Re: Ballin' With The Bulldogs: The Dale Connover Story
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2023 11:03 am
PointGuard wrote:Hey, jksanders, just thought...maybe you can go to the lower left of the Commissioner's screen and remove the retiring coach and then create a new coach and assign him to the team where the retiring coach was. That isn't possible during the middle of a season (where my associations presently are), but maybe it becomes available on the head coach hiring date...or possibly some other date.
Okay, I think you're right, that looks like the way to do it ... alas my save was just past the hiring phase. I think this has to be done during that one week before coach hiring is processed, so I will test this next season and report back. Thanks for your help, PointGuard!
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Date Rank Opponent Score W/L Record Leaders
11/14 #1 (n) Valparaiso W 78-64 1-0 S. Berkowitz (20 pts 19 reb 10 ast) K. Frederick (18 pts 11 reb 3 stl)
11/16 #1 (n) Missouri W 86-61 2-0 C. Katterhenry (35 pts 8 reb 4 ast) S. Berkowitz (13 pts 17 reb 10 blk)
11/18 #1 (n) #8 Stanford W 83-76 3-0 S. Berkowitz (18 pts 19 reb 5 blk) C. Katterhenry (19 pts 6 reb 1 ast)
11/20 #1 (n) #10 San Diego St. W 72-58 4-0 C. Katterhenry (21 pts 2 reb 4 ast) K. Frederick (10 pts 12 reb 4 ast)
11/23 #1 @ #19 Virginia L 71-87 4-1 S. Berkowitz (13 pts 12 reb 8 ast) A. Troesche (15 pts 14 reb 3 stl)
11/26 #1 Brigham Young W 94-72 5-1 A. Troesche (24 pts 9 reb 4 ast) C. Katterhenry (17 pts 4 reb 5 ast)
Six games into the season we’ve lost our first game (on the road at Virginia) but are still a solid 5-1 and #2 in the nation. Saipele Berkowitz already has a pair of triple doubles for the season, and the rest of the team is gelling well give or take a few small interpersonal speed-bumps. Big news so far is that the Big Ten is popping off! Currently it’s us at #2, Maryland at #3, Michigan at #5, Purdue at #14, Penn State at #19 and Indiana at #24, with twelve teams in the top 100 NET (and six inside the top 50!)
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Date Rank Opponent Score W/L Record Leaders
11/30 #2 @ #1 Villanova W 82-79 6-1 C. Katterhenry (25 pts 6 reb 6 ast) A. Troesche (20 pts 8 reb 2 ast)
12/3 #2 Gonzaga W 72-37 7-1 S. Berkowitz (6 pts 24 reb 9 ast) C. Katterhenry (24 pts 4 reb 5 ast)
12/7 #1 Arizona W 65-56 8-1 A. Troesche (15 pts 6 reb 2 stl) C. Katterhenry (16 pts 7 ast 1 blk)
12/10 #1 Florida W 84-65 9-1 J. Fox (32 pts 2 reb 4 ast) S. Berkowitz (8 pts 16 reb 6 ast 6 blk)
12/14 #1 Duke W 74-43 10-1 S. Berkowitz (20 pts 16 reb 7 ast) A. Troesche (12 pts 5 reb 2 ast)
12/21 #1 Clemson W 82-65 11-1 C. Katterhenry (35 pts 7 reb) S. Berkowitz (12 pts 18 reb 12 ast)
12/30 #1 Indiana W 85-63 12-1 (1-0) A. Troesche (24 pts 7 reb 8 ast) C. Katterhenry (26 pts 6 reb 3 ast)
1/2 #1 @ Illinois W 65-54 13-1 (2-0) S. Berkowitz (17 pts 16 reb 10 ast) A. Troesche (17 pts 7 reb 2 ast)
1/6 #1 #2 Maryland W 88-78 14-1 (3-0) C. Katterhenry (33 pts 7 reb 3 ast) A. Troesche (26 pts 10 reb 3 ast)
1/11 #1 @ #14 Purdue W 71-61 15-1 (4-0) A. Troesche (21 pts 7 reb 3 stl) C. Katterhenry (23 pts 1 reb 1 ast)
Three weeks into the Big Ten season we’re off to a 4-0 start, we’ve beaten Maryland in our first of two games this season, and we’re starting to get an idea of who is truly solid, who might be better than expected, and who’s been pretending. Nebraska is part of the better than expected crowd, now ranked #16 and holding a 14-3 (6-1) record. Maryland and Michigan are as good as we’d expected, though Michigan had a rougher run of things in the pre-conference season. Meanwhile #18 Purdue (12-4, 1-4) looks like their early rise into the top 5 early in the season was a fluke -- in conference play they’ve been less than stunning. We’ll see how things shake out over the next month and a half of team on team body blows.
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Date Rank Opponent Score W/L Record Leaders
1/16 #1 @ Ohio State W 122-90 16-1 (5-0) A. Troesche (49 pts 7 reb 2 stl) C. Katterhenry (29 pts 4 reb 6 ast)
1/18 #1 #19 Michigan W 83-78 17-1 (6-0) C. Katterhenry (36 pts 6 reb 3 ast) S. Berkowitz (13 pts 21 reb 7 ast)
1/20 #1 @ Indiana W 90-71 18-1 (7-0) A. Troesche (14 pts 10 reb 2 ast) C. Katterhenry (20 pts 10 reb 4 ast)
1/25 #1 @ Wisconsin W 82-60 19-1 (8-0) K. Frederick (23 pts 8 reb 2 ast) C. Katterhenry (24 pts 7 reb 2 ast)
1/27 #1 Iowa W 83-63 20-1 (9-0) C. Katterhenry (30 pts 8 reb) S. Berkowitz (11 pts 17 reb 9 ast 9 blk)
1/30 #1 @ Penn State L 62-67 20-2 (9-1) K. Frederick (18 pts 10 reb 3 blk) C. Katterhenry (17 pts 4 reb 4 ast)
2/1 #1 Rutgers W 69-48 21-2 (10-1) S. Berkowitz (16 pts 14 reb 5 ast) A. Troesche (22 pts 13 reb 1 ast)
There’s a reason no Big Ten team has gone undefeated in the conference since Bob Knight’s Indiana team did so in 1976. It was never a matter of if we’d drop a game, but rather a matter of when we’d drop one. We’re still on track to meeting our goals for the season. Saipele Berkowitz has officially become our program’s all-time leading rebounder (1,201) and with 650 assists he’s alone in second, 102 assists shy of the all-time record. With 12 games likely before the postseason, he’ll need to average 8.5 assists per game to reach the record. He is also at 930 career points, 7th all time. He is unlikely to rise further on the list unless he stays for his senior year, but he will easily break 1,000 points.
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Date Rank Opponent Score W/L Record Leaders
2/6 #1 @ #21 Nebraska L 68-82 21-3 (10-2) C. Katterhenry (21 pts 3 reb 2 ast) S. Berkowitz (13 pts 9 reb 7 ast)
2/8 #1 Minnesota W 82-65 22-3 (11-2) K. Frederick (23 pts 7 reb 3 stl) S. Berkowitz (7 pts 26 reb 10 ast)
2/10 #1 @ #2 Maryland W 77-69 23-3 (12-2) S. Berkowitz (16 pts 20 reb 7 blk) A. Troesche (25 pts 8 reb 1 ast)
2/15 #1 @ Iowa L 58-65 23-4 (12-3) C. Katterhenry (23 pts 6 reb) K. Frederick (10 pts 12 reb 5 stl)
2/17 #1 Northwestern W 98-82 24-4 (13-3) S. Berkowitz (13 pts 13 reb 12 ast) A. Troesche (26 pts 8 reb 2 ast)
2/20 #1 Penn State W 83-46 25-4 (14-3) S. Berkowitz (12 pts 16 reb 11 ast) K. Frederick (16 pts 4 reb 5 ast)
2/22 #1 Illinois L 80-86 25-5 (14-4) A. Troesche (23 pts 8 reb 2 ast) C. Katterhenry (21 pts 3 reb 6 ast)
3/1 #1 @ Rutgers W 81-65 26-5 (15-4) S. Berkowitz (21 pts 11 reb 5 ast) 6 blk) C. Katterhenry (22 pts 8 reb)
3/3 #1 Wisconsin W 89-60 27-5 (16-4) K. Frederick (26 pts 6 reb 2 stl) C. Katterhenry (27 pts 4 reb 6 ast)
Berkowitz put up his 10th career triple double against Northwestern on the 17th as we maintained a half game lead on Nebraska and Maryland. We have a tiebreaker against Maryland, but Nebraska holds one on us since they beat us in our only regular season matchup. So we definitely did not want to finish in a tie with them. He got his 11th triple double three nights later as we beat the hell out of Penn State on our court, and then he was held to three points and three assists when he fouled out after 11 minutes as we lost to Illinois on our court in one of our more embarassing collapses of the last few years. We went into the final week of the conference season with two games left and trailing Maryland by a game, while ahead of Nebraska by the same margin. Whether we finish first, second or third will depend on how we handle Rutgers (17-12, 8-10) on the road and Wisconsin (12-15, 6-12) on our court. And as it stood, we won out but so did Maryland, so we finished yet again in second place headed into the conference tournament. Northwestern earned the 4th seed and final double-bye by winning the tiebreakers over (5) Michigan, which finished 19-12 (12-8) on the season.
The win at Rutgers was the 400th of my career!
Heading into the Big Ten Tournament, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio State would need to win the entire tournament to get a postseason bid, as all four have records that are ineligible. Penn State (16-15, 6-14) would need to win it all to be in the NCAA tournament, though they could go to a sub-level tournament with at least a single win since their NET rankking is 71st overall despite their conference performance. Purdue is currently outside the bubble looking in at 20-11 (9-11) on the season as is Illinois (16-13, 9-11), while Rutgers (17-14, 8-12) is not even on the bubble at all, though their 75th ranked NET suggests they’ll at least get a postseason bid. The rest of us with winning conference records are all considered safe regardless of tourney performance.
Saipele Berkowitz is the likely winner of the Norton Award, while Calvin Katterhenery is right up there and certain to get 1st Team All American status. Alan Troesche fell in the final cut to 2nd Team All American. Berkowitz wants to play his senior season, so he’ll be sticking around for one more season, but Katterhenry and Troesche are leaving early for the NBA. By this time next season, if it already wasn’t certain, Saipele Berkowitz will be the greatest player ever to have played at Michigan State! I may never see another one like him, and that’s just fine.
Big Ten Tournament
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Date Opponent Score W/L Record Leaders
3/9 (10) Iowa W 86-63 28-5 S. Berkowitz (18 pts 14 reb 6 ast) A, Troesche (17 pts 4 reb 5 ast)
3/10 (3) Nebraska W 56-48 29-5 A. Troesche (10 pts 12 reb 3 stl) S. Berkowitz (9 pts 17 reb 6 ast 7 blk)
3/11 (5) Michigan W 82-69 30-5 S. Berkowitz (22 pts 21 reb 7 ast 6 blk) C. Katterhenry (26 pts 6 reb 3 ast)
Saipele Berkowitz wasn’t going to be denied his second Big Ten Tourney Title in a row, putting up one of his best overall performances of the season as we dismantled Michigan down the stretch. The Wolverines put up a great fight in the tournament, blasting Penn State by 18, sliding past Northwestern by three on Friday and then upending Maryland on Saturday by a deuce at the buzzer to avoid overtime. But they just weren’t up to our level, and we head into the NCAA Tournament in prime postiion to defend our title from the pole position.
Big Ten Teams in the NCAA Tournament:
Buffalo: (1) Michigan State
Columbus: (1) Maryland
Columbus: (4) Nebraska
Austin: (10) Northwestern
Oakland: (5) Michigan
Oakland: (8) Indiana
Purdue (20-12) is headed for the NIT, while Illinois (17-14) is going to the CBI Tournament. Rutgers will play in the lowest level CBT Tournament. Penn State’s 17-16 final record left them on the outside this time, giving them no chance to follow up last year’s stunning Sweet Sixteen run by blitzing some minor tournament.
NCAA Tournament
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Date Opponent Score W/L Record Leaders
3/16 (16) Charleston So. W 89-64 31-5 S. Berkowitz (21 pts 23 reb 7 ast) A. Troesche (22 pts 12 reb 5 ast 1 stl)
3/18 (9) Georgetown W 65-52 32-5 A. Troesche (12 pts 11 reb 2 stl) K. Frederick (12 pts 6 reb 3 stl)
3/23 (5) Notre Dame W 97-75 33-5 A. Troesche (36 pts 1 reb 2 ast) S. Berkowitz (13 pts 18 reb 11 ast)
3/25 (2) Stanford W 83-72 34-5 C. Katterhenry (26 pts 4 reb 3 ast) S. Berkowitz (13 pts 18 reb 9 ast 5 blk)
4/1 (2) Villanova W 71-64 35-5 S. Berkowitz (29 pts 15 reb 5 blk) A. Troesch (11 pts 3 reb 2 ast 4 stl)
4/3 (5) Michigan L 68-75 35-6 S. Berkowitz (10 pts 10 reb 6 reb 7 blk) J. Fox (21 pts 3 reb 1 ast)
We won our opening game easily over Charleston Southern, while Maryland also blasted (16) Stony Brook by a similar 84-57 margin. Nebraska handled their own against (13) Dartmouth, sending the Big Green packing 76-66. The Big Ten rolled on Friday too, with Northwestern upending (7) UC Santa Barbara 92-79, Michigan holding off (12) Brigham Young 84-74, and at the end of the night (8) Indiana blew out the (9) Nevada Wolfpack 87-65. Perfection! Troesche led us to victory in a tighter defensive battle against Georgetown, sending us to the second weekend for the third year in a row. But Maryland collapsed in an offensive shootout against (9) Louisville, falling 87-92, while Nebraska handled their business against (5) Tennessee to advance 67-55, heading to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2028 (they have never gone further). Not a bad turnaround at all for a team that was 12-21 last year! Northwestern kept things rolling, upending (2) Missouri 76-59, but Indiana fell against (1) West Virginia 68-79. Michigan won their game against (13) Quinnipiac -- barely -- 68-62, after nearly blowing it, but they’re still moving on as well. Four for six, not too shabby for our conference!
Illinois was the only team to advance deep from the Big Ten in the lesser tournaments, beating Jacksonville State 74-50 to advance to the CBI Tournament Semifinals.
In the Sweet Sixteen we blew Notre Dame out of the water behind a 36-point performance by Troesche and another triple double by Berkowitz (the 11th of his career). Nebraska was not so lucky -- the Cornhuskers were stumped by (9) Louisville, losing 63-80 after a hell of a run. Northwesterm, meanwhile, lost a shootout against (3) UCLA, falling 91-99 in regulation against the Bruins in a true heartbreaker for the Wildcats. They thought for sure they had the team this year to give the 2029 Final Four Northwestern team a run for its money, but it wasn’t to be this year. Michigan played late in the day and stunned (1) West Virginia with an 82-66 beatdown.
In the Elite Eight we beat Stanford in a rematch of our Preseason NIT Semifinal seven point win, beating them this time by 11 behind 26 points from Katterhenry and another mammoth defensive performance by Berkowitz, sending us to the Final Four in back to back seasons! Michigan meanwhile won yet another upset, beating (2) Oregon 74-71 in a real slugfest! Yet again we’re getting two Big Ten programs in the Final Four, which should do nicely for our conference prestige.
Illinois lost in the CBT Tournament Semifinals to Miami (FL)’s Hurricanes 67-77.
In the National Semifinals, we took on (2) Villanova while (5) Michigan battled (5) Connecticut. And for the second year in a row we had a Big Ten National Championship Game, as we beat Villanova 71-64 before Michigan crushed the Huskies 88-72! And in our third meeting of the season, after a 32-32 first half and a solid second half defensive performance by Berkowitz, we stumbled down the stretch -- Troesch and Frederick were each held to single figures scoring as the Wolverines added fuel to our heated rivalry by beating us 75-68! Unbelievable. The Wolverines won their second title in school history, their first in nearly fifty years. They’re right behind us in the recruiting race this year so I expect we’ll be having more of these battles in the future.
Team Leaders
Scoring: Calvin Katterhenry (21.8 ppg) Alan Troesche (17.1 ppg) Saipele Berkowitz (11.6 ppg) Keith Frederick (11.3 ppg)
Rebounding: Saipele Berkowitz (15.2 rpg) Alan Troesche (7.6 rpg) Keith Frederick (7.1 rpg)
Assists: Saipele Berkowitz (7.1 apg) Jesse Fox (4.2 apg) Calvin Katterhenry (3.5 apg) Keith Frederick (2.1 apg
Steals: Keith Frederick (2.5 spg) Alan Troesche (1.4 spg) Saipele Berkowitz (0.9 spg)
Blocks: Saipele Berkowitz (4.3 bpg) Keith Frederick (1.5 bpg) Alan Troesche (0.8 bpg)
Graduating Players
Jesse Fox (4.0 GPA) 6.9 ppg 1.9 rpg 2.9 apg 0.6 spg 0.2 bpg (136 games, 95 starts)
John Masic (4.0 GPA) 0.5 ppg 0.3 rpg 0.3 apg 0.1 bpg (60 games)
Vid Villegas (2.7 GPA) 6.6 ppg 2.0 rpg 2.5 apg 0.9 spg 0.2 bpg (132 games, 63 starts)
Leaving Early
Calvin Katterhenry (3.2 GPA) 21.8 ppg 4.5 rpg 3.5 apg 0.8 spg 0.5 bpg (35 starts)
Alan Troesche (3.1 GPA) 17.1 ppg 7.6 rpg 2.0 apg 1.4 spg 0.8 bpg (35 starts)
Awards
Norton Award: Saipele Berkowitz
National Player of the Year: Saipele Berkowitz
National Defensive Player of the Year: Saipele Berkowitz
National Coach of the Year: Dale Connover
1st Team All American: Saipele Berkowitz
1st Team All American: Calvin Katterhenry
1st Team All American: Alan Troesche
Big Ten Player of the Year: Saipele Berkowitz
Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year: Saipele Berkowitz
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Calvin Katterhenry
1st Team All Big Ten: Saipele Berkowitz
1st Team All Big Ten: Calvin Katterhenry
1st Team All Big Ten: Alan Troesche
2nd Team All Big Ten: Keith Frederick
Maryland’s William Riddick won Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Commmitted Recruits -- Final List
6’6” SF Ryland Vanhoosier (HS Senior, Visalia CA) 3.2 GPA (#5 Ntl, #2 Reg) 24.2 ppg 9.8 rpg 3.8 apg 3.4 spg 1.8 apg
6’8” SG Earl Eschmeyer (HS Senior, Oliver Springs TN) 3.0 GPA (#7 Ntl, #3 Reg) 26.1 ppg 4.8 rpg 3.2 apg 4.1 spg 0.9 bpg
6’8” C Eryon Walcutt (HS Senior, South Bend IN) 3.0 GPA (#9 Ntl, #1 Reg) 22.5 ppg 13.2 rpg 2.8 apg 1.4 spg 6.0 bpg
6’7” PF Steve Edwards (HS Senior, Colfax WI) 3.0 GPA (#101 Ntl, #17 Reg) 15.5 ppg 8.9 rpg 3.7 apg 1.9 spg 1.9 bpg
6’1” SG Greyne Mamoepa (HS Senior, Nigeria) 2.6 GPA (#117 Ntl, #8 Reg) 13.3 ppg 3.9 rpg 3.6 apg 2.3 spg 2.5 bpg
We should have the #2 class in the nation yet again (Villanova had seven spots to fill and they look like they’ve restocked admirably and therefore earned the top spot). Jon Fox, at 58, agreed to another one year extension, bringing his salary to $219,637 / year through next season. I’m grooming Justin Smith to take over as Associate Head Coach when Fox does choose to move on or retire, but for right now I like that he’s there as a second mentor for the young assistant. The board has also granted my request for major improvements to our practice and workout facilities, which should boost us back to the top tier nationally as we fight to return to our third title game in a row next season.