

“Walter is a very explosive, very exceptional athlete who can score consistently,” Jackson said. “He’s a great defender and is a very quick, good ballhandler. Bradley got a real good one.”

Jim Les’ right-hand man on the Bradley basketball bench is moving on.

Eric Buescher, who has been with Les for all eight of the BU head coach’s years on the Hilltop, resigned as associate head coach Monday, effective immediately.

“I enjoyed my experience at Bradley University, and I appreciate the opportunity given to me by Coach Les,” Buescher said in a release issued by the university. “With a recent change in my family situation, I am choosing to pursue other interests at this time. I wish Coach Les and the basketball program great success.”

For the first March in five years, Bradley basketball coach Jim Les is planning recruiting trips and individual skill sessions instead of postseason practices.
 

With a 16-15 overall record, Bradley probably could have continued playing in either the College Basketball Invitational or College Insider.com tournament. But BU made the decision to call it a season for a variety of reasons.