The 2020-2021 basketball season for the Bradley men’s basketball team has been completed. What does this mean? The team can now put this less than normal season behind them. Why is this important? Because the things that the men’s team went through this past season were definitely tough to handle.
Because of the covid-19 virus, there was a global pandemic that is still going on to this day. This basically shut down everything. However, the NCAA allowed for a season to be held under strict protocol rules. Since these protocols were set in place, a lot of games were either cancelled or postponed throughout the season because either the student athletes, the coaching staff, or the tier 1 personnel contracted the virus. This was exactly what happened to the Bradley Braves. Players contracted the virus, injuries occurred, and suspensions were given, unfortunately. The Braves finished the season with a 12-16 record with a 6-12 conference record. They started off the season very well going 6-3 in non conference play; however, the injuries started to occur along with someone contracting the virus. This resulted in 4 games being postponed. They would eventually get eliminated in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in St. Louis, Missouri against Southern Illinois.
I was able to have a great conversation with freshman forward Jayson Kent. We discussed how this past season shaped him for his future. “During this season, I gained more experience, learned and adjusted to playing college ball because in high school, the game is a lot slower, but in college it’s a lot faster.” As a freshman, he personally experienced how “you can’t be soft or you’ll get exposed.” He stated how in a game against Northern Iowa, a senior on the opposing team tried to “baby him,” but he was able to hold his own. Kent’s best games this season came against nationally ranked Missouri and Drake as he had 15 points in both games.
I was also able to have a great conversation with sophomore guard Ville Tahvanainen where I asked him the same question. “You basically have to be ready for anything, you never know what can happen, you never know if there will be injuries, sicknesses, especially with covid, so you just have to be ready.” He also stated that “there were no fans, so it definitely helped us learn how to play in different circumstances.” When asked how did this season help him for his future, he stated “nothing’s easy here in division 1 basketball, especially in the Valley, so it definitely helped me learn that I just have to keep going hard everyday no matter what!” Ville had a good year tallying 8.6 points per game and 3.0 rebounds per game. His best games came against Jackson State with 19 points, and Indiana State with 17 points.
Since I had the pleasure of being around these two men everyday and practicing with them, I can definitely say that these two are definitely great basketball players with great personalities. With all the hard work they have put in all season and off season, along with their determination and work ethic, they will be players to pay close attention to for the following years to come.