KCK, KCKCC need to host high school basketball tournament

I recently had an opportunity to step inside the Kansas City Kansas Community College Field House.

Renovated a few years ago, there’s better seating and the floor inside the field house is a lot better. The field house has transformed into a beautiful place to play basketball, especially at the junior college level.

It’s time for local schools to utilize the college and play games there.

At a groundbreaking for a new library in KCK, I ran into The Pitch Magazine’s David Martin. Martin, as you may remember, wrote an outstanding piece on KCK basketball and how it rose from the dead in 2011.

Included in Martin’s piece was a short nugget about how some games between Wyandotte and Schlagle used to be held at KCKCC due to traffic and overwhelming demand.

With the league going through another renaissance, it’s time to bring an in-season tournament to KCK.

I’ve written about this at least twice before, but it’s a pet project of mine to bring a tournament to KCK. There’s really no excuse for KCKCC to not be allowed to host a tournament.

It has plenty of parking available. It’s in a nice area. It’s easy to get there – it’s relatively close to Interstate 70, the transportation vein of the Kansas City metro area.

Still, what kind of basketball tournament could you hold?

1. Steal one of the tournaments held in Eudora or Paola each year. Those tournaments are loaded with KCK teams. The 2009 Paola Invitational I had a ton of fun covering included four KCK teams in it – Harmon, Bishop Ward, Piper and Turner. Make the teams from the suburbs drive up here for once.

2. A Kansas City Kansas – League vs. Kaw Valley League Showdown. This would be in similar form to the ACC/Big 10 challenge you see in college basketball. It would be a “Best of 5” showdown between the KCK teams and the five best teams in the Kaw Valley League from the previous season. Before you assume KCK would roll the KVL, the KVL is improving. Lansing, who won the league last year, was one of the most well coached teams and better teams I saw last year. They had some tough calls go against them against Washington in the state tournament, but they were an impressive team. You can pair Lansing up with Sumner Academy, Washington up with Basehor, Schlagle up against Bonner Springs, Harmon up with Mill Valley and Wyandotte up with Bishop Ward, just to get two of the better fan-bases in KCK in the challenge. While the KCKL would probably be the favorites more often than not, those games would be compelling. The KVL has some awesome coaches in the league who find ways to win games.

3. A KCK vs. KCMO Shootout. In similar form to the Hy-Vee Shootout, you get the five best programs in KCK against five of the best programs in KCMO. Imagine Washington, Sumner Academy and Schlagle going against programs like Hogan Prep, O’Hara or Raytown South. Those would be some great games.

4. A KCK tournament of the eight KCK teams. The tournament would be played out over two or three days and would be seeded based on the previous year’s records. Granted, playing a league opponent a third time might scare off some coaches to this idea, but it would be a great local event that would spread the story of KCK basketball.

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HIGHLIGHTS: Tonganoxie vs. Bonner Springs

Bonner Springs used a strong second half to brush aside Tonganoxie. Here are highlights from the game, courtesy of David Brox.

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Interesting rumor of the day: Basehor heading towards the Frontier League?

The Topeka Capital-Journal's Prep Zone forum is probably the best high school Website discussion forum in the State of Kansas.

Occasionally, you will have a rumor pop up that turns out to be true.

One of those rumors on the board this morning is the fact that Basehor-Linwood High School has allegedly filed to enter the Frontier League, one of the most stacked football leagues in the state. The same poster, who sounds all but certain the application was filed, is also stating that Tongaoxie wants in the league as well.

Before you simply dismiss it as message board chat, the board was the first to discover all the coaches Piper High School hired last year, so there are some connected people who post on it.

This move could lead to the destruction of the Kaw Valley League, which makes you wonder if Turner, Bishop Ward, Piper and maybe Bonner Springs looks at leaving the league.

Obviously, Turner, Ward and Piper all have a fitting home in the Kansas City Kansas - Atchison League, which would unite the eight KCK schools.

Perhaps you add Bonner Springs to boost the KCKAL (or rename it the Wyc-Al League) to 10 teams.

A united Wyandotte County League would make sense on all levels, more of which I'll explain in a later post.

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Looking for reader testimonials

Readers:

I'm putting together a media kit to sell local advertising for this Website.

This isn't about greed, but I've received a few inquiries already about potentially advertising on KCK Preps. I won't keep most of the money. 

Part of the proceeds will be donated to athletic programs in KCK, while another part will be used to help supply our contributors with equipment and potentially fund more staff-writers at some point.

One of the best ways to help sell advertising is to get reader testimonials.

If you have a few minutes, please send me a testimonial at:

NJSloan212@gmail.com

Only positive testimonials will be used. After all, I'm relatively sure no advertisement has ever been sold based on a customer reading a "you're horrible at life" review.

Still, feel free to send me negative feedback - just don't expect it to be included in my kit. 

Thanks for considering help me out!

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Mill Valley snaps Piper winning streak

The Piper Pirates soccer team’s four-game winning streak is over.

Mill Valley defeated Piper 2-1 Monday evening at Piper High School. 

Super sophomore Jeremy Wilson scored his 10^th goal of the season during the game. It turned out to be the only goal of the game for the Pirates.

With the loss, Piper drops to 8-4 on the season. 

Mill Valley improves to 8-2-1 on the season.

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Comparing the Turner football dominance over KCK and the Sumner Academy and Washington basketball league winning streaks

I referenced these three streaks - along with the Bishop Ward Cyclones baseball state title/state appearance streak - in this post.

Since the Bishop Ward streak involved state titles and state tournament appearances, nothing can compare with that. Ward's won more state titles since 1998 than most programs can even dream of.

This past season was the first year Bishop Ward did not make the state tournament under the living legend Dennis Hurla, the Cyclones manager.

With that mind, comparing any streak to that would be mindless and stupid, so scrap that one from the consideration. It's the biggest title streak Wyandotte County's had since Wyandotte's basketball dynasty in the 1950s and 1960s.

But the debate between Turner's 11-game winning streak over Wyandotte County programs since 2008, Sumner Academy's 23-game winning streak over Kansas City Kansas League opponents from 2008-10 and Washington's 10-0 record in the 2011 Kansas City Kansas - Atchison League is an interesting one.

A look at each streak:

1. Turner's 11-game football winning streak over Wyandotte County teams since 2008. The Golden Bears have won each game in that streak by over 21 points a night. They've definitely been the kings of Wyandotte County in the past three to four football seasons.

2. Sumner Academy's 23-game winning streak in the KCKL from 2008 to 2010. The Sabres swept the league twice and nearly swept it a third year until they ran into a really good Harmon Hawks basketball team that year.

3. Washington's 10-0 sweep of the league last year. The Wildcats swept the best, single basketball league Kansas City, Kansas has seen since 1998 or maybe 2000. There were two great, championship-level teams in Washington and Sumner Academy, a very good team at Schlagle High School and a good team at Harmon. Wyandotte had a dangerous team that could win any given night as well. Take out the Atchison games, there was no easy win on the schedule.

So which one comes on top for me?

In what might come as a surprise, I'm going with the Turner winning streak.

Why?

1. Some of the teams in Turner's winning streak were above average. 

In 2009, they beat a good Sumner Academy team, a better Bishop Ward team by 20 points and thumped Bonner Springs, Harmon and Wyandotte. Last year, they defeated a 6-win Piper team by 21 points on the road. Again, none of those teams won state titles. But they weren't cupcakes. The streak doesn't include just the bottom-feeders in the KCKL. The streak includes some good teams from Bonner Springs, Piper, Sumner Academy and Bishop Ward.

2. As great as Washington's 10-0 sweep was last year, it's only a calendar year. 

I'm a believer in the theory that a team can find lightning in the bottle for a year and carry it on with them. While Washington was more than a lucky team, that was a special year that will be tough repeating. Things came together and things feel in the right position for them all year. They found ways to win. The 10-0 sweep was easily more significant than the individual sweeps Sumner Academy had in 2008 and 2009, but it was one year. It was a special year, but it doesn't match Turner's three-year streak.

3. The biggest weakness of Sumner Academy's winning streak is one that's unfair to them, but worth noting: The KCKL had its worst streak of basketball in its history from 2006-2009. 

Though Sumner's streak began in 2007-08, the foundations of a program are laid one to two years in advance of that year. Let's look at how the league was in 2006-07:

- Harmon was a joke. You could count the wins the Hawks would emass each year on one hand. The biggest drama at Harmon for most games was whether or not they would lose by 20 or 30 points. It was the worst program in the Kansas City metro area.

- Chuck Minor and later J.J. Libal were done at Schlagle. Those great Minor teams were a thing of the past. Schlagle averaged seven wins from 2007 to 2010. Schlagle was not as bad as Harmon, but it was probably the worst three-year stretch of Stallions basketball since the pre-Minor days.

- Washington was down...way down. The situation was toxic at times before current Wildcats head coach Eric King and Tra'Vaughn White arrived at the Wash House. Washington had a few four-win teams in the mid-2000's and were as down as Schlagle was.

- Wyandotte's been in a decade-long slump since their last state title team in 1998. Wyandotte's title drought is 13 years now.

Really, from 2006 to 2009, it was Sumner Academy and the four dwarfs. Things changed for a handful of reasons in 2009 to 2011, but the league was pitiful from 2006 to 2009.

To me, it's no coincidence that Sumner Academy flamed out each year at state during those years. They won titles when the league and city was at its best in 1998, 2000, 2010 and 2011.  

4. Perhaps the most importance reason of all: Football is a tougher sport than basketball, in more ways than one. 

- More things can go wrong in an average football game than basketball game. In basketball, you have to worry about offensive execution and defensive execution. In football, you have to worry about offense, defense and special teams. On average, there are nearly 40 more plays in football each game than possessions in basketball. There are more opportunities to make mistakes and football and thus more opportunities to lose games in football.

- There are more players to worry about. In basketball, you have five guys to worry about on the court. In football, it's 11.

- Football is a stranger sport than basketball. There seems to be more upsets and tougher things to explain. Just a month ago, Kansas State barely beat Eastern Kentucky. Last week, they beat a team that features in my opinion the best player in the sport at the quarterback position. In the NFL, the previously undefeated Buffalo Bills lost to Cincinnati, a hideous team that lost to an absolutely horrible Denver Broncos team two weeks earlier. Again, there's less consistency in football. To use an example from Turner's winning streak: The Golden Bears fell behind 22-0 against Sumner Academy in the 2009 season. They scored 22 second half points to tie the game and later won the game in overtime. Little things sneak up on you in football.

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BEHIND THE NUMBERS: Turner's dominance of Wyandotte County teams

While writing a piece about the upcoming Turner Golden Bears - Piper Pirates showdown Friday night, a thought came to my head.

During my time reporting on Kansas City, Kan., sports, Turner had not lost to a fellow Wyandotte County football team.

Research confirmed this thinking.

Since late 2008, the Turner Golden Bears have ran off 11 straight victories against their in-county rivals.

In many cases, the games have been ugly. In those 11 games, Turner has outscored the opposition 379-146. Average score wise, Turner's won each game 34.5 points to 13.3.

Ugly.

A look back at each game by season.

2008
Harmon 42-28
Wyandotte 41-18

2009
Harmon 28-14
Wyandotte 62-0
Sumner Academy 28-22
Bonner Springs 39-14
Bishop Ward 27-7

2010
Harmon 39-15
Piper 28-7
Bonner Springs 14-7

2011
Bonner Springs 31-14

The last time Turner lost to a Wyandotte County team was October 10, 2008 - when George W. Bush was the President of the United States.

Their last loss was to the Bonner Springs Braves.

Though this post might anger Turner since I might be jinxing them or anger the other eight Wyandotte County schools, I post this for a few reasons.

1. It makes Turner-Piper that much more interesting. Even though neither team will win the Kaw Valley League and even though there's really no big-time, historic rivalry here, this game always jumps out to me when I see it on the schedule. Both teams have really been two of the more consistent football programs the past two or three seasons and both have loud and proud fan-bases. On Friday, local bragging rights are on the line and this might be the best opportunity for a Wyandotte County team to end the streak.

2. This is why Turner has been in my Top 2 of the KCK power rankings for the most part since 2008. Fans of the eight other schools wonder why I rank Turner highly even though their record may be 2-3, 3-4 or 4-3. The above is why. I think a Schlagle-Turner game would be outstanding this year. But outside of that, I think Turner would clown the KCKAL this year. Harmon's athleticism and experience will probably give them a game, but I think Turner would overmatch Wyandotte, Sumner Academy, Washington and Atchison this year. It's about who is on the schedule. Turner's 11 straight wins over Wyandotte County's other eight schools should serve as a reminder of this.

Does this mean anything in the grand-scheme of things?

Probably not.

But it might.

For the Turner players and coaches, the pride of local dominance should be at stake Friday night. Keep the streak going.

For Piper's squad, knocking off Turner as the "king of KCK football" should be a goal.

Not sure if anything above will be used as bulletin board material, but I thought it would be worth posting.

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Quick additional thought on this streak - this is one of four impressive streaks I've been involved with in KCK athletics:

1. Bishop Ward's billion-year streak (that might be a few years off) of making the state tournament in baseball.

2. Sumner Academy's 20-something winning streak against the Kansas City Kansas - League that was snapped by Harmon late in the 2010 season.

3. Washington's 10-0 record last year against the Kansas City Kansas - Atchison League in what might have been the greatest year of KCK basketball since 1998.

4. Turner's local dominance in football.

Comparing the bottom three streaks (no one can match Ward baseball - sorry!) might be worth a post this week.

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A "Text Me Updates" request

This week is filled with very important football games that involve teams connected to KCK Preps.

You have the possibility of Schlagle clinching the Kansas City Kansas - Atchison League with a victory against Atchison Friday night; Basehor can all but clinch the Kaw Valley League championship with a win against Mill Valley in a game involving two undefeated teams.

However, I will be at the Tiurner-Piper football game at Steineger Field Friday night.

So, to my long-time friends at Schlagle High School and my new friends in Basehor, Kan., please text me updates.

My phone number is (913) 461-5630. 

Please keep the updates limited to every other six minutes in the game. For example, there would be two updates a quarter doing that system. Feel free to text more updates if the game is close at the end.

Texts from the other games are welcomed as well, but the Schlagle-Atchison game and the Basehor-Linwood-Mill Valley game are a must.

Thanks in advance!

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