By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn men's basketball coach Brett Ballard is expecting big things out of his 2024-2025 Ichabods, an opinion apparently shared by Ballard's fellow MIAA coaches.
The Ichabods were picked on Tuesday as the team to beat in the upcoming conference season in the MIAA Coaches Poll after returning the bulk of their team from last year's 19-11 squad.
Senior Andrew Orr returns to lead the Washburn University men's basketball team after earning second-team All-MIAA recognition a year ago. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn junior guard Sam Ungashick earned All-MIAA honorable mention last season in his first season with the Ichabods. [File photo/TSN]
And although Ballard knows that polls mean nothing once the ball goes up for the start of the season, he appreciates the honor.
"I think you'd rather be at the top than the bottom, for sure,'' said Ballard, who is 137-75 in seven seasons at WU. "But I do think there's positives to it. I think it means you have good players back, I think it means you've had recent success, so I think those are positives, and on the flipside, it doesn't mean a whole lot this time of year and you have to handle that the right way.''
Ballard feels like his veteran team, which return 85 percent of its scoring and 75.5 percent of its rebounds, is up to the challenge.
"These guys have an appreciation for how hard it is to win in this league and you've got a bigger target on your back now and it just means your compete and your focus and your preparation have to be that much better,'' Ballard said. "How we handle that will determine a lot of the success that we have this year.''
"We have a sense of urgency with this group, which you want to see. It's early, but they've come in hungry and have had good energetic practices.''
The Ichabods return four players who started at least half of last season's 30 games and eight players return who saw action last year for the WU team that reached the MIAA Tournament semifinals.
Senior Andrew Orr was a second-team All-MIAA pick after averaging 13.3 points and 5.6 rebounds last season while junior Sam Ungashick received honorable mention selection after averaging 12.2 points and 3.8 rebounds.
Other returning starters include junior Brady Christiansen (7.9 points, 6.6 rebounds) and senior Michael Keegan (7.4 points, 5.3 rebounds).
Former Washburn Rural standout Jack Bachelor started 11 games and averaged 11.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game as a freshman.
The Ichabods have also added senior guard Jacob Hanna, a transfer from Illinois-Springfield, while Ballard believes a couple of Ichabod freshmen could also battle for playing time this winter.
"Jacob Hanna has acclimated really well,'' Ballard said. "He's athletic and a combo guard that we needed and he's adjusted well to our system, so you'll see him play a lot. Dillon Claussen will be a backup five man to Andrew Orr and Dillon's very poised for a freshman. He plays at a good pace and has a good skill set and understanding of the game, so I think you'll see him get opportunities and Kade Cook, the other freshman, has a high IQ and athletically better than I thought he'd be.
"Kade will be pushed because of the guys he has in front of him at that spot, but he's going to be very good and I think you could see him contribute, especially as the year goes along.''
The Ichabods will take the court on Oct. 29 when they will face perennial NCAA Division I power Kansas in an exhibition game in Allen Fieldhouse.
Ballard, a former Jayhawk, said that game will provide multiple benefits for the Ichabods.
"I think you sort of handle that with two different perspectives,'' Ballard said. "I think part of that is the experience, local kids getting a chance to play Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse. That's a big deal and I do want them to enjoy that experience. That's part of why you do this. Financially there's a piece to it. It's very beneicial for us to play that game financially.
"Now any time you go out and the lights are on and there's a referee and they're keeping score you want to try and compete and we will learn something from that and I think we'll be able to take some things from that game with a grain of salt. You're playing guys that athletically and from a skills standpoint are there for a reason, and it's not knock on our guys and it doesn't mean you can't go compete with them if you do things really, really well, but it's also an understanding of what we're going to try to get out of that and hopefully learn a little bit about ourselves.''
Following the KU game Washburn will play a pair of games in Kansas City, Mo.'s storied Municipal Auditorium, facing Sioux Falls, S.D. and defending national champion Minnesota State.
"We played the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country three years ago, No. 1 two years ago and last year we were top 10 of 11 so we're going to play a good schedule and find out where we're at, learn from it and hopefully some of these non-con games will get us ready for the MIAA,'' Ballard said.
The Ichabods will play their home opener on Nov. 12 against Ottawa and will open MIAA play on Nov. 19 at home against Pittsburg State.
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