Bradley basketball will head west for a tournament in November 2023

PEORIA — The Bradley Braves have locked in on a November tournament for their 2023-24 men's basketball season.

The defending Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champions will play in the 2023 SoCal Challenge in San Juan Capistrano, California. The tournament is Nov. 20-22, and includes Sand and Surf divisions with four teams in each.

Bradley, in the Surf Division, is with UTEP, Cal and Tulane. UTEP was 14-18 overall and second-last in the Conference USA. Cal was 3-29 and finished last in a Pac-12 Conference that included No. 7 UCLA and No. 8 Arizona. Tulane was 20-11 and finished third in the American Athletic Conference.

The Braves went 25-10 last season and won their first regular-season Missouri Valley Conference title in 27 years with a 16-4 mark. They closed the MVC schedule with 10 straight wins, reached the Valley tournament title game, and went to the NIT and lost to Wisconsin last spring.

They will be a centerpiece in the SoCal tournament.

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The tourney format provides for first-round games on campus, which means it's likely Bradley will host a game at Carver Arena before heading to California for final rounds.

The Sand Division teams have not been announced yet. Information on tickets, and broadcast details, are not yet available.

The tournament was launched in 2021, and last season included Minnesota, UNLV and Southern Illinois in its field. Many of those games were carried by CBS Sports Network.

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 Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: SoCal Challenge: Bradley basketball part of California tournament