•    For the first time in 24 years the Washburn Ichabods are returning to the NCAA Elite Eight as they will face Lenoir-Rhyne on Tuesday, March 25 at 8:30 p.m. in Evansville, Ind.
•    The Ichabods are making their fourth trip to the NCAA Elite Eight joining the 1993, 1994 and 2001 Washburn squads.
•    No. 5  Washburn (29-3) advanced to the Elite Eight after winning the Central Region as the No. 1 seed hosting three games in Topeka picking up wins over Harding (85-57), Concordia-St. Paul (94-78), and MSU Moorhead (93-65) in the regional title game.
•    Lenoir-Rhyne is 29-5 this season and winners of its last nine games and is ranked No. 10 in the lastest NABC Poll.
•    The Bears defeated No. 25-ranked UNC Pembroke 76-74 in overtime to advance to their first Elite Eight in program history.
•    The Ichabods enter the Elite Eight as the No. 4 seed while Lenoir-Rhyne is the No. 5 seed.
•    The Ichabods are 19-16 all-time in NCAA Tournament play going 8-3 in home contest.
•    Washburn is 3-3 at the Elite Eight and 2-1 in the national quarterfinals.
•    The Ichabods have never faced a team from the South Athletic Conference in the NCAA Tournament.
•    The last time the Ichabods hosted the NCAA Regional it was the South Central Bracket and a six-team regional. After a first-round bye, Washburn defeated West Texas A&M 86-61 on March 9, 2001 in an 86-61 win and then on the following night, the Ichabods defeated Northwest Missouri 67-61 in front of more than 4,000 in attendance to advance to the Elite Eight and then eventually to the national championship game.
•    The Ichabods clinched their 11th MIAA regular season championship after their 90-60 win over Rogers State on Senior Day on Feb. 22.
•    The Ichabods' 29 wins this season is tied for second on the Ichabod program single-season chart.
•    The Ichabods' single season record for wins in a season is 35 when the Ichabods won the NAIA National Championship in 1987.
•    The Ichabods recorded a program-best 17 wins during the MIAA season this year.
•    The Ichabods have been in the top five in the national rankings for 16-straight weeks for the first time in program history.
•    The Ichabods finished the 2023-24 season with a 19-11 record advancing to the MIAA Tournament semifinals.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 31, 20-win seasons and five under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his eight seasons receiving  four NCAA postseason berths.
•    The 2024-25 season marks the 120th season of Ichabod basketball.
  •    The Ichabods recorded their 1,700th all-time program against Rogers State earlier this season. The Ichabods are the seventh NCAA D2 program to reach the 1,700 win mark.
•    Andrew Orr became the 28th member of the Ichabod 1,000 point club with a free throw at Fort Hays State earlier this season … he now has 1,338 career points sitting in 12th all-time now trailing Ron Berkholtz who scored 1,342 points from 1965-69 … in collecting his 504th career rebound at the MIAA Tournament last weekend, Orr became the 13th member of the Ichabod 1,000-point/500 rebound club.
•    Michael Keegan went over the 1,000-point mark in his Washburn career against Harding in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament and now has 1,007 becoming the 29th member of the Ichabod 1,000 point club … in 128 career games as an Ichabod, he is third on the career blocks chart with 104… he is also second all-time in steals with 164 trailing all-time leader Will McNeill who had 247 from 2008-13 … Keegan also went over the 200-assist mark the earlier this season … in reaching 1,000 career points, Keegan is now the second Ichabod to have at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 blocks, 100 steals and 100 assists joining only Ewan Auguste … he is also now the third member of the Ichabod 1,000 point / 100 block list joining Ewan Auguste and Brady Skeens … and he is now the 14th member of the 1,000 point / 500 rebound chart and the ninth member of the 1,000 point / 100 steals grouping.
•    Jack Bachelor is 11th in the nation and leading the MIAA in assist to turnover radio at 3.02 and he is 10th in total assists at 178 and 16th in assists per game with 5.6.
•    The Ichabods are third in the nation in rebound margin at +10.0, seventh in the nation in field goal percentage at 51.0 percent, 22nd in scoring defense allowing 66.9 ppg, third in scoring margin at +20.2 and eighth in free throws made per game at 18.4.
•    Jacob Hanna is 14th in the nation in free throws made with 174 and sixth in attempts with 242 leading the MIAA.
•    Andrew Orr is 10th in the nation in field goal percentage at 64.4 leading the MIAA.
•    Michael Keegan is 14th in the nation and leading the MIAA in steals with 71 and he is ranked 21st in the nation in steals per game at 2.26 per game.
•    Brayden Shorter is sixth in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 3.53 and he's ranked second in total 3-pointers made at 113 … his 113 3-pointers is the most in program history on the Ichabod sophomore record chart passing Todd Alexander who hit 83 during the 1990-91 season and his total is tied for first on the Ichabod overall single-season chart with Maurice Lamar (113 in 1991-92) … Shorter's 304 3-point attempts is the Ichabod single season record.
•    Brady Christiansen is 39th on the Ichabod all-time 3-pointers chart with 71 and tied for 12th all-time in rebounds with 569.
•    The Ichabods have recorded their 31st, 20-win season and fifth under Ichabod head coach Brett Ballard in his eighth season at the helm earlier this season.
  •    Jack Bachelor's .861 (93-108) free throw percentage is sixth on the Ichabod single season chart  and his 178 assists this season is fourth on the single season chart … Bachelor is the only Ichabod not named Jordan Canfield or Tyler Geiman to be in the top eight of the Ichabod single-season assist chart.
•    Michael Keegan's 71 steals this season is fourth on the Ichabod single season chart trailing Bobby Sumler (73 in 1986-87), Will McNeill (76 in 2011-12) and McNeill again with 82 in 2012-13.
•    Jacob Hanna's 174 free throws made this season is eighth on the Ichabod single season chart … the single season school record is 249 by Dan Buie during the 1996-97 season … Hanna's 242 free throw attempts is fifth trailing Buie's 371 from the 1996-97 season.
•    The Ichabod scoring average of 87.2 is third all-time on the Ichabod single season chart behind the 1991-92 team with 88.1 and the 1994-95 team with 89.5 ppg.
•    The Ichabod defensive scoring average of 66.6 is 12th all-time on the Ichabod single season chart.
•    The Ichabod scoring margin of 20.0 this season is the best in program history ahead of the 14.9 scoring margin from the 1991-92 team.
  WASHBURN ICHABOD HEAD COACH BRETT BALLARD ...
•    is 166-78 in his eighth season as the Ichabods' head coach and 199-111 overall in his 10th year as a head coach.
•    has led the Ichabods to five NCAA postseason appearances in eight seasons at Washburn as well as the 2021 MIAA Tournament Championship and the 2025 MIAA Regular season title.
•    was named the Washburn Ichabod men's basketball head coach on April 6, 2017 after spending the 2014-15 to 2016-17 seasons as an assistant coach with the Wake Forest and Tulsa basketball programs after working under head coach Danny Manning 2012-17 seasons.
•    he helped Wake Forest to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2009-10 season following the 2016-17 season.
•    prior to taking over the head coaching position at Baker, Ballard spent seven years on Bill Self's staff at Kansas, his alma mater.
•    he played two years for the Jayhawks under head coach Roy Williams from 2000-02 after transferring from Hutchinson Community College in his hometown of Hutchinson, Kan. In his two seasons as a Jayhawk, the team reached the 2001 NCAA Sweet Sixteen and appeared in the 2002 NCAA Final Four in Atlanta.
•    he earned his bachelor's degree in secondary education from Kansas in 2003 earning an Academic All-Big 12 selection as a senior for his efforts in the classroom.
•    he has never coached against Lenoir-Rhyne.
 
LENOIR-RHYNE HEAD COACH BRENT OWEN ...
•    is in his first season as the Bears head coach going 29-5 overall.
•    is 75-44 overall in his third season as a head coach.
•    previously was the head coach at Eastern New Mexico from 2020-24 and an assistant coach at Southern Indiana from 2014-2020.
•    is 0-0 against the Ichabods.
  •    The Bears are making their first trip to the Elite Eight in program history.
•    The Bears (29-5) are on a nine-game winning streak and finished their conference slate with a 20-4 record.
•    Ziare Wells leads the team in scoring at 16.8 ppg adding 5.6 rpg. He leads five Bears in double-figure scoring followed by Hantz Louis-Jeune at 13.4 ppg, regional MVP Conrad Luczynski is scoring 12.3 ppg with a team-high 7.4 rpg. Tay Smith is scoring 12.0 ppg and Julian Dozier is scoring 11.7 ppg.
•    As a team, the Bears are averaging 87.4 ppg while allowing 79.1 ppg.
  •    The Ichabods have never faced Lenoir-Rhyne in basketball.
  (March 16, 2025) TOPEKA, Kan. – For the fourth time in program history and for the first time since 2001 the No. 5-ranked Washburn Ichabods are off to the Elite Eight after a 93-65 win over No. 17-ranked MSU Moorhead in a sold out Lee Arena on Tuesday night.
The Ichabods and the Dragons started out on a helter skelter pace as the first media timeout of the game was not taken until the 12:51 mark as the Ichabods started 10 of 12 from the field including a perfect 5 of 5 from deep while the Dragons were 5 of 8 overall as Washburn (29-3) built a 25-15 lead.
Washburn continued to build its lead, but the Dragons (25-9) cut down the margin to five with 2:37 left before the Ichabods took a 47-41 lead into the break.
Through the first 10 minutes of the second half, Washburn outscored the Dragons 28 to 8 continuing to light the nets hitting 10 of 17 shots while holding MSU Moorhead to 3 of 12 shooting pushing out to a 75-49 lead. Another 9 to 2 run by the Ichabods stretched the lead to 21 enroute to a game high 32 with 1:56 to play at 93-61 as Washburn closed out the home slate with a perfect 16-0 mark at home in what will be the final game in Lee Arena as it looks now as a major renovation is set to take place at the conclusion of the season.
The Ichabods were led by Brayden Shorter who scored a game-high 21 points hitting 5 of 9 3-pointers adding a team-high nine rebounds. Jacob Hanna scored 19 with six rebounds and Andrew Orr finished with 17 points on 8 of 9 shooting from the field. Jack Bachelor recorded a double double with 16 points and 10 assists.
Carson Johnson led the Dragons with 17 points.
Washburn shot had identical halves of shooting in the game going 18 of 32 in both frames from the field finishing at 56 percent for the contest. The Ichabods were also 12 of 25 from deep for the game hitting 9 of 10 free throws. The Ichabods held the Dragons to 25 of 57 shooting (44 percent) and 6 of 19 (32 percent) from deep in the game.
Following the game, Orr and Bachelor were named to the all-tournament team along with Hanna, who was named most outstanding player of the regional. MSUM had Jacob Jennissen and Johnson on the team and Concordia-St. Paul's Antwan Kimmons was also named to the all-region team.
  •    The Ichabods are 19-16 in the NCAA Tournament.
•    The Ichabods are 8-3 in home
•    Washburn reached the 2001 NCAA Championship game falling to Kentucky Wesleyan 72-63 on March 24 in Bakersfield, Calif.
•    The Ichabods have faced only one other team at the Elite Eight … the Ichabods and Cal. State Dominguez faced off on Dec. 1, 1989 in Stanislaus, Calif. with the Ichabods winning 70-67.
  •    One more win would give the Ichabods their 30th marking the second time in program history the Ichabods have reached the 30-win mark joining the 1987 NAIA National Championship team who had 35.
•    Michael Keegan's 128 games played is 54th on the NCAA active career chart and his 164 career steals is 26th in the NCAA D2 ranks.
•    Jack Bachelor's career assist per game mark of 4.74 is 16th on the active chart in D2 and ranks 60th overall out of all divisions.
•    The Ichabods led the NCAA D2 ranks in cumulative attendance this season with 35,633  and also led the nation in average attendance at 2,229 per game.
•    Washburn has a 16-game home court winning streak which is tied for the fifth-longest fin the D2 ranks.
•    Only Washburn equipment manager Ron Wessel has been on the Ichabod staff for all four NCAA Elite Eight appearances starting at Washburn in 1980. •    The Ichabods are 1,705-1,136-2 all-time in the 119th year in the program's history.
•    Washburn is the seventh-winningest program in NCAA Division II history by victories.
•    Washburn is 709-328 since joining the conference and the NCAA.
•    The Ichabods have recorded 31 20-win seasons and they have one 30-win seasons after going 35-4 during the 1986-87 NAIA Championship season.
•    Washburn has won 22 conference championships including 11 MIAA titles.
•    Washburn has received 16 NCAA Tournament bids going to four Elite Eight's appearing in the 2001 NCAA National Championship game.
  •    The Ichabods are 515-104 (.831) all-time in Lee Arena.
•    The 2024-25 season marks the 40th season of play in Lee Arena.
•    The Ichabods are 39-1 all-time in home openers.
•    The Ichabods recorded a school-best 28-game winning streak from Nov. 19, 1993 to Feb. 8, 1995 in Lee Arena.
  •    The winner of the Ichabod/Bears game will face the winner of the No. 1 Nova Southeastern vs No. 8 Assumption game in the national semifinals on Thursday at 8:30 p.m.