Chase Ellis played and graduated from Berry College last year before enrolling in Guilford's MBA program this year. The two teams play Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
After graduating from Berry last year, Chase enrolled in Guilford's MBA program. The schools square off in Frday's first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“He is just the ultimate team guy. I wish we could have had him for four years. Just an unbelievable person not to mention the fact that he is a really good player.”
Staring up at the rafters of the basketball cathedral that is Jack Jensen Court in Ragan-Brown Field House last March, Chase Ellis MBA ’25 knew his decorated four years playing at Berry College (Ga.) were coming to a close.
He didn’t know he’d be getting one more chance at basketball at the place where he thought his career had ended – Guilford College.
This time last year Guilford eliminated Chase and Berry in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament, 87-70. A few months later Chase graduated from Berry with a degree in Creative Technology. He still had one more year of eligibility and wasn’t ready to give up on basketball.
When deciding where to play his fifth year of eligibility, he was impressed by the culture of the program at Guilford.
“Being a part of Guilford, it just means a lot more in terms of basketball,” Chase says. “The defensive intensity kicks up a notch. The offensive intensity kicks up a notch. The players care about it more and you can see it in every single aspect in practice and it translates over into games.”
A meeting with some former Quakers players convinced him to enroll in Guilford’s one-year MBA program and play for the Quakers.
“I visited with Rob (Littlejohn MBA ’23, MISM ’24) and Tyler (Dearman ’23, MISM ’24) and Julius (Burch ’23, MBA ’24), and I knew how great they were as players,” Chase says. “But their hospitality was great, they showed me around, answered every single question I had about the school. Those guys had a really big part in me wanting to be here.”
Once he got to Guilford, he says he fit right in with the Quakers’ culture.
“He is just the ultimate team guy,” Coach Tom Palombo says. “He missed some time early on, but you could tell right then when he took such an active role in practices and games when he was still so committed to the team. I wish we could have had him for four years. Just an unbelievable person not to mention the fact that he is a really good player.”
In addition to his presence off the court, Chase has been equally impactful on it. As Guilford’s third-leading scorer averaging 9.2 points per game, the graduate student was named to the ODAC All-Tournament team after helping Guilford claim its fifth conference crown Sunday.
“We really came together as a team down the stretch and in those last three games in the ODAC Tournament,” Chase says.
He says the team’s ODAC first-round win against Virginia Wesleyan was something of an epiphany. The Quakers lost at home to Wesleyan in the regular season, but Guilford routed the Marlins in the tournament.
The Quakers won 74-61 but the game was over by halftime when the Quakers led by 23. “You go to the locker room and look back and are like ‘wow, we can do this,’” says Chase. “We can actually make it really far, not only in the ODAC Tournament, but in the NCAA Tournament as well.”
Now, a year after Guilford and Berry played in Greensboro, he will find himself on the other side of the court when the Quakers and Berry play Friday at Emory University in Atlanta in the opening round.
“It is going to be a little weird,” he says. “Every single player on that team, outside of our friendship, they have my respect as well. At the end of the day, you have a job to do. So, I am just going to go out there and fight and give them my best shot just like they will give me their best shot, and try to come out with a win.”