Stat of the Day: 21-3

By NICK SLOAN, NJSloan212@gmail.com

The state of Wyandotte County girls basketball has been weak for the most part the past five to seven years.

At Bonner Springs High School, that's different this season.

The Braves girls basketball team is 12-0 this year and is ranked #4 in MaxPreps' 4A power ranking. They are one of just a handful of undefeated teams in the entire state of Kansas.

When you combine the success of the boys program, Bonner Springs is definitely have a dream season when it comes to basketball.

The boys and girls teams are a combined 21-3 so far this season. Barring a major collapse by either team, it's very likely the two programs will finish at least a combined 20 games .500 this year.

It's very rare for an athletic program in Wyandotte County to have this much success in both girls and boys basketball.

And there's more good news for the teams - they'll be hosting the sub-state regional they are in.

Bonner Springs fans had better make an effort to support their teams this postseason. Home-court could make a difference in these games and Bonner is in a unique situation right now.

The girls should be the favorites in sub-state, while the boys could face both Topeka-Hayden and Basehor-Linwood in the sub-state alone.

Both teams getting to Salina, Kan., is not exactly an insane scenario. The girls have been dominant at times this year and the boys have a ton of seniors on the team. 

I'll have a lot more on the girls team tomorrow.

Congratulations to Bonner Springs High School on their success this year!

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Highlights: Shaq Smith - Wyandotte

by David Brox, davidbrox@shukc.com

Nick mentioned in his recap that Shaq Smith had a nice game for Wyandotte.  Here is a look at the back to back dunks he had friday night against Schlagle.

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More Thoughts on Basehor/Lansing ending

Posted by David Brox, written by Vernon Birmingham follow him on twitter at @KCKPrepsColorCo

I got an email from our color commentator Vernon Birmingham about the call last night in Basehor which I have intentionally stayed away from for a few personal reasons.  I may share after the dust settles.

Here are Vernon's thoughts.

I’ve had two opportunities to watch Basehor play this year as twice they have been KCK Preps Game Of The Week. I’ve come to appreciate how they are a solid squad that plays great team basketball. Last evening there has come to be many thoughts on the controversial ending of the game and I wanted to share my two cents to keep in prospective.

As Nick mentioned in one of his points last evening…it was a tough call! I have my thoughts on the call but will keep to myself. As a coach and a commentator I’ve been known to share my thoughts when I thought a bad call by an official occurred. However, the baseline call last evening was neither a good nor a bad one…just a tough one. I by no means am attempting to make any excuses for the officials but a few things to keep in mind.

1. The previous play. When the player for Lansing hit the 3 to take the lead there were about 12 seconds remaining in the game. There are a few things the officials look/listen for when this type of situation occurs. One of those things is looking or listening to see if either coach is going to call a time-out. It would not be uncommon in a situation like this for either Lansing to call a time-out to get their defense prepared or for Basehor to decide what their final play would be to attempt to win the ball game. I do not know the situation as if either team had time-outs but wanted to share this nugget. On this play neither occurred and Basehor put the ball in play and immediately went down the court in 7-8 seconds. We all know from experience or just from a fan’s point of view…these situations are craaazzzyyy!
2. Replay. Everyone commenting on the call after the game has the benefit of watching the play over and over again. I’ve looked at it so much I know this call happened about the 16 second mark. It is very easy to look at it now and say it was a block or charge. When I looked at it the first time I formed my opinion on the call and it hasn’t changed since. The officials had one time to view it and it was live so keeping this in mind I can’t argue either way. Even with an opportunity to go view the call on replay I wouldn’t be convinced the call would have changed.
3. The no-call. Now the no-call in my opinion is more to be in uproar about than the charge/block call…BUT. In my opinion that was a bad officiating job. The officials had to be aware down 1 with 3 seconds to go in the game the Bobcats were going to attempt to foul. Anytime a player bear hugs a guy on the court you have to make that call. I don’t know what the officials were doing or there angle but from under the basket in the video it’s obvious a foul had been made. Now what some may not want to hear…the But. I have two thoughts from a coaching perspective on what could have been done to prevent this non call from taking place.

• Unless Basehor’s plan was to go for a quick steal I wonder why they didn’t foul before the ball was put into play. With only a few seconds left it gives them the opportunity to not only give up the foul before the ball is in play keeping those valuable seconds on the clock but also foul whoever they thought was the worst free throw shooter for Lansing.

• My second opinion/thought is with 3 seconds to go and the need for a foul it is not unheard of for the coach or player to go to the official and let them know to 1) we plan to foul 2) we plan to foul before the ball is in play. What this does is gives the officials the heads up so they will be on the lookout for this foul. Again, unless the idea was to go for a quick steal, this was an option. Some may question this strategy but I only mention because it could had prevented the non-call at the end.

So with all of that said it is never a good situation when a tight game like this comes down to the officials but we have to keep in perspective it is not easy to be an official when we get to this level of play. Things happen and they happen quickly. We, as fans and coaches have the luxury of a replay and can judge, scream, or whatever but understand the officials are doing the best job they can and I doubt very rarely make a poor call on purpose. I’m thankful there are men and women who love the game of basketball and even though they do get a pay check spend their evenings serving the coaches, players, and fans of high school athletics in the great state of Kansas and though we all think we know all the rules, we wouldn’t trade places with them.

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KCK Preps Game of the Week - Replay

by David Brox, davidbrox@shukc.com

Part 1



Part 2

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KCK Preps GET HYPE! Play of the Game - Goodlow

by David Brox, davidbrox@shukc.com

As soon as this play happened it stuck in my head.  Shaq Smith had a couple of nice dunks and obviously Schlagle had their moments but Goodlow's effortless scoring ability impressed me and Vernon Birmingham.  Check out this nice move in the lane.

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Looking at the two controversial calls in the Basehor-Lansing game

By NICK SLOAN, NJSloan212@gmail.com

Twitter is one of my new addictions for a handful of reasons.

One of the reasons why I like Twitter is the fact there are so many people interested in chatting about high school basketball. It's Heaven to me in terms of getting immediate feedback about games.

Several Kaw Valley League fans from Piper, Basehor-Linwood, Bonner Springs and elsewhere follow me and I follow them.

When I arrived home from Friday night's Schlagle-Wyandotte game at Schlagle High School, my Twitter feed or timeline blew up about two officiating calls in the Basehor-Lansing game.

A couple that interested me were from students at Piper High School basically saying the calls were horrible and that they "screwed Basehor." When Piper fans believe Basehor is victimized about a call or two, it's worth looking at. Piper fans, after all, are not exactly fond of Basehor.

Fortunately, Stephen Montemayor at The Basehor Sentinel and The World Company did an outstanding job in getting video of both controversial calls.

Montemayor was RIGHT THERE for both calls and produced some outstanding work.

Let me link his videos. Again, these are HIS videos.

- Video 1 - The video contains Izaiah Grice's outstanding three-point shot that eventually won the game. It also features the controversial charge call on Colin Murphy. (http://yfrog.com/e9e4lz)

- Video 2 - This video includes Tanner Garver hugging Khalil Bailey, but somehow not getting a foul called. (http://yfrog.com/e3426z)

After watching the videos more than the average JFK conspiracy-theorist watched the Zapruder Film, I've come to these conclusions.

1. The non-foul call on Tanner Garver was the single worst officiating blunder I've seen for a few reasons. First, how is that not a foul? Garver basically hugged him. It should have been a foul-call with around 3 seconds left. That's a brutal mistake and one that's really inexcusable. Second, there's a fine line between a regular foul call and an intentional foul. In the Wyandotte-Schlagle game, Wyandotte was called for a flagrant foul that was wrong in my opinion. Had Garver fouled a little harder, the official could have called it a flagrant foul, meaning that Lansing would have the ball plus the free throws. Defenders commiting fouls to extend the game can easily get sloppy and get called for not making a defensive play on the ball.

2. That call alone DID NOT give Lansing the victory. Keep in mind that Lansing was up by one point, had the ball at the free throw line and Basehor just had three seconds left. Though the Murphy Twins could have easily put the game in overtime, Lansing was still up and odds were against Basehor to either tie or win the game in regulation. If I'm Bailey, I make the first shot and consider missing the second one to run time out. I'm not sure Basehor gets a good looking shot even with that call. Again, that call did not give Lansing the game.

3. If I'm a Basehor fan, player or coach, the one that sticks in my side painfully is the charge call on Colin Murphy. I went back and forth on this for about 20 minutes. Initially, I felt it was a charge call. After watching it a few times, it appeared to be a block to me. There's an interesting argument that a call so close should not be made, especially one with 5.8 seconds left in the game. Though it may have been unpopular, perhaps swallowing the whistle there would have been the best option. Murphy, at least to me, did not appear out of control until the contact was made. Again, it was a close call. After I tweeted out Montemayor's video, two immediate responses to me were different. You could make a case for both - it appears Murphy uses his arm as a shield, but it also appears the Lansing defender really never set his feet.

4. I'm now convinced the charge/block call is the single toughest to make in sports. The rule has evolved over the years. Back in the day, you basically had to stand like a statue to get the call. Now, the defender gets more of a benefit. It's like a strike-zone. Perhaps it's about consistency.

5. The charge call was a tough one to make, but a call like the non-foul on Garver makes me think officials need to be evaluated more and more. That call was bad. It's one thing to miss a bang-bang call like a charge or a race to first base (unless you're Don Denkinger), but it's another in not calling that foul. It was obvious....right? For those who feel it's wrong to discuss officiating, let me say this: Being politically correct allows mediocrity to thrive. If there's controversy and some clear miscalls, they need to be outed.

Overall, it was disappointing that call overshadowed what was a great game.

The lack of a call did not allow Basehor one final shot that all teams generally get. It was a clear foul and instead of the issue being fully decided by the players, an official's mistake clouded the end of the game.

Again, this must be stressed - Lansing played well and deserved a win. Both of these teams are great and both could be celebrating with some hardware in March. It's a shame one of these two teams had to lose an intense game like this.

Lansing and Izaiah Grice played a monster game and Grice displayed guts on the shot.

That said, it's clear the officials had an impact on the game's finish and it's never good for that to happen.

The odds were against Basehor, but I imagine the coaching staff has plays for situations like that. Basehor was robbed of a final opportunity to either tie or win it and that's disappointing.

Congratulations to both teams on a great game.

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CONTROVERSY IN BASEHOR: Two late calls overshadow dramatic victory for Lions over Basehor-Linwood

By NICK SLOAN, NJSloan212@gmail.com

The first showdown between the Basehor-Linwood Bobcats and the Lansing Lions is one of the few basketball games that lived up to the hype.

In a last second thriller, Lansing defeated Basehor 59-58 on the road, via a late three-pointer from Izaiah Grice.

Grice, who led all Lansing scorers with 19 points, hit five three-pointers in the game - none more important than his final three at the top of the key that put the Lions up 59-58 with under nine seconds left in the game.

As dramatic as the Grice three-point shot was, it was two officiating calls that provoked much discussion about the game during the post-game hours.

After the Grice three-pointer, Colin Murphy drove the ball down the court.

Murphy, who scored a game-high 27 points, was called on a controversial charge call that drew elation from Lions fans and boo's from the Bobcat Nation.

The charge wiped off a sure basket from Ryan Murphy, who easily got open inside the paint. The basket would have given Basehor a one-point lead with 5.8 seconds left in the game.

However, the bigger controversy may have arrived just a few seconds later.

Bobcats guard Tanner Garver attempted to foul Lions sophomore Khalil Bailey after the Lions put the ball into play.

Despite practically bear-hugging Bailey, the foul on Garver was not called.

Without the foul, Lansing was able to get the ball out of trouble and run the remaining three seconds off the clock.

The win keeps Lansing undefeated in the Kaw Valley League. Basehor, taking the loss, is now one-game back in the league standings.

Bailey finished with 11 points in the game for Lansing.

Ryan Murphy added 19 points for the Bobcats. Ben Johnson had just four points for Basehor.

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