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Final score: Arkansas 76 Bradley 57

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
Bradley's next game is Saturday, Dec. 17, at 3 pm, against the University of Arkansas. It is technically a neutral-court game, being played at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Simmons Bank Arena (formerly known as Verizon Arena) is an 18,000 seat, publicly-owned facility (owned by Pulaski County, the largest county in Arkansas) located in North Little Rock, just across the Arkansas River from downtown Little Rock. Arkansas plays a game there every couple years because of the large contingent of Arkansas graduates and fans who live in the Little Rock area. The Arkansas campus is in Fayetteville, nearly 200 miles to the northwest. Though this is not their usual home venue, they draw large crowds when they play there. Last season, they played Hofstra at the Simmons Bank Arena and drew 14,685 fans, and earlier games there have drawn 14,000 to 17,000+ fans.
The last time they played an MVC team there was 12/21/2019 when they beat Valparaiso 72-68 in front of 15,630 fans.

The game is not scheduled to be televised or streamed
Live stats- http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=424269
Chat room- www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Radio/audio stream- WMBD 1470 AM or 100.3 FM

Arkansas is 9-1, with their only loss coming Nov. 22 in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational to Creighton (ranked #10 at that time) 90-87
Box score- https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/wp-co...-Creighton.pdf
Schedule/results- https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/sport/m-baskbl/schedule/
They have won their last 5 games.

They are currently ranked #10 in the AP Top 25, and they are #25 in NET rankings.
They were picked 2nd (behind Kentucky) in the SEC preseason media poll-
https://www.secsports.com/article/34...tball-favorite

Last season, Arkansas was 28-9 overall, and 13-5 in the SEC, and they finished 4th in the SEC final standings.
In the 2022 NCAA Tournament, they made it to the 2022 Elite 8 by upsetting the #1 seed Gonzaga, but then they lost in the Elite 8 to #2 seed Duke.
Historical record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/arkansas/

They have 4 double-digit scorers-
Stats- https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/stats...on_2022-23.pdf
Roster- https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/sport/m-baskbl/roster/
However, 3rd leading scorer 6'10" sophomore Trevon Brazile (11.8 ppg), also their leading rebounder, will not play because of a recently torn ACL-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...mainder-season

6'5" Freshman guard Nick Smith, Jr. was selected to the pre-season All-SEC 1st team, the only Arkansas player on either the Preseason 1st or 2nd team.
He was the 2022 National High School Player of the Year by USA Today and by other services.
https://arkansas.rivals.com/news/nic...er-of-the-year

He missed their first 6 games because of a knee injury, but in the 4 games since he returned, he is their 2nd leading scorer averaging 14.8 ppg.
Leading scorer is 6'6" junior Ricky Council IV, a transfer from Wichita State.
As a team, they shoot only 31.1% from three, which ranks 292nd out of 362 schools.

They are coached by Eric Musselman in the 4th season at Arkansas.
The likely starters are:
Ricky Council IV, 6'6" junior guard (36.1 mpg, 19.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.9 apg)
Nick Smith, Jr., 6'5" freshman guard (24.8 mpg, 14.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.3 apg)
Anthony Black, 6'7" freshman guard (33.6 mpg, 12.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.7 apg)
Makhi Mitchell, 6'10" senior forward (19.2 mpg, 7.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.2 apg)
Jordan Walsh, 6'7" freshman forward (22.9 mpg, 6.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.3 apg)

Top reserves-
Davonte Davis, 6'4" junior guard (29.3 mpg, 7.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.3 apg)
Kamani Johnson, 6'7" senior forward (12.5 mpg, 2.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg)

Roster- https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/sport/m-baskbl/roster/
Arkansas stats- https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/stats...on_2022-23.pdf
BU stats- https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...2/pdf/cume.pdf

It's expected that Zek Montgomery will play, but I have not seen any word from Bradley regarding Ja'Shon Henry.
 
Ja’shon has been cleared to play. He took part in practice today and may play on Saturday. PJStar said he had a mild concussion and has cleared all protocols and wants to resume playing. Just hoping for all the best for him.
 
MacabreMob said:
Why do I feel uncomfortable about that stat?
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HAHAHA - MacabraMob... I felt the same way, especially recalling the Auburn game:

Auburn is shooting only 25% as a team from three. That ranks 340th among the 362 Division I teams

It would be great if we could defend inside & take our chances with outside shooting whoa's... It will be interesting to see the size difference of the teams with Reink & Ja'shon back (oh wait, we can't watch the game - UGH)...

Go Braves!!!
 
tecon89 said:
Shocked SEC Network hasn’t picked this up or the very least ESPN+
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I am absolutely SHOCKED that this game is NOT televised. Who are the blankety blankety blank people who decided this? This game is NOT televised but yet both Stonehill and Akron games are ? Give me a break.

Hello Da Coach I take it that there are no real options to watch the game? It is likely too late to get a ESPN+ crew sent to the game. I saw where Arkansas offers some sort of pod cast app - but no video. Bah-Hum-Bug
 
I watched last Saturday Arkansas defeat Port Moser (ex Loyola basketball coach) Oklahoma team. Arkansas fell behind but quickly came back and never relinquished the lead. They are fast and a good size team. Bradley will need their best game - glad that everyone (including Zek I assume) is back.
 
You can get tickets on resale sites like Stubhub starting at $80 + fees, if you’re willing to drive the 7+ hours to Little Rock.
 
patrick_o'brian said:
No justified, legitimate reason for the game not being streamed yet?
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Not going to gain any fans or grow the MVC/Bradley Basketball when they continue to fumble televising games. Its rather infuriating watching a bunch of people who don't understand that media has changed try to build a brand on ideas from 2003.
 
algotrader said:
Not going to gain any fans or grow the MVC/Bradley Basketball when they continue to fumble televising games. Its rather infuriating watching a bunch of people who don't understand that media has changed try to build a brand on ideas from 2003.
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I could be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that the SEC has broadcasting rights to this game and the facility does not meet their broadcasting standards (not sure what that entails). So therefore it would not be televised. Based on what some Arkansas fans are saying, it seems like this is an annual issue for their North Little Rock game. This has nothing to do with Bradley or the MVC.
 
BradleyBiz said:
I could be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that the SEC has broadcasting rights to this game and the facility does not meet their broadcasting standards (not sure what that entails). So therefore it would not be televised. Based on what some Arkansas fans are saying, it seems like this is an annual issue for their North Little Rock game. This has nothing to do with Bradley or the MVC.
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If this is true, they should yield the rights and allow ESPN+ to stream the game.
 
“Arkansas fans are saying, it seems like this is an annual issue for their North Little Rock game. This has nothing to do with Bradley or the MVC.”

Bradley Biz, you’re probably on to something here. This isn’t Arkansas usual home arena, so there probably aren’t any video facilities to support even basic steaming. If they were to try and cobble something together, it would probably be as bad as the production for the SIUE game. I still can’t believe the camera operator missed the last second shot attempt.
 
BradleyBiz said:
I could be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that the SEC has broadcasting rights to this game and the facility does not meet their broadcasting standards (not sure what that entails). So therefore it would not be televised. Based on what some Arkansas fans are saying, it seems like this is an annual issue for their North Little Rock game. This has nothing to do with Bradley or the MVC.
Click to expand...

I understand that _right now_ this can't be fixed. But how far out are the rights to games sold/contracted/held? At some point in the future, we haven't determined the rightsholder for a game to be broadcast. I'm more talking about the future.

How my generation consumes media is drastically different than the older generations. The Valley and schools in the valley are going to have a really hard time growing their fanbase if they want their fanbase at home to tune to DirecTV channel 314 to watch the game.

On top of that, I think recruitment is going to suffer as well. Every single recruit is thinking "how will joining Bradley/UNI/etc help my brand over joining Kentucky/UNC/etc". We need to be using a valley wide platform to broadcast games, rewatch games, provide advanced stats, show highlights of plays for every player, but also to provide clips for social media and integrate with players on their social media as well.

The game has changed. I'm really worried for our future.
 
Arkansas might not want it to be televised so as to encourage ticket sales for their annual Little Rock game. The NFL is also known to blackout TV in cities where stadiums aren’t selling out.
 
algotrader said:
I understand that _right now_ this can't be fixed. But how far out are the rights to games sold/contracted/held? At some point in the future, we haven't determined the rightsholder for a game to be broadcast. I'm more talking about the future.

How my generation consumes media is drastically different than the older generations. The Valley and schools in the valley are going to have a really hard time growing their fanbase if they want their fanbase at home to tune to DirecTV channel 314 to watch the game.

On top of that, I think recruitment is going to suffer as well. Every single recruit is thinking "how will joining Bradley/UNI/etc help my brand over joining Kentucky/UNC/etc". We need to be using a valley wide platform to broadcast games, rewatch games, provide advanced stats, show highlights of plays for every player, but also to provide clips for social media and integrate with players on their social media as well.

The game has changed. I'm really worried for our future.
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I agree with you that media coverage is important but winning is the single biggest factor in growing a fan base; with or without extensive media coverage. Far scarier to me for the future of all mid-major bball is the polarizing impact that NIL is having on recruiting and the how the transfer Portal's impacting teams' ability to develop a program. The Portal is becoming a great recruiting equalizer between low major and mid-major teams. Talent gaps are closing. IMO
 
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