| Beyond her accomplishments on the court, Washington and Lee wunderkind Mary Schleusner had a unique ability to bring joy to the Division III basketball community. |
By Gordon Mann
D3hoops.com
So, what do you think of Mary?
Less than 24 hours after Denison dealt Washington and Lee its only loss of the season, I sat down with Big Red head coach Maureen Hirt at a roadside hotel in Lexington, Virginia. Denison was preparing to make the short trip down I-81 to Roanoke for the Final Four, and I was spending an extra day in town because I had two flat tires and no way to repair them until the following morning.
Before the rest of the Big Red’s Fab Four arrived for a sitdown interview, Hirt posed this question to me, asking about 2026 Player of the Year and Josten’s Trophy winner Mary Schleusner. It was a natural question, a warm ice breaker in much the same way she could’ve asked how I was enjoying the spring weather.
Lots of conversations about Division III basketball have started that way over the last four years. Media members, fans, and even coaches were eager to talk about the latest exploits of Washington and Lee’s wunderkind.
Schleusner burst onto the scene in 2022 when W&L won the ODAC tournament and then pushed UW-Oshkosh to the limit in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to the Titans. Schleusner put up 19 points, 21 rebounds and six blocks in the Generals’ loss and was named the national Rookie of the Year in a close race over Scranton’s Kaci Kranson.
Schleusner’s sophomore campaign was even better, especially at the end of the season, as she powered W&L to another ODAC title with 36 points and 29 rebounds in an overtime victory over Shenandoah. That was a preview to an epic NCAA Tournament run that started with a record-breaking performance and somehow got better.
In the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Schleusner scored 45 points and grabbing 25 rebounds against Vassar, setting a Division III Tournament record. The next night Schleusner tallied 26 points and 24 rebounds, giving her the second-highest rebounding total in an NCAA Tournament contest. Six days later, Schleusner broke her own record in a 34-point, 33-rebound performance as the Generals upset unbeaten Rhode Island College in the Round of 16. Schleusner had more rebounds in three tournament games (104) than anyone else had in six.
That’s when Schleusner became a national story, as people across Division III women’s basketball marveled at her exploits. W&L amusingly and appropriately listed Schleusner as a guard/forward/center entering her junior year.
Schleusner continued to pile up unreal numbers, shattering the Division III career record for rebounds and double-doubles. Her 1,992 boards are 16 percent more than Jordan Holmes who’s now second place on the career list with 1,711. Never is a long time, but it’s hard to imagine anyone displacing Schleusner as the career leader in either of those categories.
Schleusner’s career came to an end in the Elite 8 when Denison downed W&L on its way to the national championship. While the loss was disappointing, it allowed Schleusner to finish her career in front of a home crowd that exuded adoration for her. Hundreds of fans filed into Holekamp Gymnasium for what turned out to be her final game, many of them eager to shake her hand, give her a high five, and or just make a small connection with her.
On the court, Schleusner’s rare talent set her apart from her contemporaries and made her one of the best to ever play at this level. She had a guard’s ball-handling ability, a forward’s skill to score facing the basket, and a center’s array of low post moves. When she stepped on the court, she drew everyone’s eyes, even the opponents’ leery gaze, with anticipation of what she might do next. With apologies to Billy Idol, Schleusner had the rare rock star quality that I’ve seen in just one other player at this level.
But something else made Schleusner one-of-a-kind, and it surfaced in Ryan Scott’s feature earlier this season.
“Mary has a way of making the most boring tasks fun,” said Hanna Malik, who was point guard for Schleusner’s first two years at W&L. “No matter if it was the most mundane drill or the worst day, Mary came in with a smile on her face, trying to bring joy and laughter to everyone around her.” The joy she brought to the W&L basketball community was palpable during the second week of the NCAA Tournament, but it was even more striking the following weekend in Roanoke.
A week after her college career officially came to an end, Schleusner headed down I-81 to Roanoke to participate in the WBCA All-Star game. The All-Star game opens with a cool series of introductions where each player is announced with their accolades and walks to center court. Most players look a little uncomfortable being the center of attention. They graciously, if awkwardly, smile, wave, and look very eager for someone else to take the spotlight.
Schleusner was the last player announced in the pregame introduction. While waiting her turn, she chatted and charmed the WBCA representative standing with her in the entry tunnel. When she was announced, she skipped onto the court and greeted every player on her team with a hug, the largest reserved for Randolph-Macon rival Makenzie Matheny.
Then she spotted a referee she recognized and ran over to him, a wide smile on her face and arms opened as if she wanted to hug him, too, before perhaps deciding that would be awkward since he was calling the game. Instead, she greeted him and skipped away, back to center court.
She likely missed how much that short exchange meant to the referee. This reffing veteran, who has probably exchanged countless pregame pleasantries, was beaming, reflecting the warmth of her joy. You could see how much he enjoyed their interaction and how much her affirmation meant to him. The other two referees on the crew smiled admiringly, adding another ripple to Schleusner’s joyful effect.
This is Mary Schleusner’s legacy. She was a great player who made everyone around her feel great, too. Even her opponents — like Mo Hirt — were willing to talk about how much she meant to her team.
After the first quarter of the NYU/Scranton semifinal game, all the WBCA All-Stars were introduced to the crowd to generate excitement for All-Star Game. The public address announcer teased that someone might try to dunk during the game. Schleusner turned around as she was leaving the court and said to one of her teammates, “Does he mean me?”
In the final minute of the all-star game, Schleusner’s teammates gave her the ball so she could try to deliver on the PA announcer’s tease. She missed the jam but didn’t miss the chance to smile and hustle back down the court. As it happened, the opposing team missed a quick shot at the other end, and the ball found Schleusner one more time. Fellow first-team All-American Natalie Gricius, who was matched up with Schleusner on defense, gesticulated toward the rim and stepped out of her way. She galloped down the floor, elevated and scored on the second slam attempt.
Then she ran off the court and celebrated with her W&L teammates who came to create one more memory of appreciation and camaraderie.
A one-of-a-kind ending to a one-of-kind career.
There really was something about Mary.
The kids are alright
Shortly before the All-Star game, I spotted Schleusner sitting by herself and took the opportunity to thank her for sticking with Division III for four seasons.
Schleusner had multiple opportunities to play at a higher level, especially after her surreal sophomore campaign, but she decided Division III was the right place for her. She said that she never seriously considered going anywhere else because she loved her experience at W&L and her friends too much to transfer.
While each person should chart their own path, selfishly I hope that the cadre of super sophomores will play their final two seasons at this level because the Class of 2028 is especially deep.
This year’s All-American team has four second-year players. The last two All-American teams had two combined.
UW-Oshkosh forward Paige Seckar was the top player in the ultra-tough WIAC and has already helped the Titans to two national semifinals. Concordia-Moorhead forward Maya Metcalf was named the best offensive and defensive player in the MIAC. Jacqueline Berry, who was last season’s National Rookie of the Year, led Hardin-Simmons to the Sweet 16, and Carolae Barton became Merchant Marine’s first ever D3hoops.com All-American.
The Class of 2028 is especially deep with sophomores winning conference MVP awards in the AEC (Immaculata’s Carly Coleman); Coast-to-Coast (UC Santa Cruz’s Emily Ngo); CNE (Johnson and Wales’ Grace Jaffray); MASCAC (Framingham State’s Faith Greene); and NAC (Husson’s Saige Evans). Allegheny guard Isabella Antonacci was a Josten’s Trophy finalist in just her second season. Denison defensive stopper Anelly Mad-Toingué — who was arguably the most impactful player in the national championship game — is also a sophomore.
Changing of the guard?
Years ago, I tried to rank the best conferences in Division III women’s basketball, understanding that “best” is in the eye of the beholder. I defined it using a combination of NCAA Tournament success, non-conference winning percentage, and depth at the top of the conference.
The question which conference is best lingers in my mind when I cast votes in our Top 25 poll. How likely is it that the best team in Conference X is really one of the best Top 25 teams, and how would I know if they don’t play other good teams? If Conference Y is really good, doesn’t that mean it should have more than one ranked team?
Thanks to people like D3datacast and the D3 Stat Lab, that conversation has graduated from rudimentary anecdotal musings to more sophisticated, data-informed dialogue.
Here’s another musing for others to discuss while we wait for the long offseason to end.
Is the NCAC the best conference in Division III women’s basketball?
If you’re new to Division III basketball, that may not seem like a particularly revolutionary concept. Denison won the title, John Carroll finished in the top 10, and Ohio Wesleyan was ranked 18th in the final poll. DePauw defeated Denison and John Carroll on its way to the NCAC Tournament crown and gave the Conference a fourth Big Dance participant. But look farther back and the NCAC’s rise as a conference is more surprising.
When DePauw moved into the NCAC from the SCAC back in 2012, the Tigers immediately dominated their new conference and everyone else on their way to the 2013 national championship. From 2014 through 2024, NCAC members went 11-15 in the NCAA Tournament, and DePauw had all but two of those wins. From 2016 through 2024, NCAC representatives were consistently eliminated during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio Wesleyan ended that drought when they reached the Round of 16 in 2025 before losing to Baldwin Wallace.
Now consider this year’s Tournament performance again, including the comments from Denison’s coaches and players throughout their championship run about how playing in the NCAC prepared them for the NCAA Tournament.
Crediting your conference’s depth along the road to the title is standard fare, but Denison’s explanation felt genuine because it emphasized how playing against good teams with different styles prepared them to beat a string of teams with very different styles — John Carroll, Washington and Lee, UW-Oshkosh and Scranton — sometimes with very little time to prepare.
Compare that to a conference like the WIAC, which was consistently represented by several teams in our Top 25 poll and is generally a Massey Ratings darling. I still think the WIAC is the deepest conference and the fact that five members were locks to make the NCAA Tournament under the NPI system before the conference playoffs began supports that position. The same goes for the UAA where every team was capable of beating every other team that isn’t NYU. The UAA had three teams in the tournament and just missed having a fourth when conference tournament upsets dashed Carnegie Mellon’s at-large hopes.
But deepest and best are two different things.
A couple things would help the NCAC’s case to be crowned the new top conference in D3 women’s basketball. A second national title for Denison wouldn’t hurt, especially if the Big Red suffered a couple conference losses along the way. If John Carroll or Ohio Wesleyan or DePauw won the natiional title, that would be even stronger evidence.
Could the NCAC put four teams in the tournament again and have all of them reach the Sweet 16? The NESCAC did that in 2020 when Amherst, Bowdoin, Tufts and Williams all reached the sectional semifinals before COVID ended everyone’s season. Or maybe the NCAC could put two teams in the Final Four, which the NESCAC, UAA and WIAC have done in recent memory.
Whatever comes next, it will be fun to see which teams and conferences rise when D3 womens basketball tips off again in November.
It can’t get here soon enough.