DENVER – The University of Denver men's basketball program will open the Tim Bergstraser era on Monday night when the Pioneers travel to Seattle. Opening tip on ESPN+ is set for 8 p.m. MT/7 p.m. PT.

SERIES HISTORY:
Denver holds a 3-1 series lead, including a sweep of regular season conference games in the two programs' one year as conference foes together in the Western Athletic Conference (2012-13). The Pioneers are 1-1 all-time in Seattle, winning 64-51 in 2013 and losing the first meeting between the wo programs in November, 2018.

DENVER IN SEASON OPENERS:

• Denver is 11-16 in season openers since the program turned DI in the 1998-99 season.
• The Pioneers are 0-10 in Division I season openers that are true away games.
• Including all the eras of the Denver men's basketball program, the Pioneers are 18-36 in true road season openers, including 11-29 in the NCAA eras.
• Last Season: at Stanford 85, Denver 62
• Last Win (11/7/22): at Denver 68, Idaho 63
• Last Season-Opening Win on the Road (11/22/87) Denver 83, at New Mexico Highlands 76 (DU was in the NAIA)
• Season Openers on the Road Streak: L12

THE TIM BERGSTRASER ERA

• Tim Bergstraser was named the 34th head coach in the men's basketball program's history on April 14.
• At age 34 (as of Oct. 1), Bergstraser is the eighth youngest Division I men's basketball head coach in the country in 2025-26.
• Bergstraser retained three players from last year's Denver roster, kept one DU commit and signed 11 transfers late in the transfer portal.
• Bergstraser came to Denver after three seasons at Minnesota State Moorhead, where he went 75-22, leading the Dragons to three-consecutive 25-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
• MSUM won two NSIC Tournament titles in his three seasons, and reached the NCAA Sweet 16 in his final season with the Dragons in 2024-25, the program's first regional final appearance since 2014-15.
• In 2023-24 MSUM opened the campaign 14-0 to earn the program's first No. 1 ranking in program history.
• Bergstraser's teams in his three years at MSUM all finished with a 3.4 or better, and earned the conference's Elite 18 Award winner for the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the NSIC Championship.
• Prior to taking over as the head coach, Bergstraser was an assistant for four seasons at MSUM, an assistant at Quincy for a year, a grad assistant for two at MSUM, an assistant at Wisconsin-River Falls and a student-assistant at St. Cloud State after his third ACL injury cut his playing career short.

DENVER'S ASSISTANTS

• Associate head coach Spenser Bland comes to the Mile High City from being in the same position on the MSUM staff under Bergstraser.
• Bergstraser said in his 2025-26 season preview radio show that he would not have taken the Denver job if Bland didn't agree to come with him.
• Bland will serve as the program's offensive coordinator.
• In the middle of seven seasons at Minnesota State Moorhead, of which he spent the final two as the associate head coach, Bland coached one season at the University of Sioux Falls (2021-22).
• A former assistant in the Summit League, Kyle Heikkinen joined Tim Bergstraser's staff after five seasons at Western Illinois, of which he spent the final two as the associate head coach.
• Heikkinen also had assistant jobs at Highland CC and Wisconsin-Whitewater, combining for a 237-124 record in his previous 12 seasons as an assistant.
• Abe Woldeslassie joined Bergstraser's staff after spending the last seven seasons as the head coach at Macalester (NCAA DIII).
• Prior to his time in Minnesota, Woldeslassie had positions on DI staffs at Siena, Davidson and Dartmouth.
• Scott Gauthier was named the program's Director of Operations, coming to Denver after a year as an assistant at IU Indy.
• Gauthier's previous coaching stops also include a year at Lindenwood and seven seasons at the University of Missouri - St. Louis.
• Nihilo Ibarra was the last addition to the staff, joining Denver after serving as the head manager for San Diego State's 2022-23 squad that made the national title game, and two seasons as a graduate assistant at Nebraska.

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER ACCEPTS WCC INVITE FOR 2026-27

• On October 31, the University of Denver announced it has accepted an invitation to join the West Coast Conference in nine sports, beginning in the 2026-27 season. 
• "My immediate response was excited. I understand how big it is for university overall athletics. I understand that it's a power conference for sure, and I think it's just the absolute perfect fit for our program and university." Head Coach Tim Bergstraser 
• Denver will join the West Coast Conference in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis and women's volleyball.
• The move provides Denver with a significant enhancement to the overall reputation of the university and brand association, allying DU with highly regarded, mostly private institutions with stronger academic ranking and profiles that will further strengthen the university's position in the western United States. 

DENVER'S DI STATE HISTORY

• In Denver's DI history, the Pioneers have had student-athletes from 30 different states.
• The 2025-26 roster added one new state to Denver's list in Wisconsin (Burke, Dandridge).
• 42 DI student-athletes have stayed in their home state of Colorado.
• Including two student-athletes on the 2025-26 roster, 21 Pioneers have come from the state of Texas.

WORLD WIDE PIOS

• Denver's 2025-26 roster has student-athletes from 11 different states and Congo.
• The Pios have multiple players from Minnesota (Kinsey, Wysockie), Texas (Cunningham) and Wisconsin (Burke, Dandridge).

DENVER'S DI INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR

• In the program's Division I history, the Pioneers have had players from 13 different countries outside of the United States, including multiple players from Australia (3), Canada (2), Croatia (2) and Spain (2).
• On the current roster, Didier Maleng is the first from Congo.

FOUR PIOS STAYING ON BOARD

• Denver returns three players from the 2024-25 roster, and one recruit that had committed under the previous staff.
• Josh Lee, Loch Cunningham and Devin Carney stayed on the 2025-26 roster, while freshman Trajan Thompson honored his commitment to become a Pio.
• Lee played in 31 of 32 games last year, starting 16. He averaged 6.6 points, while pulling down 2.8 boards.
• Thompson was a 2025 McDonald's All-American East Nominee, and a NCISAA All-State selection.

DI TRANSFERS

• With Bergstraser's hiring in the weeks before the transfer portal closed, Denver was able to sign two DI transfers that fit into the new coaching staff's system.
• Grad students Jeremiah Burke (North Dakota State) and Julius Rollins (Western Illinois) joined the program this offseason.
• Burke was a NJCAA First Team All-American in 2022-23 at Iowa Lakes Community College before transferring to NDSU. The Milwaukee native averaging 3.6 points and 1.9 rebounds in 8.4 minutes per game last season.
• Rollins played in all 31 games for Western Illinois last season, making 27 starts. He averaged 9.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists, finishing in double figures 16 times, including a 20-point game on December 6.

MINNESOTA STATE MOORHEAD QUARTET JOINS DENVER

• In addition to its new head coach and associate head coach, Denver has four transfers from Minnesota State Moorhead that joined the program for the 2025-26 season.
• Sophomore Carson Johnson had his redshirt lifted midway through his freshman campaign, and went on to lead the Dragons to the Regional Final, averaging 19.8 points per game, and draining a team-high 64 three-pointers.
• Johnson became the first freshman in NSIC history to be named the NSIC Tournament Most Valuable Player, going for 28, 23 and 27 in the three-game week.
• Johnson later scored 26 on 5-of-11 shooting from deep to earn a spot on the NCAA Central Regional All-Tournament Team.
• Senior forward Logan Kinsey was named to the All-NSIC First Team and the NSIC All-Tournament Team a year ago, averaging 14.6 points and 5.3 rebounds in 34 games for Bergstraser's Dragons.
• Kinsey also averaged double figures in his sophomore season, going for 11.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest while leading MSUM back to the NCAA Tournament.
• Sophomore Shaun Wysocki played in all 34 games for MSUM last season, making 24 starts in his freshman campaign. The Rochester, Minnesota, native averaged 7.6 points and 3.9 boards per game, while finishing second on the team in blocked shots with 28.
• Corleone Dandridge redshirted his freshman season, but joined his coaches in the move to the Mile High City. In his prep career, Dandridge was twice named Newcomer of the Year, playing AAU for two different teams in Dallas and one in Milwaukee.

BIG MEN TRANSFERS

• Bergstraser's staff added a pair of junior college transfer big men to the roster in the late spring in junior Didier Maleng (South Plains College) and junior Gabe Oldham (Tucson, Arizona).
• Maleng is a 6-9 forward from Kinshasa, Congo, and played in 36 games last year at South Plains, averaging 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
• Oldham is a 6-8 forward from Pima CC, who finished 35-1 and claimed third place in the NJCAA Division II Tournament. Oldham scored 13 points per game, and shot 63.4% from the floor, while pulling down 9.4 rebounds per game.

BACKCOURT TRANSFERS

• Graduate student guard Zane Nelson transfered from Missouri Western State, earning All-MIAA Second Team honors. Nelson played in 31 games, averaged 15.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists a night for the DII Griffons that finished 18-13.
• Junior guard Kaden Holdbrook joined the Pioneers from Macalester where he averaged 15.8 points and 1.8 assists in 15 games before missing the remainder of the season due to injury.

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