UPDATE: Bradley University's athletics department released a statement on Saturday afternoon, as did the school's president. Read those here.

Shame on you, Bradley University.

On the cusp of one of the greatest moments in the last 30 years for its men's basketball team, the university disgraced itself Friday afternoon when it barred longtime Journal Star beat writer Dave Reynolds from participating in a media event for the team's upcoming NCAA tournament appearance.

That move was every bit as stunning as it was unearned, a disservice to Journal Star readers — who are Bradley basketball fans — who want coverage of their team.

Bradley head coach Brian Wardle and his media relations staff, apparently uber thin-skinned, hijacked the university's reputation and undermined what should be a feel-good weekend as BU heads toward the NCAA Selection Sunday with an automatic berth in hand.

What were they thinking? Why did Bradley University president Gary Roberts take the high road and decline comment, through a spokesman?

Chris Reynolds — on the NCAA Selection Committee, for damn sakes — where are you as your program self-inflicts a black eye?

Later Friday night, the men's basketball program released a statement via its Twitter account @bradleyumbb:

"During the 2018-19 season, the amount of access granted to Peoria Journal Star reporter Dave Reynolds was reduced. At the time his access to the Bradley Basketball program was limited, we discussed the issues that led to the policy change with Peoria Journal Star Sports Editor Wes Huett and the level of access has remained consistent for the last several weeks. Our focus is on preparing for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.”

pic.twitter.com/fu1mALQZnF

— Bradley Basketball (@bradleyumbb)March 16, 2019

Here's what happened Friday afternoon:

Journal Star sports editor Wes Huett, who met with the Bradley program at its request on Jan. 29 to listen to grievances about the newspaper's coverage of the team, received an email with media-access information for Friday's event, scheduled for 1:45 p.m. at Renaissance.

The newspaper, of course, sent its beat writer.

"The door was open," our man Reynolds said. "I walked in and chatted with the other media guys. (BU assistant director of athletic communications) Jason Veniskey was there but didn’t say anything to me. Players started to filter out. One of the players I wanted to talk with was Nate Kennell, and I motioned to Jason, ‘I’d like to talk to Nate.’ He said, ‘I want to talk to you for a minute.’

“He pulled me aside and said their policy of me not given extra coverage opportunity was still in place, and I was not allowed to do any interviews. I told him, ‘The newspaper received the invitation.’ He said, ‘That was directed to (Huett), not to you.’ I said, ‘He doesn’t cover the team. I have for 29 years.'

“He responded by saying, ‘You don’t promote the Bradley brand, and basically we don’t want you here.’ I said, ‘Jason, that’s not my job to promote the Bradley brand. You know that.’

“He said, ‘That’s what we decided.’ I said, ‘Who’s we?’ He said, ‘Bradley University.’ I said, ‘You realize how petty this is, Jason?’ ”

Reynolds talked with Wardle, who echoed Bradley's stance.

Said Reynolds: “He said I’m always looking for the negative and he’s been having this conversation (about it) with me," Reynolds said. "He’s had it three times and nothing has changed. He said something to the effect of ‘We don’t want you around anymore.’

“It was surreal. I thought, ‘Here was Bradley on the eve of one of its greatest moments in the last three decades.’ They’ve won the Valley Tournament for the first time since ’88. I thought maybe we’re going to move past this. I went over there with that intention.

“If there was something of substance you could hang your hat on and say, ‘Yeah, I took a shot at something.’ But there was nothing in anything they described that’s close to that.”

We're talking about Dave Reynolds here. The three-time Illinois Sportswriter of the Year who has covered Bradley for 29 years. A guy patient and generous in his approach to coverage.

Listen, Bradley, you don't want to hear this, I know. You are not Duke or Kentucky or anyone else on the national stage. You opened 0-5 in a weak Missouri Valley Conference. You don't get to throw elbows in that situation. Your journey from those depths to an NCAA tourney berth was well-documented and covered well by a veteran, award-winning writer.

Nothing written about BU merits an upturned middle finger at the media, and by proxy, the team's fanbase. This is pure pettiness. And a poor reflection on its coach, who had best be mindful of the reputation he is building, too.

Wardle, when his team went 5-27 in his first year at BU's helm, sat down for a gripe session in his office with Dave Reynolds, and said "We're going to be good someday and I'll remember who my friends were."

Really? How about remembering the quantity, and quality of Journal Star coverage even when the program was 5-27. Good season, bad season, the newspaper covers the team.

Bradley, now, is in the business of suppressing its own coverage. Will they do this one day with local TV? Radio?

Huett received a call from Veniskey on Friday afternoon, after the incident.

"He said our coverage included "half-truths and misleading stories" and that we had been "unfair to the program," Huett said. "He says a policy is in place (at Bradley) to keep Dave Reynolds from having "an extra access point" like today's media gathering."

I talked to colleagues in local TV media Friday. They declined comment. But yeah, they were stunned at this garbage.

Huett met — at the university's request — on Jan. 29 in Renaissance Coliseum to hear BU's grievances about its coverage.

"They basically just laid out a litany of perceived slights Dave has done," Huett said. "In some cases, they were over a year old."

"One of their lines to me was that it doesn’t benefit them. I said, ‘I don’t care.’ I chuckled a few times during the meeting. It was very silly. Jason was shaking the whole time he was talking to me. I don’t know if he was scared or nervous or what. Bobby Parker (Associate AD for Communications and Event & Facility Operations) didn’t say much.

"They threatened to curtail access."

Once the NCAA tournament begins, media access is out of Bradley’s hands and is open to all reporters equally. The same deal was in effect at the Valley tournament. Nobody from Bradley complained to Reynolds there, by the way.

What a disgrace. There is Bradley, in what should be a glorious time, coming off as oh-so-fragile and petty. Hype is the media relations job at BU, not the media's.

Safe spaces are the rage on campus around the country. It seems Bradley is trying to create one for itself in the media, too.

Dave Eminian covers the Rivermen and Chiefs for the Journal Star, and writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. Reach him at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

Nick Vlahos writes “Nick in the Morning.” He can be reached at nvlahos@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @VlahosNick.

