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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.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick reached another landmark milestone in last Saturday's Centennial League tournament, using a perfect 5-0 record on the day to raise his career victory total to 1,076 while moving past former Lansing coach Julie Slater (1071 wins) for the No. 2 spot on Kansas' all-time victory list.
Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick has moved into the No. 2 spot for all-time volleyball wins in Kansas with 1,076. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But there were no celebrations or even a mention of the accomplishment to his Junior Blues, who won their fourth straight Centennial League championship.
"I think it's really cool,'' Rural senior Kate Hinck said. "I didn't know that at all, but that's really awesome. I feel like he doesn't like to brag about himself, but he's such a great coach and just to get to play for such an amazing program is really good.''
By Saturday night, Bordewick, who is in his 30th season with the Junior Blues. was already thinking about what his team could have done better in the Centennial tournament and about getting Rural ready for its next match.
"Our next big game is our next game and our next big tournament is our next tournament,'' said Bordewick, who is 1,076-275 in his career and 1,029-235 at Rural, including an 18-2 record this fall. "We don't play any (matches) this week but we've got plenty of chances this week to correct a lot of things, even though we won all five matches.
"But we dropped a set to Manhattan I don't think should have happened, I thought there were other sets that were too close that shouldn't have been close and for me with this group I think it's more of a mental toughness thing that I think we're slowly understanding. Their sense of urgency needs to speed up since we're kind of gearing towards the postseason here in a couple of weeks.''
Bordewick has led the Junior Blues to eight Class 6A state championships, with the most recent title coming in 2022, and 25 state tournament appearances, but it's the ones that got away that he said are the hardest to forget.
"I still think in '05 we had a chance to get that one and I think in 2010 we had a chance to get that one and we let it slip in the semis,'' Bordewick said. "Those are the ones that you should have had that stick with you. And that team (in 2021) that was undefeated going into championship Saturday, I felt so good about them and we had a team meeting, we had a little film review and everybody felt good and we liked our chances and then we let it slip.
"It's the ones that get away that will eat at you, eat at me anyway. But when you lose, you have to learn from it and go on. And that's one thing these guys have always been good at. You can pick apart things, we can understand things, we try to isolate things and hopefully it transfers to a game the next time.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After dropping its first three five-set decisions of the 2024 season for its lone defeats of the year, Washburn University volleyball got over that hump with a come-from-behind five-set victory over rival Emporia State Tuesday night in Lee Arena.
Washburn celebrates a service ace from junior Corinna McMullen (12) in Tuesday's five-set win over Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But while veteran Washburn coach Chris Herron was happy to get the 23-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-20 and 15-13 win over the Hornets, WU's third straight MIAA victory, he was also quick to remind his 12-3 team (3-2 in the conference) that there's still work to be done.
"Here's the deal. They (the Hornets) out-hit us, they out-blocked us, they out-dug us,'' Herron said. "The only thing we did better than them was serving the ball. We had 11 aces, they have five, and I think that may be the difference in the match. Everything was close, but they out-did us in all of those categories and we still won the game. Now I've been on the flipside of that before, too.''
Herron said the key now is to continue to making strides as the Ichabods move forward.
"We've got to be better than that,'' Herron said. "I just told them, I was disappointed with us after sets one, two and three. We were just kind of there, we were just kind of showing up, just kind of coasting. Then four and five we played with the energy that we need to play with, so it's good to win.''
Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Mangino cherishes being part of KU, K-State football turnarounds
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By KEVIN HASKIN
TopSports.news
Much has happened since Mark Mangino last coached a college football team.
The game still hinges on the punt, pass and kick. And for that matter, run, cover and tackle.
Former Kansas head football coach and former Kansas State assistant Mark Mangino (left) will join K-State coaching legend Bill Snyder in the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday. [Submitted photo]
However, oversight for a program, which Mangino managed as a winning coach and Orange Bowl champion in eight seasons at Kansas, can be far more turbulent. Among today’s issues:
- The onset of NIL collectives:
“I haven't talked to a college coach yet who didn't tell me it was a real pain,” said Mangino, who will be enshrined into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame during a ceremony Sunday at Topeka Hotel.
“It's really changed the way they operate. It's almost like a 24-hour job throughout the year just to pay attention to everything.”
- Robust activity within the transfer portal:
“I think a player should have the opportunity to transfer at least once if he sees a better opportunity,’’ Mangino said. “But this constant transfer thing … I don’t know if it’s healthy for the game. Guys who have played at three schools and played six to seven years, I mean, that’s not the spirit of college football.”
- Alterations caused by conference realignment:
“If I were in charge for a day,’’ said Mangino, “I'd put everybody back in the conferences they were in back in 1995.”
That year marked the end of Big Eight football. All members joined the Big 12, but four eventually left the conference. Colorado has since returned from the tattered Pac-12, but Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma are with the FBS power brokers, the Big Ten and SEC.
“People want to watch Oklahoma and Nebraska play, and some other old rivalries,’’ Mangino added. “I understand the economy and I don't know what the answer is. But I do know this: If things keep going the way they are, I believe there will be about a 40-team super league that is run NFL style.”
That arrangement would potentially leave both FBS programs in Kansas in precarious positions.
However, in his 17 years working in the state and raising a family here, Mangino engaged in one of college football’s greatest turnarounds at K-State and then proved KU could field a competitive program. The Jayhawks went 50-48 under Mangino and 3-1 in bowl games.
Although KU has surprisingly struggled to begin this season, that program still seems in good hands with Lance Leipold, while K-State remains consistently solid under Chris Klieman.
“To be part of that (K-State) turnaround was something else. That was special,” Mangino said. “And then to go to KU, that was another hard job. Kansas has got two hard jobs, boy. Really hard jobs. … You're in a place where there's probably more cattle than people.”
Yet during his time here, Mangino drove past much of that livestock along many backroads while either recruiting or following his son Tommy’s baseball exploits. Now, Mark and his wife, Mary Jane, travel occasionally to Texas to watch Tommy coordinate the offense for the heralded Lake Travis High School program, which produced Todd Reesing, Mangino’s record-setting quarterback at KU. The couple’s daughter, Samantha, and six grandchildren, will also celebrate Mangino’s KSHOF induction on Sunday.
Considering the response from family and friends when Mangino’s coaching path brought him to the state of Kansas, going into the state’s sports hall almost seems surreal.
“When we were leaving to go out there, people were crying in my driveway. I told them, it’s not like I'm going to Vietnam,” Mangino remembered. “Then, they’d come and visit us, and they didn’t want to leave. They’d cancel a flight for a couple more days, or even stay another week.
“They went from asking what’s the place called. Manhattan? Lawrence? And then they’d visit and find out those were great communities. They were awesome places to live, work and raise the kids.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball was picked ninth in the MIAA Preseason Media Poll and 10th in the Coaches Poll, released Tuesday morning by the conference.
Washburn women's basketball was tabbed for ninth and 10th-place MIAA finishes in the upcoming season by the media and coaches. [File photo/TSN]
In 2023-24 Washburn finished 13-16 with an 8-14 record in the MIAA to end the season 10th in the regular-season standings. The Ichabods qualified for the first round of the MIAA Tournament, where they fell 72-65 to No. 7 seed Nebraska Kearney.
Pittsburg State tops the Coaches Poll after winning the 2023-24 MIAA Tournament Championship. PSU recieved 164 total points with 10 of 14 first-place votes.
Fort Hays State was picked second with two first place votes and Northwest Missouri was tabbed third with the remaining two first-place votes.
The Ichabods received 68 points in the coaches poll, just behind Northeastern State, which came in ninth with 80 points and ahead of Central Oklahoma with 50 points.
