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This will be the women's basketball team's first season as Ichabods. Washburn's female teams joined the male teams as Ichabods this year, dropping the Lady Blues nickname.
Washburn is 36-8 in season openers and has won 14 straight, including all 13 under McHenry.
This is the first time McHenry will open the season in a true road game. He's 3-0 in neutral-site openers and he's started his other 10 seasons at home.
Washburn is making its first trip to Florida since playing these same two teams in a classic hosted by Barry in 2008-09. WU won both those games and started the year 12-0.
The Ichabods open the season against four straight NCAA II opponents. They won't play at home until November 23 against Southwestern.
WU split its exhibition games with a loss to Kansas State and a win over Livin' The Dream.
Casyn Buchman averaged 18.0 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 44% from the field.
Washburn's post players also averaged big numbers.
Honor Duvall had 15.5 and
Kara Lee had 14.5 a game.
Janelle Travis and
Dana Channel each averaged at least five assists a game in the two exhibitions. Travis had 5.5 and Channel had 5.0.
Washburn is 22nd in the USA Today Sports preseason poll and Nova Southeastern is fourth. The Sharks finished 12th last year after going 23-9 and advancing to the NCAA Elite 8.
Barry went 15-13 last year and was eighth in the Sunshine State Conference at 5-11. NSU won the league at 11-5.
Washburn has eight newcomers on its roster and just five returners. The Ichabods lost all five regular starters from last year's 23-6 team that won its second straight MIAA title and finished 14th in the nation.
The Ichabods were picked third in the MIAA coaches and media preseason polls. The coaches picked Emporia State first and the media picked Central Missouri first.
Washburn was picked 22nd in the USA Today Sports preseason poll. This is Washburn's lowest preseason rank since being unranked in 2002-03. 22nd is also its lowest ranking in its current streak of 34 straight rankings.
Ron McHenry is 342-71 (.828) in his 14th year at Washburn. He is the winningest DII coach among those with at least 10 years experience and he's led Washburn to 12 straight NCAA tournaments.
Ichabods open season at fourth-ranked Nova Southeastern's Tipoff Classic
The Ichabods will open their 45th season of basketball with a pair of games this weekend against Sunshine State Conference teams in the Nova Southeastern Tipoff Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The 22nd-ranked Ichabods will play Saturday at 11 a.m. Central against fourth-ranked NSU and then play Sunday at 1 p.m. against Barry.
Washburn split its two exhibition games this year and went 23-6 last year and won the MIAA for the second straight season with a 16-2 record. The Sharks went 23-9 overall, shared the SSC regular season title at 11-5 and advanced to the NCAA Elite 8 to finish 12th in the final national poll. The Buccaneers went 15-13 and finished eighth in the league at 5-11.
Barry will open its season Saturday against Stonehill at 1 p.m. and Stonehill will play NSU Sunday at 11 a.m. as the fourth team in the Tipoff Classic.
Washburn is opening the season on the road against four straight NCAA Division II opponents and won't play at home until November 23 against Southwestern (Kan.). The Ichabods play a neutral-site game with Ouachita Baptist on November 16 and then play at Drury on November 21.
Washburn looking for 15th straight season-opening win
The Ichabods have won 14 straight season openers in a streak that started in 1999-00, one year before
Ron McHenry took over the program. Overall, Washburn is 36-8 in season openers.
Washburn has never opened the year in a true road game under McHenry but has started three different seasons in two-game classics. Washburn is 6-0 in those games.
Overall, McHenry averages 9.9 straight wins to open each of his 13 seasons. He's won as few as one straight in 2000-01 and as many as 32 straight in 2005-06.
No more Lady Blues
Washburn's female athletic teams dropped the Lady Blues nickname over the summer and starting this school year, all Washburn teams are known as Ichabods. The change gives all athletic teams one of Washburn's key early benefactors, Ichabod Washburn, as their nickname.
Washburn pledged $25,000 to Lincoln College after its founding in 1865 and the school later changed its name to Washburn University and the men's teams eventually took the Ichabods nickname. The women's basketball team had been using the Lady Blues nickname since its inception in 1969-70.
McHenry begins 14th season at Washburn as NCAA II's winningest active coach
Washburn head coach
Ron McHenry returns for his 14th season at Washburn with the highest winning percentage among active NCAA II coaches with at least 10 years at four-year schools.
McHenry is 342-71 (.828) overall and he will need just four more conference wins to get his 200th MIAA victory. He's 196-46 (.810) in MIAA games.
McHenry is a four-time MIAA coach of the year and he has eight MIAA regular season titles. He's been to 12 straight NCAA tournaments and he coached Washburn to an NCAA II national title in 2004-05.
He started the year second all-time in NCAA II history among coaches with at least 10 years with an .828 winning percentage. Lloyd Clark holds the record with an .834 winning percentage at Delta State from 1984-2002.
Ichabods picked 22nd in the nation; poll gives Washburn top-five game to open season
Washburn will open the year ranked 22nd in the USA Today Sports preseason poll and will be tested early as season-opening opponent Nova Southeastern is ranked fourth.
The Ichabods have been ranked in 174 of the last 175 polls, dating back to week three of the 2002-03 season. The final poll of the 2010-11 season was the last time Washburn was not ranked.
Emporia State is the highest ranked MIAA team with a No. 5 ranking after a 23-9 season last year. The Ichabods and Hornets won't play until February as they battle February 5 in Topeka and February 22 in Emporia.
Central Missouri is eighth in the poll and Washburn will travel to UCM January 6. MIAA opponents Pittsburg State, Northeastern State and Fort Hays State and non-conference opponent Drury all earned votes in the poll but were not ranked.
MIAA coaches and media pick Ichabods third in preseason poll
The Ichabods will have some work to do if they are going to repeat as MIAA champions for a third straight time. The conference coaches and media both picked Washburn to finish third in the MIAA preseason women's basketball polls released October 24.
Washburn earned one first-place vote among the league's 14 head coaches and finished with 143 points in the poll. The coaches picked Emporia State first with 164 points and Central Missouri earned 158 to finish second in the voting. The media picked UCM first with 359 points and ESU second with 338. Washburn earned 312 votes and six of the 27 first-place votes. Fort Hays State was picked fourth and Pittsburg State was fifth in both polls.
Washburn won the MIAA last year with a 16-2 record and Central Missouri and Northeastern State tied for second with 14-4 records. Emporia State finished fourth at 13-5 and won the MIAA postseason tournament.
Three returners and two transfers projected to start for Washburn
Washburn will start three returners but only two of them bring starting experience after
Brittney Lynch started the first 14 games last year and
Casyn Buchman started once.
Junior
Janelle Travis will start at point guard after transferring from Mineral Area CC last year where she averaged 13.2 points and 5.0 assists for the Cardinals. She shot .984 from the free throw line with 63 makes in 64 attempts and she was a 45 percent shooter from 3-point range.
Buchman will start at another guard position. The junior played in all 29 games last year with all but one coming off the bench. She is Washburn's leading returning scorer with 5.3 points a game and she scored in double figures four times with a career high 13 against Emporia State on January 2.
Junior
Dana Channel will be Washburn's third guard as she will see her first action since 2011-12 after she took a medical redshirt last year. She played in 10 games as a sophomore two years ago and scored a season-high five points two different times.
Lynch will start at forward after scoring 3.3 points a game in 22 contests last year. She started the first 14 then missed nine games due to injury and played off the bench after that.
Kara Lee, the only senior on the roster, will be Washburn's starting post player. She played off the bench at Missouri-Kansas City last year and averaged 3.5 points a game and 2.6 rebounds.
Washburn suiting just 11, including just one senior, to start season
Washburn will suit up just 11 of the 13 players on its roster and will have just one senior in Division I transfer
Kara Lee.
Four juniors and a sophomore make up the Ichabods' five returners. Among the eight newcomers, junior
Taylor Ignoto will not be eligible until the end of the fall semester and freshman
Jada Lynch was injured in the preseason and will take a redshirt.
Quick history review
In Washburn's 44 years of basketball since 1969-70, the Ichabods are 823-356-1 (.698) in 1180 games. They have 13 MIAA regular season titles and nine tournament titles since joining the league in 1989-90.
Thirty all-America awards have been won between 16 different players and Washburn has seven MIAA MVPs and 22 MIAA first-teamers.
The Ichabods won the 2004-05 NCAA II national title and set an NCAA II record with a 51-game winning streak stretching from 2004-05 into the 2005-06 season. Guard Jennifer Harris was the NCAA II player of the year in 2005-06 and was the No. 20 pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft.
