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By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
The 2024-2025 campaign ended at 14-8 and a first-round appearance in the State Tournament for Topeka West boys basketball last year under then first-year head coach Christian Ulsaker.
That was the Chargers' first trip back to the big dance since 2022 after they were the runnerups in Class 5A in 2021.
Topeka West senior Malakyah Duncan was a second-team All-Shawnee County pick last season for the 14-8 Chargers. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Keimani Paul is a top returner for Topeka West, receiving Second 10 All-Shawnee County honors last season. [File photo/TSN]
Ulsaker is appreciative of what legendary coach Rick Bloomquist brought to the USD 501 community and the tradition of having all his players ready for any situation, and Ulsaker said it’s his job to uphold that.
“My saying this year is the standard is the standard, this is what we want it to be and where it’s going to stay and we got to continue to do that,” Ulsaker said.
The Chargers will have three starters back from last year's team but the goal is to develop the collective with what the Chargers have and Ulsaker is confident this group can do that.
“I’m ready to see some of those now upperclassmen fill those voids that might be missing from last year,” Ulsaker said.
“My goal this year is a player-led team. I want a group that’s going to stick together through thick and thin, deal with adversity really well and be able to do that together. They won’t need a rah rah speech from the coach at halftime, they’ll be able to do it themselves.”
Ulsaker said West wants to continue to be a top team in 5A like area schools Shawnee Heights, Highland Park, Seaman, etc. and the United Kansas Conference helps with that and there’s never any Tuesday or Friday nights off.
Some things you’ll see with the Chargers are athleticism, high basketball IQ and that the players are in the gym constantly.
Ulsaker said they’ve seen a lot of different scenarios which he said is hard to coach if they’ve never seen it but they have.
“I genuinely think this team loves each other,'' Ulsaker said. "That’s a huge thing for a team to have success is to see their teammates have success. It doesn’t have to be about ‘me’, they want them to have success and be happy for their teammates because they’re almost like brothers,” Ulsaker said.
Guys who can help with that are MalakyahDuncan, Keimani Paul and Jayveon Traylor to name a few.
“Our chemistry is through the roof and I’ve been playing with them for a while now and it’s been great,” Traylor said.
“Our quickness and our size (are plusses). Our size will be nice this year.”
Ulsaker will show his intensity and emotion in practices and games and that feeds into the team
“I’m able to coach them that way because they know I truly love them,” Ulsaker said. “They understand that they can come into my office and call me whenever they need and I’ll be there for them.
"You can’t have a relationship where you can constructively criticize a player if they don’t think you love them. These kids are allowing me to coach them hard because they know off the court I’ll do whatever I can for them.”
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By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
From the first day of practice after Dwayne Anthony was hired as Hayden's boys basketball coach prior to last season, the enthusiasm and attention to detail was stressed immediately.
In year two, that’s no different. The intensity is higher and giving less than 100 percent is not acceptable.
Dwayne Anthony won't have his complete Hayden team together until after next Friday's state championship football game, but he has high hopes for the 2025-2026 campaign. [File photo/TSN]
“I live by a thing called push -- praying for some good success to happen,'' Anthony said. "That’s my own personal message but I try to live out that every day. We just need to show up as the best version of ourselves.
"If we’re not winning, then we’re improving and that’s the standard. We’re not coming in here being defeated, giving lackluster effort, but always winning and improving hopefully.”
Coming off a 13-9 record last season, Anthony knows he’ll have to retool his roster a little bit, but it’s simple in trying to replicate last year's success.
“Fundmentals, making sure we’re in shape and then the mentality in some of the things I believe that young men need to be taught at this age, helping them go about certain challenges, the ways to deal with ups and downs, being prepared mentality as much as being ready physically and sound fundamentals,” Anthony said.
He said building those relationships and trust right away is so key in the early going because that will empower the players to do more.
“The buy-in from my guys last year was tremendous and the buy-in that I seem to have so far and some of the energy already. I appreciate the trust that they’ve shown me so far,” Anthony said.
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By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Dating back to 2023, Hayden has made it to the state tournament three straight seasons.
The Wildcats got knocked out in the first round in 2023. In 2024, Hayden finished 21-5 and posted a third-place finish. Last year, Hayden finished third again with a 22-3 record.
Hailey Schmidtlein is set to start her sophomore season for Hayden after earning first-team All-Shawnee County recognition last season. [File photo/TSN]
Coach Carvel Reynoldson enters year number seven with Hayden and said the year before he arrived took over, the Wildcats only won six games.
Despite suffering heavy graduation losses from last season's third-place state finishing team, Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson has high hopes for his Wildcats this winter. [File photo/TSN]
There were many ups and downs at that time and Reynoldson feels like winning the Centennial League last year proves the Wildcats have turned the corner. With the team losing Millie Ramsey, Brylee Meier and Norma Greco, Reynoldson's heard that people believe Hayden will take a step back, but he doesn’t think so.
“The heart and tenacity the girls are showing me are giving me hope,” Reynoldson said. “We have a senior class that has played all four years and knows the standards and they enforce them. A lot of times, I don’t have to because they do.
"They’re an athletic group, we’re a lot faster than we were last year, we’re tenacious, but replacing what we lost is going to be difficult from a scoring standpoint. Everybody knows that, but I love the tenacity we play with.”
Something else that sticks out is that the experience the girls have gained being at the state tournament the last couple of years, but also watching the seniors before them hold the team accountable.
A couple of players Reynoldson will rely on heavily will be senior Kaydence Watts and sophomore Hailey Schmidtlien, who was a first-team All-Shawnee County and All-Centennial League pick as a freshman while being named the county and league newcomer of the yer.
Schmidtlien said one thing you’ll see from this group is the heart they’ll show, even though for some of her teammates, basketball may not be their number one sport.
“I think it’s been so much fun so far, I think these girls have learned a lot and you can tell. Our scrimmage day one looks nothing like it does now,” Schmidtlien said.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 2-ranked Washburn Ichabods will be back on the road Saturday as they travel to Liberty, Mo. to face the William Jewell Cardinals at 3 p.m.
Bryson Smith scored 22 points, including the go-ahead basket, in Washburn's 85-81 win over Rockhurst Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn enters the game 5-0 after topping Rockhurst 85-81 on Wednesday in Lee Arena.
William Jewell is coming off a 77-72 win over Emporia State on Wednesday and is 2-1 this season.
With Wednesday's win over the Hawks, the Ichabods improved to 40-1 all-time in their home openers, including 35 straight wins.
Junior guard Jack Bachelor, a Washburn Rural product, leads the nation in 3-pointers made with 16 and sophomore Dillon Claussen is eighth in the nation in double-doubles with two. Claussen is also 13th in the nation in field goal percentage at 78.4 and eighth in total rebounds with 40.
Jeremiah Jones leads the nation in total steals with 18 and is ranked 13th in steals per game at 3.60 per contest.
Justice Sutton leads William Jewell in scoring with a 17.7 scoring average.
Isaac Patterson is scoring 14.7 points per game with a team-high 7.0 rebounding average and Kyle Scharbrough is scoring 12.7 points a game.
The Ichabods lead the William Jewell series 14-7 after winning 81-73 last season in Topeka.
The Ichabods have lost their last two games played in Liberty, with their last win coming on Dec. 1, 1988 in a 76-58 win.
Washburn turned a five-point deficit with 2:29 to play into Wednesday's four-point win over Rockhurst.
The Ichabods outscored the Hawks 11-2 to end the game, led by Smith's driving layup with 51 seconds remaining to give the Ichabods a 81-79 lead.
After a key defensive stop, Tyson Ruud hit a free throw to extend the WU lead to three and Sam Ungashick came up with a steal in the final seconds and sank two free throws with three seconds left to seal the win.
Smith led the Ichabods with 22 points, four rebounds and five assists. Bachelor added 17 points and three assists and Claussen scored 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Ruud came off the bench for 13 points and six rebounds.
Washburn returns home to face Friends on Tuesday and will host Ottawa next Saturday.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn women's basketball made a splashing debut inside the new Lee Arena on Friday night, cruising to a 70-47 win over Southwest Baptist in the opening day of the Washburn Classic.
Washburn senior Yibari Nwidadah led the way with 19 points and eight rebounds as the Ichabods rolled to a 23-point win over Southwest Baptist Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods will wrap up the tournament on Saturday, facing Metropolitan State of Denver at 4 p.m.
The first seven points in Friday game came from 2-1 Washburn, starting with a 3-pointer by Payton Sterk on the first possession.
Washburn held the Bearcats (1-2) scoreless until the 5:49 mark in the first quarter.
After Southwest Baptist got within five Washburn scored 10 points in a row, going up 22-7 after Aniah Wayne knocked down a trey. Behind an 8 of 14 shooting effort the Ichabods built a 22-10 lead after one.
A layup by senior Yibari Nwidadah with 2:29 to go before half put Washburn up 37-18, its largest lead of the game to that point. The Bearcats finished the half on a 7-2 run to go into the break down by 14.
Out of the break the Ichabods quickly pushed the lead back up to 19 with Britany Kogbara scoring on the inside. Washburn's defense stepped up in the third, holding Southwest Baptist to just 4 of 14 shooting in the quarter. Nwidadah got a buzzer-beating and-one conversion to go, wrapping up the quarter by extending the Ichabod lead to 20 at 54-34 with her free throw.
The first nine points in the fourth came by Washburn, with the lead reaching 30 points after Gabi Giovannetti drilled a 3-pointer on an assist by Brooke Gomez with 5:50 to play.
All 14 Ichabods logged action on the night as the Ichabods eased into the 23-point win.
