It's been a decent season to this point. We're 19-5, with an RPI in the 60's, and we've had a few highlights. We beat #20 Boston College at home to end non-conference play, and we played Army very tough (they're probably the best mid-major team in the country, and we lost 50-49 after having the ball to end the game). We've lost to a few Sims we probably should've beaten, but all told, we're fine.

Recruiting is underway, and I preface this by saying I probably won't be back at CCSU next season. We lose our entire starting backcourt, and the selection of guards the past few seasons in the recruit pools has just been awful. This is my 10th season here, as well, and it's time to start looking around to see what's next. Still, for now, I'm the head coach, and it falls on me to get new players into the fold, so off we go!

John Connolly (#186 PG) - The low ranking is because Connolly was ineligible when recruits were generated, and in this case, that nerfed his ranking on a list that's purely there for cosmetic reasons. For what he is, he's actually pretty good, and I'm happy I got him when I did. The same cycle I offered him (and he signed), Pittsburgh, Binghamton, and Clemson landed on his radar. If I'd waited any longer, I probably would've been hosed.

Anyway, Connolly may not improve much athletically, but he's already fast enough to press reasonably well, and he'll turn into a very good defender. Offensively, he's a good shooter that will turn into a great one, and while I wish he was a better passer/ball-handler, he'll at least grow into a good distributor. The only long-term negatives are that he won't be a great free-throw shooter, and his rebounding will be non-existent. Neither of those facts are ideal, but I can work around them.

Connolly will come to us raw, and his first season will be a rebuilding year for the program. If everything else goes as planned in recruiting and I'm still here, he'll almost certainly redshirt. If he does, he'll be a very good long-term project that will eventually develop into a very good starter (though great might be a stretch). If he doesn't, he won't play much until he's a junior, and that might stunt his growth a little.

There were two primary targets I had from the jump. One was a JuCo PG who would've been a fantastic two-year starter for us; I lost a three-way race for him, and he'll be playing for Richmond. The other, however, is coming to town.

Todd Coffey (#207 overall, #49 PG) - I choose to believe he's related to the former MLB relief pitcher who sprinted to the mound to the tune of the Ultimate Warrior's theme music. Haven't seen it? Here you go.

Kidding aside, Coffey is going to be an excellent offensive player for us from a very early stage. He's already a very good shooter and passer, and his speed will be an asset on both ends of the floor. The two things that may have scared bigger schools away were his low defense and lousy free-throw shooting. However, both of those abilities will go up considerably between now and when he's done, and his high work ethic will ensure we see some of those gains right away. Put another way: Remember Liu Emanuel, from last season? Coffey is basically Emanuel with higher potential and a work ethic that ensures he'll reach it.

I promised Coffey 10 minutes a game, and he'll get that with ease. Honestly, depending on how much Terry Boyer improves the rest of this season and how he bounces out of the offseason, there's a chance Coffey starts at point guard as a freshman. If not, though, he'll be an excellent sixth man (and may improve enough to bump Boyer to the bench sooner rather than later). I really, really like him, and he's got everything it takes to turn into a great mid-major player.

All told, we probably did as much damage this year as we could've hoped for. We won the CT (and survived a double-OT semifinal where our starting lineup fouled out!) and got to 24 wins before running into #2 seed Gonzaga in the first round of the NT and getting crushed by a pressing team that was far deeper than us. In other news, Daniel Levenson did what several of my prior point guards couldn't when he set a new record for career assists (Joseph Milam and Douglas Buchholtz came up just short), and Jay Ronning used a late-season surge to finish his career as a top-five scorer in school history.

Senior retrospectives will be up in the next few days. As far as anything beyond that...we'll see!

Two things: First, Gonzaga went on to win the national championship, which is kind of cool. If we're going to lose, we may as well lose to the guys that beat everyone else!

Secondly, the job change period opened up, and I've already applied for one position. I'm probably a longshot to get it, but there are a few others that could present themselves in the next day or two that I may need to pursue. It's not like the cupboard here is totally bare (our entire frontcourt comes back), but with how much we lose from this year's team (three starters that combined to average more than 40 points and 10 assists per game!) and the effects of digging deeper to find guards that can play, next year will be a pretty major rebuilding year for CCSU.

Anyway, senior stuff...

Daniel Levenson - It took three point guards, but I finally found one that set a new career assist record. Levenson was a great mid-major point guard, one I was surprised fell into my lap without a fight in recruiting (he was less than 30 miles from campus, but no other northeastern program even offered him a scholarship). He turned into not just an excellent distributor, but a decent shooter as well, which isn't something I rely on point guards to bring to the table. His speed was an asset in our press, and he actually led the entire country in steals per game (2.5) by a considerable margin; by comparison, only one other player averaged two a game.

RECORDS: 1st in assists (547), 7th in steals (150), 12th in FT% (80.1%)

Jay Ronning - I still remember yelling "YES!" and pumping my fist when Ronning signed with us in a 50-50 battle with Iowa State, and he turned into every bit the star I thought he'd be. His junior year was actually a bit of a disappointment, but his senior year was a tour de force. He basically won us the conference tournament, where he scored 80 points in three games, and he was the one guy who showed up against Gonzaga (he had 18 points in a game where we scored 62). I'm surprised he's not on the draft board, as he developed into the kind of player you're not supposed to see in low-level D1 play, and his absence will leave a huge hole in the lineup. Fun fact: He's just the second player in CCSU history to record 1,500 points, 200 rebounds, and 200 assists.

RECORDS: 5th in points (1,554), 11th in steals (142), 16th in 3PT% (44.1%), 19th in 3-pointers (199)

Dwight Pittman - Pittman redshirted his first year with us after coming in with a really good class five seasons ago. He was a very good prospect initially, and it really, REALLY helped his cause that he turned into a dead-eye outside shooter. He wound up just shy of a bunch of milestones; he finished 80 points shy of 1,000 and three assists shy of 300. Still, he was a valuable two-year sixth man and one-year starter.

RECORDS: T-11th in 3PT% (44.5%), T-22nd in steals (128)

CI.com Newswire01/24 02:05 PM

bomberball accepts head coaching position at Providence. C. Connecticut State searching for replacement...

I hope this program doesn't go Sim, and I had a heck of a time building it up to a B- prestige, but it was time to go (especially since three high-impact starters were headed out the door!). I'll likely keep updating this with senior stuff for the players I recruited, and I'll have a new Providence thread up shortly.

So I'm going to still do retrospectives for the guys I recruited. The Blue Devils went Sim for a season, but managed a winning record despite the AI trying to install a M2M defense my former recruits were in NO way equipped to run. Thankfully, they're back with a human coach now. Senior retrospectives are below...

Jacob Buchanan - Buchanan was a key reserve for two years and an important starter for two more. He was the NEC's Defensive POY as a senior, and one of the few guys cut out for a M2M system. Offensively, he was never a star, but he was a highly-dependable player who grew a lot in the time he was on-campus.

RECORDS: 21st in FG% (53.5%)

Kenneth Brown - Brown was the victim of horrific timing. He'd have started for 70-80% of low to mid-major D1 teams the past few seasons, but I recruited Ronald Kidd the season after Brown signed. That meant Brown was relegated to a reserve role, and that his career numbers aren't that great. He still turned into a very good role-player the team was fortunate to have.

Another 16-12 season for CCSU, another set of senior retrospectives...

Ronald Kidd - I'm a fan of fun stats, and here's something to chew on: Kidd is one of just five CCSU players in history to record 1,000 career points, 700 career rebounds, and 100 career blocked shots. He was the NEC's Player of the Year as a senior, and he finishes as a three-year starter that accomplished a great deal.

RECORDS: 6th in FG% (55.3%), T-21st in rebounds (702).

Rodney Jones - Try having a Ronald Johns, Ronald Kidd, and Rodney Jones on your roster at the same time. It's trippy.

Anyway, Jones redshirted his freshman year and turned into a really good low-D1 player. He shot nearly 48% from three-point range over his career, which is pretty amazing. The switch to a M2M defense after I left, however, really hurt him. He was a great athlete tailor-made for the press that got abandoned, and in a weird way, that hurt his offensive numbers. He finished his career 18 points shy of 1,000, and if they'd been a pressing team, I think they'd have won another postseason game or two, which would've meant he probably got there. Alas...

RECORDS: 2nd in 3PT% (47.6%).

Terry Boyer - I cannot stress enough how brutally bad the guard class was several seasons ago. It was so awful that its aftershocks were felt during my time at Providence, which also had to recruit players it shouldn't have had to touch.

That's why Boyer landed here. Despite not being a first-rate prospect for the level, he did reasonably well. Predictably, he was surpassed his senior year by both Todd Coffey and Kent Seeley, but he was a fine rotational player.