Raising the Bar higher this year at Bradley

PEORIA — When Bradley freshman 7-footer Ari Boya went down with an ankle injury in practice two weeks ago, the entire Braves’ frontcourt was affected.

Power forward Elijah Childs began adding reps at center during workouts. Fellow forward Luuk van Bree will join Childs on ‘5’ plays and positioning once he’s healthy enough.

But the player most directly impacted was 6-11 junior Koch Bar, the Braves’ starter in the post the past two seasons who was in need of the competition that Boya provided. They had some spirited engagements down low in the months leading up to Boya’s injury.

“It’s fun when you have a guy your size or even bigger to help make you better,” Bar said. “And for me to make him…