Orsborn is an old school coach who loves discipline and believes there is a right way and a wrong way of doing things.  He has developed a program and with that comes playing the guys who got you here.  So, Seniority is a big thing for the Braves.  Good thing Orsborn has got a solid nucleus of Seniors to lead this program.  Foremost amongst these is the smallest member of the team who after getting selected as a preseason All-American will lead this program into the season with a top 25 rating.  Senior Gene ‘Squeaky’ promised to be the focal point of defenses this year after Coach Adolph Rupp of Kentucky dubbed ‘the best little man this game has ever seen’ in last year’s tournament showdown with the Wildcats where the Braves almost pulled off the upset.  Melchiorre has plenty of support but the press of Peoria and all the way from Chicago to St. Louis could not promote this kid more.  He had come back from a tour of duty in the Army and seemed to have more maturity and as Rupp said ‘every move there is’ to get out of trouble.  This diminutive point guard will lead a well-balanced machine into a tough schedule and hopes could not be any higher in Peoria for their beloved Braves. 

The Braves have not but two potential All-Americans who can match up with anybody at their positions.  Senior forward Chet ‘the Jet’ Walker is a gamer.  A tough-minded player who does everything well, Walker will rebound and defend but is best at being the focal point of the inside-outside offense.  This chosen one was born in Bethlehem (Mississippi) but went to high school in poverty in Michigan where he got the nickname the Jet.  You do not get a nickname like that if you cannot run the court and are as agile as a deer.  He can score form the wing or posting up and has become a mainstay in the MVC.  Walker has become known for his mid-range game and his ability to get to the hoop and draw fouls with a patented head and shoulder fake.  When he gets to the line he does not miss with his patented flick shot that he nonchalantly launches with great accuracy (fifteen feet does seem to be his favorite range).  He is one of the best players in the country at his position and earned another first team all MVC honor and is a sure bet to get another.  Once Melchiorre left Walker took it upon himself to become the leader of this team and he did not hesitate taking big shots or making sure his teammates knew what they needed to do to get wins.  He showed this time and time again playing out of position at the four in this vertically challenged lineup.  His leadership will be missed as and the fans of Peoria will never forget his style of play that led his teams to the great successes that they earned.  He might not get the recognition he deserves but those of who play with the Jet know how much of a complete player he is.  

To begin this season the likelihood that two Braves would make All-first team MVC and All-American was good.  Melchiorre was almost a sure thing before he left for service and Walker was a good bet. Hersey Hawkins’ incredible freshman year coming from Chicago’s Westinghouse High came as a bit of surprise.  He did not quite make the first team but Hawkins replaced Melchiorre’s scoring well enough to help the Braves get another league title and this super two guard is just starting.  A true Sophomore now, Hawkins has a level that not many have seen in the MVC especially his incredible outside shooting.  Hawkins is more than just a pure gunner but man is he good at it.  He can flat light it up.  He may be the best shooter in the Midwest.  He can get his own shot and is developing a penetrating game as well.  He can score on anybody and when he is on fire watch out because he will torch the place.  Hawkins actually did not even start last season as a starter but after his showdown with Robertson in Cincinnati, Osborn had to play this phenom.  He did not let him down.  He was second on the Braves in scoring almost averaging 13 points a game but that was only part of his breakout.  He also was a terrific help on the boards especially for a guy who makes his living from the perimeter.  Hawkins averaged five boards a game and three assists as he is a total team player who will also guard the toughest back court guy on the other team.  He has three more seasons to achieve greatness that he has only started to show.  He may be the best this great program has ever produced by the time he is done and that is saying something.

Fellow sophomore Mitchell ‘JJ’ Anderson will probably at forward next to Walker and was a solid compliment.  Anderson is also part of the Chicago connection that the Braves have from their bigger neighbor to the north.  Anderson comes into the season as the sidekick to Walker at the four with good size (six eight and 200) and his ability to score on the blocks.  The Braves needed his ability to score and pass from the blocks as every team needs that guy they can go to for a basket down low.  Anderson was that dude and even though he was the number four option he got his fair share of looks and produced when he got them.  Anderson developed throughout the year (some think he grew a couple of inches) into a solid board guy who could also block a shot and a very solid all-around player.  Anderson is a natural fit at power forward and has the size to guard bigger players on the post, sometimes even centers, though as Bob Seger says he ‘could put on a few pounds.’  With the Braves lack of size at the post this has led to some issues against some better teams with dominant big men.  Orsborn had to go with Anderson and Walker as the only two big men at times mainly due to their lack of quality depth up front but also because he wanted to get as many of his great wings on the court as often as possible.  Of course a few injuries opened the door for Anderson but the hope is that he and Walker will not be doing this alone.  Walker and Anderson held up just fine last year and when their big horse in the middle is ready to rumble the Braves have a potent front line of blue collar studs who make the hard working people of Peoria proud. 

The primary big man for the Braves going into last season was supposed to be senior Joe Allen.  Allen is a solid low post scorer who though he is only six foot six is one of the most effective post-up players in the MVC.  Allen never takes a bad shot and relies on his strength and great touch around the basket shooting over .600 percent from the field.  Allen can get it done in the paint but more importantly is a warrior.  Allen had knee surgery in the off season that went bad and turned into a staph infection that got so bad that he almost lost his leg.  Allen had to have braces put on his knees and cut back his mobility severely. Allen showed incredible courage and the ability to withstand pain as he came back for the final 9 games.  He was not as effective as he was earlier in his career for the Braves but he did give the team a presence in the paint.  Senior Dick Estergard, Joe Strawder and Paul Unruh took turns starting the games that Allen missed.  Strawder give the Braves size and is a real banger.  Strawder is tough on the boards and set some massive screens but does not have much of an offensive game and Orsborn wanted someone who can score a little.  Strawder, from Belle Glade Florida, might not score much but at six ten and about 260 was a huge part of this team’s success.  He will begin the year as the starting center as Allen rehabs back into more playing time.  Orsborne might be better suited going with Strawder the whole year and having Allen coming off the bench as the one thing this roster needs is size.  Orsborne has made a point of trying to recruit some size and is bringing the programs’ first seven footer this year as he stole one of those corn fed kids from Minnesota from the Golden Gophers.  Speaking of lack of size, Estergard is similar to Strawder as he is a terrific board guy but is only six four and got limited minutes.  Unruh, though he is only six four, held his own in the paint and is a terrific shooter who can bring guys out of the paint with his jump shot.  Unruh plays the game similar to Walker but is not as big but is penciled in as the starter next to the Jet once again.  Unruh (man they had some unique names back in the day especially in the Midwest) from Toulon Illinois was huge down the stretch last year and actually led the team in scoring in their post season run.  If he was 6’8 instead of 6’4 we would be talking about him as an All-American candidate.  When Allen is back to form, Orsborn will have to decide how to use his former superstar (he led the team in scoring two years ago).   Unruh came off the bench as a swing post behind Strawder and Anderson and did well in this role though he is not much help on the boards.  He might be better suited as a wing but this team is full at that position.  Unruh, once the main star of the team with Melchiorre, took his role in stride and did a great job off the bench.  He like most of the other Brave posts is not big but gets the job done with skill and tenacity.    

Point guard became a very intriguing position for the Braves.  When Melchiorre missed some time two years ago, Orsborn went directly to Junior Al Smith who was a terrific floor general.  Then out of the blue he got called to military service.  Smith missed all of last year due to his commitment overseas.  Too bad as he showed he is one of the best passers in the MVC and knows how to quarterback a team.  His leadership and his willingness to step back and be a facilitator instead of a scorer were huge parts of the Braves success. Al Smith a team player who will do whatever it takes to win and more importantly knows what it takes to get the job done.  And his teammates love him because he knows how and where and most importantly when to get his teammates the ball.  Smith will have to battle, however, to get his job back.  He has not one but two underclassmen who are made of the same cloth as Smith.  Junior Bobby Humbles played some last year after getting called up and performed well.  Another kid from Peoria, Humbles has a great name and court sense (and the ladies love him) but is nowhere near as quick as they guys he is competing against and at point guard that is an issue.  Sophomore Anthony Manuel  is a gifted playmaker who, like Smith, knows how to get the ball to his teammates.   Manuel is a pure passer who dominated on JV averaging over 8 assists a game on a team that went to the national tourney.  He can really ballhawk so the Braves will be in good hands at this position especially with ‘Squeaky’ returning and greasing those wheels. 

The rest of the Braves were a group of superb role players who may not have been as talented as Walker and Hawkins (or Melchiorre) but are solid contributors in their own right.  Coach Orsborn loves to rotate many players and unlike many teams he had the players to do it.   Senior Barney Cable got some minutes early on at the four spot and is a solid all-around player though he had a hard time matching up physically with the terrific athletes who the Braves played on this schedule at the power forward situation.  Cable was a stud here for years but at six seven and a way too svelte 175 it is hard guarding the likes of the Antoine Carr and especially that monster from Creighton Paul Silas.  And he had no chance against Larry Bird but then again who did though fellow Senior Steve Kuberski seemed to have his number in there one meeting.  Orsborn has several other big men who had some solid careers in Peoria but did not get to play much this year as the Braves needed more size down low (ha).   The aforementioned Kuberski transferred in just in time to play against his own team Illinois (he is from Moline) and had a huge game but barely played the rest of the year (the Bird battle for the number nonwithstanding) due to taking 35 dollars from an overzealous alumnus.  Seniors Shellie McMillon, L.C. Bowen and Elmer Behnke has their day here but are practice squad guys now though if this team gets the same weird off the court problems as well as the injury bug they did last year, they might be called upon again.  They will be ready for duty as they have always been. The one player who could really make a difference this year is junior Mike Davis.  The 6’7 225 hometown kid is a physical beast underneath.  He has been the main man on the JV for two years and is ready to rumble down in the paint in Peoria.  He is a natural four but might have to play the five on this team and is still pissed off he got surpassed by Anderson on the varsity roster last year with Allen out as Orsborne did not want to break up the great chemistry of that JV team.  JV Coach Dick Verssace pleaded to keep Davis next to sophomore stud recruit Voise Winters and the duo did carry that team to the national tourney so maybe he was right.  Both are ready to play this year but Anderson is already ahead of the game with his experience but man I would not want Davis pissed off at me going for a board in the paint in those October practices.  

Seniors Bob Carney, Levern Tart and Bobby Joe Mason, Junior Roger Phegley are a terrific quintet of athletic wings who would have been stars if they were not stuck behind the phenomenal Walker and Hawkins.  Tart, from New York, can flat score and could have the most upside on the town.  He is known for his electric drives to the basket, acrobatic shots with either hand, elusive speed and precise body and ball control on the floor.  He loves to get in with the big boys and draw fouls and is a complete player.  Tart has been a backup his whole career but looked to be moving on up when an injury hit Carnay but Orsborne went with the freshmen and the rest is Brave lore.  Mason is a true showmen who can dunk and pass and defend.  He would have played more if on another team with his highlight film passes and dunks.   Phegley is the designated shooter off the bench who at six foot seven can get his shot off over just about anyone.  He played both wings and this hometown kid was a huge fan favorite with his long range bombs.   No team in the league or possibly the Midwest can boast a group of bench players with the skills of these four on the wing.  Senior Bob ‘the human free throw’ Carnay was the started going into last year and was having another solid season when he went down with injury.  His career seemed to over in Peoria but the powers that be have given him an extra ‘redshirt’ season as he only played in 8 games last year.  He is not Wayne of Garth but this Aurora kid is another gifted shooting guard who started the year next to Melchiorre in the starting lineup and is almost as legendary in Peoria as those two are on cable tv.  Carney is adept at going to the hoop and causing contact and lives at the free throw line.  In today’s three point world this is not as big of a need especially when you are trying to beat out one of the best perimeter shooters in the game.  Ditto for Tart and Mason who are probably more gifted all-around players than Phegley but the kid can shoot and compliments Hawkins and Walker well off the bench.  Sophomore David Thirdkill is a defensive specialist not afraid to mix it up with anyone.  The ‘Sheriff’ as he has become known is the best defender on the team man to man.  He really came on down the stretch after transferring in from JC power C of I in Twin Falls Idaho and was a huge part of their late season run. 

The Bradley Braves are not quite the UCLA Bruins but have established themselves to be a juggernaut in the Midwest.  Loaded with great players and tradition, this team should be higher on the college basketball radar. Playing in a Mid Major conference has not given this program the type of publicity it deserves and being in the Midwest does not help much either.  But Coach Chuck Orsborn knows what he has in Peoria.  He has one of the great programs in the country who can play with anyone on a given night.  They made another Big Dance last year and that was with missing a couple of super players to outside influences and injury last year.  Senior captain Chet Walker and high scoring sophomore Hersey Hawkins took over and look to have even better years as this program attempts to get back to the promised-land through the tough MVC.  This duo has more than ample support coming back (as well as hopefully those two studs) and the Braves should be on the War Path again.