1985–86 Bradley Braves men's basketball team

1985–86 Bradley Braves men's basketball
1985–86 Bradley Braves men's basketball
MVC Regular Season Champions
NCAA tournament, Second Round
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
AP	No. 14
Record	32–3 (16–0 MVC)
Head coach	Dick Versace (8th season);
Assistant coaches	Rudy Keeling; Willie Cox; Tony Massimino;
Home arena	Carver Arena
	Seasons ← 1984–85 1986–87 →

1985–86 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 14 Bradley	16	–	0	1.000	32	–	3	.914
Tulsa †	10	–	6	.625	23	–	9	.719
Drake	10	–	6	.625	19	–	11	.633
Illinois State	9	–	7	.563	15	–	14	.517
Wichita State	7	–	9	.438	14	–	14	.500
Creighton	7	–	9	.438	12	–	16	.429
Indiana State	7	–	9	.438	11	–	17	.393
West Texas State	4	–	12	.250	11	–	17	.393
Southern Illinois	4	–	12	.250	8	–	20	.286

† 1986 MVC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1985–86 Bradley Braves men's basketball team represented Bradley University during the 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Braves were members of the Missouri Valley Conference and played their home games at Carver Arena. The team rode a 22–game winning streak on their way to a new school record for wins by finishing the season at 32–3. After sweeping through MVC regular season play with a 16–0 league mark – finishing ahead of the pack by a 6-game margin – Bradley lost in the championship game of the MVC tournament. The Braves earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 7 seed in the West region. The Braves defeated UTEP to open the tournament, but fell to Louisville, the eventual national champions, in the second round.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
C	3	Mike Williams	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	250 lb (113 kg)	Sr	De La Salle	Chicago, IL
G	12	Anthony Manuel	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Fr	Crane	Chicago, IL
G	14	Jeff Anthony	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	So	East St. Louis	East St. Louis, IL
G	15	Jim Les	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Sr	Notre Dame	Niles, IL
F	21	Jerry Thomas	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	So	Collins	Chicago, IL
F	23	Paul Wilson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	Fr	Lorain Catholic	Lorain, OH
F/C	24	Donald Powell	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	So	Nowata	Nowata, OK
C	25	Keith Berry	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	Jr	Dunbar	Chicago, IL
F	32	Greg Jones	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	So	Robeson	Chicago, IL
G	33	Hersey Hawkins	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Westinghouse	Chicago, IL
G	40	Trevor Trimpe	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	So	Havana	Havana, IL
G	44	Len Bertolini	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	So	St. Patrick's	Chicago, IL
F	52	Bruce Mordini	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	Jr	Highland Park	Highland Park, IL

Head coach

Dick Versace

Assistant coach(es)

Willie Cox
Rudy Keeling
Tom Massimino

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

^[2]

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov 22, 1985*		at Loyola Chicago	W 94–84	1–0	Alumni Gym (5,308) Chicago, IL
Nov 25, 1985*		Chicago State	W 80–53	2–0	Carver Arena (7,643) Peoria, IL
Nov 27, 1985*		Toledo	W 69–57	3–0	Carver Arena (6,984) Peoria, IL
Nov 30, 1985*		Northwestern	W 76–72	4–0	Carver Arena (7,347) Peoria, IL
Dec 2, 1985*		at Western Illinois	W 76–62	5–0	Western Hall (3,241) Macomb, IL
Dec 7, 1985*		at Marquette	W 66–64	6–0	MECCA Arena (10,461) Milwaukee, WI
Dec 13, 1985*		Loyola Chicago	W 76–75	7–0	Carver Arena (8,358) Peoria, IL
Dec 21, 1985*		at Colorado	W 79–69	8–0	CU Events Center (3,827) Boulder, CO
Dec 23, 1985*		Saint Louis	W 81–67	9–0	Carver Arena (8,791) Peoria, IL
Dec 27, 1985*		vs. Clemson Rainbow Classic	L 76–81	9–1	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (3,153) Honolulu, HI
Dec 28, 1985*		vs. Villanova Rainbow Classic	W 58–56 ^OT	10–1	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (2,080) Honolulu, HI
Dec 30, 1985*		vs. Wake Forest Rainbow Classic	W 86–72	11–1	Neal S. Blaisdell Center (1,556) Honolulu, HI
Jan 4, 1986		Southern Illinois	W 65–62	12–1 (1–0)	Carver Arena (9,255) Peoria, IL
Jan 6, 1986		Illinois Wesleyan	W 74–64	13–1	Carver Arena (6,573) Peoria, IL
Jan 9, 1986		at Wichita State	W 57–55	14–1 (2–0)	Levitt Arena (10,386) Wichita, KS
Jan 11, 1986		at Drake	W 69–67	15–1 (3–0)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium (5,750) Des Moines, IA
Jan 13, 1986*		at Dayton	W 79–77 ^OT	16–1	University of Dayton Arena (11,371) Dayton, OH
Jan 16, 1986	No. 20	West Texas State	W 78–53	17–1 (4–0)	Carver Arena (8,245) Peoria, IL
Jan 18, 1986	No. 20	Tulsa	W 71–58	18–1 (5–0)	Carver Arena (9,266) Peoria, IL
Jan 23, 1986	No. 17	Illinois State I-74 Rivalry	W 67–63 ^OT	19–1 (6–0)	Carver Arena (10,450) Peoria, IL
Jan 25, 1986	No. 17	at Creighton	W 74–56	20–1 (7–0)	Omaha Civic Auditorium (7,541) Omaha, NE
Jan 30, 1986	No. 13	at West Texas State	W 63–54	21–1 (8–0)	WT Fieldhouse (3,038) Canyon, TX
Feb 1, 1986	No. 13	at Tulsa	W 54–51	22–1 (9–0)	Tulsa Convention Center (8,523) Tulsa, OK
Feb 8, 1986	No. 13	Creighton	W 79–59	23–1 (10–0)	Carver Arena (10,450) Peoria, IL
Feb 10, 1986	No. 13	at Illinois State	W 74–67	24–1 (11–0)	Horton Field House (7,745) Normal, IL
Feb 13, 1986	No. 13	at Indiana State	W 54–52	25–1 (12–0)	Hulman Center (5,648) Terre Haute, IN
Feb 15, 1986	No. 13	at Southern Illinois	W 61–60	26–1 (13–0)	SIU Arena (6,550) Carbondale, IL
Feb 20, 1986	No. 12	Drake	W 88–79	27–1 (14–0)	Carver Arena (10,450) Peoria, IL
Feb 22, 1986	No. 12	Wichita State	W 74–64	28–1 (15–0)	Carver Arena (10,450) Peoria, IL
Feb 27, 1986	No. 11	Indiana State	W 71–51	29–1 (16–0)	Carver Arena (10,450) Peoria, IL
MVC Tournament
Mar 4, 1986*	No. 9	vs. West Texas State MVC Tournament Quarterfinal	W 61–55	30–1	Tulsa Convention Center (1,556) Tulsa, OK
Mar 5, 1986*	No. 9	vs. Illinois State MVC Tournament Semifinal	W 65–64	31–1	Tulsa Convention Center (5,469) Tulsa, OK
Mar 6, 1986*	No. 9	at Tulsa MVC tournament championship	L 58–74^[3]	31–2	Tulsa Convention Center (6,313) Tulsa, OK
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1986*	(7 W) No. 14	vs. (10 W) No. 20 UTEP NCAA tournament first round	W 83–65	32–2	Dee Events Center (9,978) Ogden, UT
Mar 15, 1986*	(7 W) No. 14	vs. (2 W) No. 7 Louisville NCAA tournament second round	L 68–82^[4]	32–3	Dee Events Center (10,061) Ogden, UT
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West. All times are in Central Time.

Source:^[5]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP									20	17	13	13	13	12	11	9	14
Coaches									19	17	13	13	12	12	9	9	13

Awards and honors

Jim Les – Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, MVC Player of the Year
Dick Versace – Henry Iba Award, MVC Coach of the Year

Team players in the 1986 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
3	51	Mike Williams	Golden State Warriors
3	70	Jim Les	Atlanta Hawks

^[6]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1985-86 Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary
^ "1985–86 Bradley Braves Roster and Stats". Sports Reference.
^ "TULSA STOPS BRADLEY'S 22-GAME STREAK". The New York Times. March 7, 1986. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
^ "LOUISVILLE WEARS BRADLEY DOWN, OUT". Chicago Tribune. March 16, 1986. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
^ "Final 1986 Division I Men's Basketball Statistics Report - Bradley University" (PDF). NCAA.
^ "1986 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved May 17, 2019.

[1] sports-reference.com 1985-86 Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary

[2] "1985–86 Bradley Braves Roster and Stats". Sports Reference.

[3] "TULSA STOPS BRADLEY'S 22-GAME STREAK". The New York Times. March 7, 1986. Retrieved May 18, 2019.

[4] "LOUISVILLE WEARS BRADLEY DOWN, OUT". Chicago Tribune. March 16, 1986. Retrieved May 18, 2019.

[5] "Final 1986 Division I Men's Basketball Statistics Report - Bradley University" (PDF). NCAA.

[6] "1986 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved May 17, 2019.

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v t e Bradley Braves men's basketball
Venues	Peoria YMCA (1902–1909) Hewitt Gymnasium (1909–1925) Peoria Armory (1925–1941) Woodruff High School Gymnasium (1941–1943) Peoria Armory (1945–1949) Robertson Memorial Field House (1949–1982) Carver Arena (1982–present)
Rivalries	Illinois State
Culture & lore	Longest game in Division I history Point-shaving scandal Gambling scandal
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics