'I couldn't be prouder': Everything coach Brian Wardle said after Bradley's big win over Drake
Dressed in his red blazer, Bradley coach Brian Wardle sat down in the Carver Arena press room on Sunday and basked in the glow of a Missouri Valley Conference championship victory.
Here's everything Wardle said in his news conference after Bradley's 73-61 victory over Drake in Peoria:
Champions: Bradley beats Drake to win the MVC men's basketball championship
What Bradley basketball coach Brian Wardle said:
Opening statement:
"Fire away, guys"
This is huge for you personally and your team and your program, winning the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title.
"Box 1 I wanted to check while being the coach at Bradley, no doubt. I know it means a lot to the city, to the university, to the community. Our community supports us so well. To see the arena today and see the fans helping us through that game ... It's a huge, huge factor, and I couldn't be prouder of our guys.
"Hasn't been done in a long time here. We've won Arch Madnesses back to back, we've checked those boxes. We've gotten to the NCAA Tournament. Now, we'd like to get back and win some games. Ultimately that's our goal. We're gonna celebrate tonight and tomorrow we'll get back to work."
Where were you during the court storming?
"I went over and got a glass of water. ... To see the players celebrate, they deserve it. They've worked really hard. We've pushed them and challenged them, and they've challenged back and brought intensity back and it's just it's a family in that locker room, and it's a connected group and usually that's what it takes to win championships, honestly. The regular season's hard. I mean you got to have a little luck on your side always but you guys stay healthy. And we stayed healthy, knock on wood, this whole regular season and that's what led to a consistent play, and guys being stars in their role. And you can find us executing better and better as the year went on, just because we were able to stay healthy and get our rotations down consistently.
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It's a heck of a journey from a team that was 2-7 at one point on the road. And here you are today.
"We won some games, I know in the nonconference. I thought (the road record) was blown a little bit out of proportion to be quite honest, and I thought we proved that. But I think getting Reink (Mast) back (from injury) and (Ja'Shon Henry). Darius (Hannah) has been huge for us all year. (Connor Hickman) and Duke (Deen) and Ville (Tahvanainen) stepping up down the stretch. You could just see some of our veterans found their stride down the stretch here ... and Hick, I thought he was tremendous today. It was just a big game for everybody."
That 15-0 stretch there that you went on really put the game into your grip. What's your take on that?
"Yeah, you know, I think they went up 41-40. I had to call time out. It just looked like we were breathing a little heavy. We weren't really in sync. Kind of reset a little bit in that timeout, and we did that. And out of that timeout, I believe we went on a little bit of a run. ...
"But defense wins, and you got to have balance on offense this time of year. It can't be all (3-pointers). It can't all be inside. You got a good healthy balance, can't be one-dimensional offensively. And then your defensive rebounding has to win you games this time of year, and I thought we were able to do that. I thought Ja'Shon (Henry's) defense on (Roman) Penn and Malevy (Leons') defense on (Tucker) DeVries. ... They're gonna get numbers, but I thought we made them shoot a lot of shots to get them, and that's exactly what we wanted."
Ja'Shon at the end with that monster dunk had so much emotion ... What what's your take about that moment?
"That's something he'll always remember, it's a memory our team will remember. The city I think will remember, people at the game. (Henry's) dunk, and Hickman's dunk just kind of sealing the game and getting the crowd nuts in the last two minutes. And being able to get guys a round of applause and get them out of the game in the last minute was big for me. You don't know how these games are gonna go. You're playing a really, really good team. I got a lot of respect for (Drake coach) Darren (DeVries) and his program.
"You don't know how it's gonna go, and there's gonna be momentum swings and ups and downs. ... We got mentally tough for the season. We stayed in the middle better, and all those things are gonna be huge going into Arch Madness."
Better than you dreamed of? All the hugs on the court and everything like that, you thought about it — but now that you've experienced it?
"Yeah it is. I tried to soak up the whole day, honestly, and the players. A lot of people don't know this, but three games ago, before we went over to Southern Illinois, I put '16-4' up in the locker room, and I put the 'MVC Champs 2023' up on the practice gym wall. I said we're gonna win these next three games starting with Southern ... we're gonna win it because we're gonna be connected and we're gonna execute and play with all-out effort and play together.
"And we got a group of guys that are connected that are completely unselfish that will sacrifice for the other guy and the left and right of them. When you have that as a coach, you know, you have a chance and I just believe that we were going to win this thing and win three in a row to end it — and they did, too. I don't think anyone walked out of that meeting not believing in it. And I think that was huge."
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Give us a little bit of the day. Take us with you from breakfast or whatever through the day.
"As a head coach in college basketball, you don't sleep great usually in January and February. It's a long season. With my bad hip, I definitely don't sleep well, I'm tossing it turning and up a lot. So last night I probably slept six straight hours. Probably the best sleep I've had in a long, long time and I kind of knew that might be an omen. I felt confident. I felt like two practices, were very efficient, intense. We were executing, guys knew the gameplan — and I just felt good after I woke up this morning around 7 a.m., and that's sleeping in for me, too.
"Let's see, 7 a.m., what'd I do? Coffee. I usually read articles or some scriptures or whatever on my phone and then I get my breakfast and then the girls wanted to work out so they did a little basketball workout (daughter) Mya and me. Then the guys would come in at 10:30, and we do our film and walkthrough. We eat at 11, and then I go home and relax and then come here and the best part was driving in. You know, I usually drive in with about an hour 15, hour 20 ahead of time — and to see all the fans already there, walking in and celebrating and screaming and yelling outside. That was special, because that's what you want as a coach, you want to build your community and you want to bring a lot of pride and excitement to your city. And I think this group has done that."
When was the last time you coached in front of a home crowd like that?
"Man, I mean, we've had we had some big ones in 2020 — not 10,000, not sold out though.
"You know, we sold out a couple games at Green Bay my last few years when we were playing for championships too, but after COVID ... The last decade, it's hard to get fans to arenas in all sports. People aren't coming out to watch games live as much anymore, and there's multiple factors for that, there's not just one, there's multiple. Then definitely after COVID, so to see everyone come out this month of February when we've been in first place — and definitely show up today. For all the fans that have been coming all year: We love you. And for all the newbies that came today, bandwagoners: I love you, too. Keep coming out. We need you next year."
Talk about that crowd today? Because that's the loudest I've ever heard Carver Arena. What were your impressions of it?
"It was awesome. I try to stay in the moment and zone everything out, to be honest. I learned that as a player, and I'm pretty good about doing that as a coach, but there are times ... When (Henry) hit that dunk and Malevy hit that corner 3, I mean ... felt good that that crowd was energizing us and energizing us defensively, too.
Turnovers were in stretches a little bit, and you guys overcame that though.
"You're right. I mean they're good at choking down in the post and just diving into the ball hand lanes. Very handsy team, and we knew that. We had to be strong with the ball, that was one of the keys to the game offensively — downhill and two hands on the ball and be strong. But they still go in there and they kind of rake that ball out with their hands, and they do a good job of that.
"But I thought transition D was a huge key for us, getting back matching up. If you watched us, I thought we were locked into DeVries and (D.J.) Wilkins in transition right away. We couldn't let them get 3s. Our goal was to hold them to six 3s or less, and they had five. Transition defense was huge to make up for our turnovers, because 15-15 with the points off turnovers when you have 16 (turnovers) ... we haven't had that many in a long time. We were able to overcome it, but our defense our rebounding and I thought we had good shot selection, too. We did a good job of taking good shots all game."
You guys are playing your best right now. Do you guys feel like you could beat anybody in college basketball right now?
"I think we can compete with anyone. We got to get better at some things still this week. We've got to keep improving and playing with confidence and executing. Execution's huge. Smart basketball is huge this time of year.
"I believe in this team, and I like this team against anybody. We just got to keep believing and keep getting better and staying humble and hungry one day at a time.
You know what Arch Madness is. It's experience wins and the big talk was that Drake, they have a lot of experience in the starting lineup, but one look at the box score: 16 points from the bench for you and Drake had two. Is that the biggest thing you guys have going for you down there?
"Yeah. I mean there are a lot of factors to win this time of year, and depth is always big. Can't be one-dimensional offensively. You have to have a third and fourth option, which we do. And you got to be able to defend and rebound.
"I don't care what anyone says: That's the identity of our program. That's what we're built on, and it's helped us have a lot of success in February, March. You take the COVID year out, we've got a lot of success in February, March."
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Was there any fight to get back because of the COVID year, where you guys made the tournament?
"Yeah, believe me. I'm a very competitive person. So is my staff, and I got a great staff. We're all driven to bring a championship to Peoria, and we were able to get that regular-season (one) here now. Goal's to get back to that NCAA Tournament and hopefully put ourselves in a position to win some games ... it's one day at a time, one game at a time. The first game Friday (at the MVC tournament) is always the hardest. I'll always say that, so we got our hands full."
Is there extra motivation to get back to the tournament because you won the bid in 2020, but you missed out because it got canceled?
"We were in the NCAA field in 2020, no doubt, we were with that championship. But yes, we want to get back. That hurt. That was one of the hardest things to go through as a coach, when that happened to that group, but we'll see. We're going to celebrate tonight and enjoy this tonight and we'll get back at it tomorrow night."
Do you have any difference in opinion now about an at-large bid for this conference? Is your case there if you need it?
"You know, I wish we could have won one or two more nonconference (games). If we were healthy, I think we would have. I don't know if they factor in health — I wish they would. I think that's such a huge factor for mid-major schools. High-majors can sometimes overcome it with depth and players that they have, but you miss a Reink Mast.
"When we look at the record we have with Reink in the lineup with (Henry) and Zek (Montgomery). I mean, it's much different ... but I don't know. I mean, our league's really good. We have five 20-win teams in the league. It's just a really good league. It's well-coached, preparation's tremendous, everyone guards you. It's really hard to score and I love competing in it, because it's a challenge every day. But I don't know. I don't know the numbers well enough. I leave that up to the experts ... to tell me where we're at. But all we can do is win games."
Does Bradley deserve to go? If you don't win this tournament?
"Well, I think we're definitely good enough to go and win games. I do believe that, no doubt about it, but it's a matter of: Do our numbers add up? Because it is a numbers game."
Did you automatically clinch a berth to the NIT with this win tonight?
Yes, we did. Yeah, so, another box check. Thanks.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Everything the Bradley basketball coach said after big win over Drake
