TOPEKA (KSNT) – The Washburn University men's basketball team will return 85% of its scoring and playing time from the 2023-24 season for next year's campaign.
The Ichabods finished tied for fourth in the MIAA last season with a relatively young team, but they feel they can do even more in 2024-25.
“We have great potential, we've always talked about that, but it takes work to get there,” said sophomore Jack Batchelor. “We have a lot of guys returning, so we're really excited, but we're just going to keep working hard and getting better every day so we can be as good a team as we can be next year.”
The Topeka team won the MIAA Tournament in 2021, but hasn't finished in the top three in the league since. Will next season be the season that re-establishes the Topeka team as one of the best teams in the conference?
“We came out last year knocking on the door to win a championship with a really young team,” said head coach Brett Ballard, who is in his eighth year at the helm at Washburn. “… I think it's going to be exciting. We have some experienced guys returning and a lot of unselfish, tough, competitive kids. So we're excited to see what the future holds here.”
Ballard expects his team will be a target.
“A lot of people look at us as one of the strongest teams in the MIAA, so we've got to go out there and give it our all,” Ballard said.
Ichabod largely avoided the increasingly common transfer portal bug. Most impressively, Washburn maintained most of its production while adding Jacob Hanna, a transfer from the University of Illinois-Springfield. Adding a big-time playmaker without scaring others off has proven rare in the 2024 college basketball class, but Ballard and his staff found a way. This method has been years in the making.
“We always tell our players, when you come to a place like Washburn, you're going to be competitive,” Ballard said. “The depth of the player base means there's competition every year. If you're afraid of that or you don't want that, this is probably not the place for you. We try to communicate that to our players as we recruit them.”
Ultimately, Ballard is asking his young players to put the team and its wins above themselves — a reasonable request, but one he acknowledges is easier said than done.
“Maybe it's sacrificing minutes, sacrificing shots, sacrificing points,” Ballard said. “It's not easy. You try to convince yourself of that. We've had guys that have believed that ever since we've been here. That's what great teams end up doing. I think we have guys in the locker room that understand that as long as we all sacrifice at a certain level, the mountain will be big enough for everybody.”
Besides Hanna, Washburn is looking forward to seeing Tyson Rood contribute to the lineup. Rood was a highly-touted prospect out of Basehore Linwood High School but missed his entire freshman season due to injury.
The team is also looking to see more from Batchelor, a Topeka native who averaged 11.5 points as a freshman last season. The Washburn Rural High School graduate changed Coach Ballard's mind about the idea of redshirting, and Coach Ichabod is pleased the change has been a good one.
“He exceeded expectations,” Ballard said. “High IQ. Possessive. Competitive. Tough kid. But he also made great strides physically and had a great year.”
Batchelor hopes to develop as a leader before and during his sophomore season.
