PEORIA — The Bradley Braves are just past the midway point of the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball race and locked in a three-team battle at the top with Indiana State and Drake.

It promises to be a memorable finish in a season already marked by unforgettable moments.

Here's a look back at some of those moments, what has been learned about the team so far, and how this Bradley team in its defense of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season crown and the pursuit of an NCAA postseason bid in March.

"We can beat anyone," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said. "We can lose to anyone. We have a very high ceiling of play, but we can be inconsistent. We have to find that every day, and we still haven't reached that. We're chasing perfection. No team ever reaches perfect. But we're chasing it."

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Here are 17 things that have made the Braves season so far:

• The SoCal Challenge: Bradley beat Tarleton State, Tulane and then UTEP (63-59) to win the tournament just before Thanksgiving, a confidence-building experience for the team. "Winning the SoCal tourney was really good for us," Wardle said. "Confidence is important to gain."

Said Malevy Leons: "The SoCal Challenge championship was important for us, showed us from the start that we could win. And so many moments so far that have shown our resilience."

• Opening the season 6-0: The Braves beat UAB, Utah State (an important Quad 1 win), Tarleton State, Tulane, UTEP and Vermont to open the 2023-24 season and gain recognition from observers nationally as a team to watch.

National analyst Jeff Goodman wrote that Wardle "has done a terrific job even after losing a few key pieces." Joe Fanta of Fox Sports wrote that Bradley was a mid-major program to monitor, and that Wardle was underrated.

Three of the six wins came over KenPom top 100 rated teams.

The Braves earned a vote in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since 2006-07, and sat No. 4 in the collegeinsider.com mid-major poll.

• A five-game losing streak: The Braves suffered losses to Murray State and Indiana State, then added losses to Akron, Cleveland State and Duquesne. The latter game went to the buzzer, when Jimmy Clark III stole the ball with 3 seconds left and put in a layup to win it.

"Losing to Duquesne is on my list," Wardle said. "That was a big loss, it hurt us."

• A nine-game winning streak: The Braves answered with a nine-game streak that was the fourth-longest active win streak in the nation. That included seven straight wins in the Valley.

"It's really hard to win nine straight games, we knew that from (2022-23) when we won 12 straight," Wardle said. "To see us bounce back and do that after losing five straight games, it said a lot about this team, it's closeness and its character."

• Duke Deen is a warrior: The 5-foot-8 point guard is at the center of the team, his vocal, emotional leadership is key for the Braves. He leads the team with 13.8 points per game, has a team-high 91 assists and shoots 38.9% from 3. He's hit six or more 3s in four of his last 11 games and poured in a career-high 31 points against Indiana State last week.

• Connor Hickman: You could argue that Hickman is the team's MVP, as they were just not the same when he went down for a month with a serious ankle injury. The Braves are 1-3 without him. With him, and his 40% shooting from 3 and his league elite defense, Bradley is 15-3. "We're a competitive team," Hickman said. "We're very close to each other. We goof around, we get serious and intense. We play for each other."

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• Big improvements: Wardle said Deen's consistency at point guard this season has marked a big step up in his game. And he likes the inspired play and improvement made by big-man Darius Hannah.

• 18 threes: The Braves went 18-of-31 from 3-point range to pound out a 95-72 win over Belmont on Jan. 20.

• Quality win: Beating a now 19-2 Utah State team in overtime on Nov. 11.

• The comeback: Rallying from 23 points down on the road to beat Southern Illinois, 70-69, on Jan. 17. Braves were down eight points with five minutes left, but Deen's layup tied it with 1:46 to go.

• Unstoppable Duke: Deen throwing down 22 points — in the first half — against SIU-E.

• The return: Hickman returned from his four-game injury absence and poured in 28 against Valpo and 25 against Missouri State and earned Valley Player of the Week honors.

• Sharp-shooter: Hannah leading the MVC in shooting percentage and hovering near a top 10 spot in the nation.

• Magnificent Malevy: Leons producing a 26-point, 14-rebound game in the opener at UAB.

• The showdown: At Indiana State on Jan. 27, in which Bradley had the ball for the final 28 seconds in a tie game but went on to lose in overtime.

• Milestone: Leons heading into Saturday's game at Illinois State just six points shy of 1,000 career points.

• Milestone II: Longtime voice of the Braves, Dave Snell, working his 1,400th BU game at Indiana State last week.

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Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Bradley basketball analysis: 17 things that have made BU's season