Bradley won 21 games and played as deep into the season as any team not invited to the NCAA Tournament. Only the Final Four -- Memphis, UCLA, Kansas and North Carolina -- were also still alive when the Braves finally folded against Tulsa on April 4.

It wasn't the season coach Jim Les wanted for Bradley -- the Braves are a precious few seasons away from a Sweet 16 showing -- but his team turned in a memorable campaign.

The hard part after the season-ending loss to Tulsa in the third game of the championship series of the newly hatched College Basketball Invitational, is saying goodbye to the team's core. Jeremy Crouch, Daniel Ruffin and, to a lesser extent, Matt Salley all were seniors. Crouch tore up the CBI after finishing the season strong and Ruffin, though his season wasn't without tumult, was a key figure in Bradley's success.

Injuries to other starring players diminished options for Les during the conference season, when Ruffin was lost for both injury and off-court incident.

Bradley's run in the CBI provides more evidence the Braves could have done more with better health. The Braves were 18-5 when Ruffin and the team's likely future, sophomore guard Andrew Warren, are full strength.

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