TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn Ichabod head basketball coach
Brett Ballard has announced the signing of three transfers who will complete the 2026-27 roster. Lucas Mercandino (Lubbock Christian), Carson Yale (Minot State) and Harvey White (Colorado Mesa) will join the Ichabods for the upcoming season.
"I'm very excited about our transfer class, and my staff deserves a ton of credit for how they attacked the portal and landed three very talented, high-character players," Ballard said. "I believe we will once again have a roster that is deep, talented, tough, and capable of competing for championships. The bar has been set extremely high, but with a great nucleus of returners and these additions, I'm very bullish on what this team can accomplish."
Lucan Mercandino (6-6, 210, forward, Córdoba, Argentina, IPEM 21 Alfonsina Stormi)
Mercandino comes from Lubbock Christian where he averaged 11.6 ppg with 3.3 rpg and 3.3 apg.
Mercandino started 29 games for the Chapps last season en route to all-Lone Star Conference Third Team honors. He started against Washburn on Dec. 16 in San Antonio, where he scored 13 points adding six rebounds with five assists. He scored a season-high 20 points against Sul Ross State on Feb. 28. For the season, he hit 41 of 109 3-pointers (.376), 77 of 95 free throws (.811) and 125 of 253 (.494) shots from the field.
Mercandino spent the 2024-25 season redshirting at NCAA Division I LaSalle and he appeared in eight games for the Explorers during the 2023-24 season and redshirted the 2022-23 season … he was also a three-time Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll member.
Prior to LaSale, he played for Comunicaciones Mercedes in Liga A. He is the son of Daniel Mercandino and Mercedes Quiroga and he will start his MBA at Washburn in the fall after graduating with his finance degree in May from LCU.
Ballard on Mercandino
"We played against Lucas this past year and saw firsthand that he is a high-IQ, versatile player. He's a skilled forward who can play multiple positions and truly fills up the stat sheet. He can score, pass, and defend at a high level. We love his overall versatility, as well as the fact that he comes from a top 10 program and has experience in big games."
Carson Yale (6-10, 225, forward, Minot, N.D., Des Lacs Burlington HS, Minot State)
He started all 29 games at Minot State scoring 8.8 ppg with 5.2 rpg shooting 55 percent from the field connecting on 101 of 183 field goal attempts as a redshirt freshman adding 18 blocks with 12 steals and 27 assists. He reached double figure scoring in 13 games scoring a season-high 20 against Mary recording two double doubles during the season. He redshirted the 2024-25 and 2023-24 seasons. At Des Lacs Burlington High School, he was named to the All-District 12 and All-Region 6 Teams during his final high school campaign, to the Class B State Tournament All-Tournament Team, and second-team All-State. He veraged a double-double on the 2022-23 season for the Lakers with 19.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, while adding 3.0 assists, 1.7 blocked shots, and 1.3 steals per game, which made its first trip to the state tournament in 30 years and finished 4th with a 20-8 overall record. He was named to the North Dakota Lions All-Star Team.
Ballard on Yale
"Carson is long, athletic, and moves extremely well for a 6-10 player. He's still young and just scratching the surface, but he showed as a freshman that he is one of the best young bigs in the country. He's explosive around the rim, can step out and knock down threes, and runs the floor very well. He'll be a great fit in our defensive system with his ability to trap, protect the rim, and cover ground."
Harvey White (6-2, 175, guard, Adelaide, Australia, St. Peter's HS, Colorado Mesa)
As a sophomore he was an honorable mention all-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference selection making 27 starts while playing in all 32 games at Colorado Mesa averaging 10.5 ppg adding 110 assists, 32 steals hitting 29 3-pointers on the season. He scored a season-high 23 points against New Mexico Highlands adding eight assists and had 22 points against Western Colorado on 9 of 11 shooting with nine assists. As a freshman, he played in 27 games making 20 starts. He averaged 9.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists scoring a season-high 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting against Emporia State on November 23. He finished second on the team with 33 steals on the season. White played his club ball for Coach Cj Bruton and the Adelaide 36ers in the NBL in 2024 and played for the South Tigers and South Australia in 2024. He is majoring in Exercise Science and he is the son of Kate and Andrew White.
Ballard on White
"Harvey is a tough competitor, and our fans will love his motor and how hard he plays. He has great basketball instincts and is a playmaker with an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio. We needed an impact combo guard to help replace some great players, and we feel very confident in Harvey's ability to step in and make a high-level impact on both ends of the floor."
The trio will join three high school standouts - Cy Stucky (6-7, 225, forward – Maize, Kan. / Maize South HS), Reece Riedel (6-5, 190, guard – Shawnee, Kan. / Mill Valley HS) and Brody Owen (6-3, 170, guard – St. Louis, Mo. / Marquette HS) who all signed with the Ichabods in the fall early signing period.
The Ichabods are coming off a 2025-26 season that saw Washburn win both the MIAA regular season and tournament championships finishing ranked No. 3 in the final NABC rankings with a 31-2 record. The Ichabods finished the MIAA slate with an 18-1 record winning the league title by four games and the Ichabods also spent the entire season inside the top five of the NABC top 25 coaches poll including seven weeks at No. 1 in the rankings.
