Leading on and off the Court
Master in Management students are driving the UChicago men’s basketball team’s historic success.
- By
- March 02, 2026
- Media, Entertainment, and Sports
The UChicago Maroons headed for the locker room at halftime on February 1 with their work cut out for them. They trailed by 11 against Emory University, then the top-ranked team in Division III men’s basketball. After a surprise loss to New York University the previous week, the Maroons needed wins to stand a chance of securing their conference.
But guard Shane Regan didn’t stress. Instead, the Master in Management student approached the second half like he would a case from one of his classes.
“It’s all about shifting your mindset and taking actionable steps,” Regan says. “You look at what’s going on in the game and come up with solutions and things that we can do better as a team.”
Regan was integral to the explosive 50-point second half that secured the Maroons’ 74–64 comeback win. Along with scoring 18 of those points, Regan passed and rebounded to set his team up for success. His back-to-back assists to guard Nick Roper brought UChicago even with Emory, before the Maroons pulled ahead and didn’t look back.
This is one of the best men’s basketball teams in UChicago history, and their success is being driven by the leadership of students in Booth’s Master in Management Program. Both Regan and Roper, also a MiM student, were UChicago’s first players to be named preseason All-Americans and the first to make the Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List of the season’s best players below NCAA Division I; Regan recently made the Top 50 List as well. Behind the scenes, Josh Steinberg, another MiM student, is guiding the team as a graduate assistant coach.
Following the Emory win, the Maroons earned a No. 1 ranking in the D3Hoops.com Poll for the first time since 2001. They finished the season 21–4, their best record since 2001 as well. With their record, the Maroons placed second in their conference, the University Athletic Association, and earned their eighth-ever NCAA Division III Tournament berth. UChicago has never made it further than the Elite Eight, during that 2001 season. But these bold Boothies have their sights set on history.
“The goal for us is to go places that UChicago basketball never has,” Regan says.
Shane Regan plays against Emory University.
Nick Roper takes a shot.
Josh Steinberg cheers on his team.
Regan takes a free throw.
Roper takes a shot against Emory University.
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Balancing Basketball and Business
When Roper and Regan finished their undergraduate degrees last year, both knew they weren’t finished with basketball. They each had an extra year of NCAA eligibility after missing a year for injury earlier in their careers. Continuing their basketball careers at a school where they could also earn a graduate degree was a perfect opportunity.
While Roper and Regan each received offers from Division I and II schools, they both wanted the academic balance a Division III school would provide. As part of Division III’s stated goal to prioritize academics, basketball teams have less demanding practice schedules and only play on Fridays and weekends. UChicago stood out—and, specifically, Booth’s MiM Program.
Roper had majored in finance at Illinois Wesleyan University and felt like a MiM was the “perfect in-between” of continuing his business education while broadening his skills. Not to mention that, having played against the Maroons as an undergraduate, he knew he’d be joining a well-coached team.
Meanwhile, Regan wanted to explore what business career paths could be available to him, after previously studying psychology at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
“Having that flexibility, getting to choose a lot of different classes, and just getting that general business background was going to be very beneficial for me,” says Regan, who is pursuing a specialization in finance. “I knew that I would learn a lot.”
“I look at it as a privilege to get to lead. Getting to pay it forward and be a great mentor to younger guys is something I really embrace and enjoy.”
— Shane Regan
Steinberg also wanted to deepen his business education with a masters degree, after studying marketing at Calvin University. He played basketball there for two years, but discovered a passion for coaching when he began working as head coach of Calvin’s junior varsity team and an assistant on the varsity team. He wanted to continue coaching during graduate school, and knew he could land and balance the job better at a Division III school like UChicago.
Even in Division III, though, balancing a masters program and athletics has tested all three students’ time-management skills.
“Booth is known for its rigorous coursework, and I’m witnessing that firsthand,” Roper says. “But practice is a nice break from the work, and then I get back to it in the evening.”
Taking Leadership Skills from the Game
Throughout the season, the MiM students have gotten to apply management and leadership lessons from the classroom on the court. All three specifically said the required Managerial Psychology course, taught by professor Linda Ginzel, has given them valuable insight into being a better team player.
“We’re learning how the brain functions when people talk to leaders and receive instructions,” Roper says. “So on the basketball court, I try to pick up on my teammates’ signals and how they’re receiving what I’m saying.”
The students are also learning lessons on the court to take into their future careers. The season has been a crash course in leadership for Regan and Roper, who the team immediately expected to lead despite being new additions.
“I look at it as a privilege to get to lead,” Regan says. “Early on in my college career, I had great mentors that I learned a lot from. Now, getting to pay it forward and be a great mentor to younger guys is something I really embrace and enjoy.”
“You've got to be tough and figure things out when they aren't going your way on the court. And I think it's the same way in business.”
— Nick Roper
To Roper, basketball is practice for the perseverance he’ll need in his career. He’s interested in private credit and structured finance, with the long-term goal of starting his own fund.
“You’ve got to be tough and figure things out when they aren’t going your way on the court,” he says. “And I think that’s the same way in business—everything isn’t going to go in your favor, but you need to keep grinding, keep getting up when you get knocked down.”
Steinberg takes a different perspective on leadership and management from the sidelines. His in-game responsibilities include taking notes on how the opponent is defending their offense and what the team is struggling with, along with reviewing live statistics, to help the coaching staff figure out adjustments. Against Carnegie Mellon on January 18, for instance, he noticed the team was having issues scoring off defensive stops, and conveyed this to the coaching staff to make defensive adjustments for the second half.
“You could take that and extrapolate it to the business world,” says Steinberg, who’s pursuing public affairs consulting. “What are your targets and how do you meet them using the data you’re given on the fly?”
In the first round of the Division III Tournament, the Maroons will face Penn State Behrend at home on March 6. As the team strives to make a deep run, Regan is reflecting on another lesson basketball has taught him: discipline.
“You can recognize we have these lofty goals, but the most important thing is that, day by day, we’re taking the right steps,” Regan says. “We’re just going to continue to stack good days, and hopefully we’ll get good outcomes from that.”
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