Bradley’s Connor Hickman – Basketball Player

Sophomore Stabilizer

(St. Louis, MO) – Bradley’s Connor Hickman doesn’t grab headlines or have promotions created for him by the PR department. Connor Hickman is a basketball player. The 6’2 sophomore loves to win and will sacrifice personal glory for team success any time. His sacrifices are paying off.

Bradley (21-8, 14-4) has won eight straight games and is in a battle with Drake for the Missouri Valley Conference title. Prior to missing his senior season of high school basketball with an injury, Hickman led his Bloomington South team to a 23-0 record. Make no mistake, this basketball player  is a winner.

The top of every opponent’s scouting report are the Bradley stars, Rienk Mast, Malevy Leons and Duke Deen. Mast’s ‘four-point-play’ Sunday was a thing of beauty and he is a Valley ‘Player of the Year’ candidate. Leons will likely win the league’s defensive player of the year award, and perhaps its ‘most improved’ trophy too. Deen will likely be on the all-newcomer team.

Hickman won’t receive much notoriety, but is a key cog in the Bradley success story. His three-point shooting, ball-handling, on-ball defense and loose ball diving don’t end up most box scores, but he is indispensable to head coach Brian Wardle. Doing ‘little things’ is what causes Hickman to lead the Braves in minutes played.

Hickman loves the ‘little things’.

 

 

Wardle says Hickman is his team’s best perimeter defender and knows when to step up and assert himself offensively. The head coach says Hickman knows how to make ‘winning plays’.

 

 

Bradley’s Connor Hickman Learning From the Vets

Mast, Leons and Deen earn the headlines, but this is a veteran team. Hickman and fellow sophomore guard Zek Montgomery are learning and growing with seasoned college basketball players. Fifth year senior Ja’Shon Henry and senior Ville Tahvanainen have been Bradley stalwarts for years and know everything coach Wardle wants done.

Hickman says Henry and Tahvanainen know how to lead, stabilize and they know how to win. The sophomore guard says they know how to ‘show up’ when it matters most.

 

 

I asked Hickman to give us the scouting report on the Bradley ‘rotation’ players. Not many Bradley players rack up big statistics because this is one of the Valley’s deepest teams.

 

 

Consistent Second Season = Better Results

Hickman was named to the last season ‘all-freshman’ team, so Valley fans knew who he was and appreciated his game. He and the entire team struggled with consistency. Bradley finished 17-14 and 11-7 in league play. During our preseason interview, Wardle believed his team could compete for the Valley’s top spot.

While the addition of Deen has helped immensely, the maturation of Hickman, Montgomery and the escalation of Leons and Mast have made this team dramatically better. Hickman says the team’s depth of talented players and Wardle’s competitive nature sets this team apart.

 

 

While Hickman experienced some success during his rookie campaign, he didn’t feel like he was as consistent as he needed to be. Working harder before, during and after practice became a priority. Reminding himself about those little things, became a bigger thing. Hickman believes greater attention to those details is bringing him more consistency this season. We also discuss Sunday’s win at Southern Illinois.

 

 

Opposing coaches notice what Bradley’s Connor Hickman brings to the table. Valparaiso’s Matt Lottich says the tough minded Hickman is the kind of player every coach loves to have.

 

 

Bradley’s drive for a regular season title concludes with a road game at Valparaiso and then the Braves entertain Drake, in what could be a ‘winner take all’ affair in Peoria.

Hickman and the Braves will be tangling with a Drake (23-6, 14-4) team that is equally hot. The Bulldogs have won nine straight games and defeated Bradley (86-61) easily in Des Moines. It is likely that Hickman will be tasked with guarding Drake’s all-conference guard Roman Penn. The Bulldog point guard is making a bid for Valley ‘Player of the Year’ honors and is the key to everything Darian DeVries wants his team to accomplish.

It will be a great challenge of Bradley’s Connor Hickman.

To watch our entire conversation, head to YouTube. Or, you can listen at Valley Hoops Insider Podcast. We discuss the entire roster, Wardle’s red shoes and how he chose Bradley over his hometown Illinois State.

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