Bradford's Made His Impact Felt on Illinois Basketball
February 12, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2002
The name Cory Bradford has been engrained in Illinois basketball fans' minds since 1998 when the 6'3" sharpshooter led the upstart No. 11 seed Illini into the championship game of the Big Ten tournament. In the 1998 tournament, Bradford averaged 18.8 points and was named to the All-Tournament team. Along with fellow seniors Robert Archibald, Damir Krupalija and Lucas Johnson, Bradford has been through the bottom of the Big Ten standings only to come out on top last season.
"It's been like night and day comparing the two," says Bradford. "It kind of shows that you can get better and better each year."
Bradford's role, as well as his teammates and the expectations of various experts and prognosticators, has changed significantly since the Cinderella run of 1998. This season the Illini were picked to be a Final Four contender, not to mention the leaders to defend their 2001 Big Ten championship. Some of the early expectations seemed to fade after early losses to Arizona, Maryland, Wisconsin, Purdue and Michigan State, allowing the team to fly under the radar, while still holding on to a spot in the Top 10 of the national polls.
"We would always prefer the publicity, being the team that people expect to be a good team," Bradford says. "With the ranking we had at the beginning we had a big target on our back. We knew it would take a lot of hard work and patience to maintain that position and live up to the high expectations."
Bradford, the senior guard out of Memphis, Tenn., has been a large part of the resurgeance of Illinois basketball. Bradford owns or is threatening multiple school records as well as the now famous consecutive three-point streak broken last season at the United Center against rival Arizona. With a three-pointer that game, Bradford took over the NCAA record with 88 consecutive games with a three-point field goal. When one looks back at the career of Cory Bradford, there is more than the sharp-shooting range and underrated defense. There is a respect for the game and also someone who learned from one of the Big Ten's recent leaders - rival Michigan State.
"We all realize that the toughest team is going to win when we play Michigan State," says Bradford. "Whether it's getting loose balls or hitting free throws down the stretch or knocking down wide open shots or creating for teammates. The small things are going to win those games. The toughest team will come out every time."
The Spartans and the Illini have owned the top of the Big Ten standings in recent seasons, and although there is a fierce rivalry on the court of Assembly Hall and the Breslin Center, Bradford still has a respect for Spartans who have come and gone.
"(Mateen) Cleaves and (Charlie) Bell stand out," Bradford says. "They took ownership as far as doing what they needed to do to win the Big Ten Championship every year. They did that. That's something I really took from their team and those two guys was the way they took over and letting the opponent know that they were the defending champions and all be on the same page to do what they had to do to win."
The toughness that past Spartan teams have shown is now carrying over to this current Illinois team as Michigan State suffers through somewhat of a rebuilding year. After early season Big Ten losses on the road, Bradford believes that the Illini are back on track.
"We trust what we are doing and trust each other more and our strategy and we have bought into what helps us win. Once we did that, things have started going uphill from there."
The key to Illinois' chances this year in improving last season's Elite Eight appearance will be how well the team is playing in March.
"We always want to be peaking right when it counts where it counts the most and hopefully we can do that," Bradford says.
One way the Illini can fully reach their potential is by each player accepting his role and playing for the team, not just the individual. Bradford is a perfect example of that because his role has changed from the Big Ten preseason player of the year in 2000-2001 to simply the two-guard on a national contender. With the development of Frank Williams at point guard and a different philosophy in Coach Bill Self's offense versus former coach Lon Kruger, Bradford has evolved as a complete player.
"Coach has developed a system where all five guys get involved. I'm just one of those guys fitting right in and I'm just a ballplayer on this team. That's the most important thing."
Thanks to Bradford's acceptance of his current role on Illinois' basketball squad, his team has a chance to go where Michigan State has - the Final Four.
