No national-tourney ending for KCKCC, but the Blue Devils twice got to cut down nets
The NBA had suspended its season and the NCAA Tournament had been canceled. Basketballs had stopped bouncing in many parts of the country.
But not among the junior-college ranks, at least not for a few additional days.
The weekend passed and the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament was a go. But on March 16, following recommendations by the Center for Disease Control, NJCAA events for the remainder of the school year were called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
From a KC perspective, that left the Kansas City Kansas Community College men’s team as the last one standing. Next stop for the Blue Devils would have been the NJCAA Division II Tournament.
“Obviously they were heartbroken,” coach Brandon Burgette said. “We were on a roll, peaking at the right time. It’s March, a special time, and to think ... your season is over. That’s gut-wrenching.”
This exceptional season should be noted for several reasons.
First, Burgette, who played at Lee’s Summit North High School and Southwest Baptist, was working as a head coach for the first time. He’d served as an assistant coach at nearby Johnson County Community College for the previous three seasons and four years before that at Indian Hills in Iowa.
Burgette, 33, took over a program without much history of success. This was the Blue Devils’ 50th season as a member of the Jayhawk Conference and they’d never finished first.
Then there was the team’s start — 2-8 — and Burgette wondered if they were on the brink of collapse.
“We had lost seven in a row and I thought my guys were about to check out,” Burgette said. “It took all I had to keep boosting their confidence and making sure they had the right attitude.”
This wasn’t misplaced confidence. Burgette knew his team had endured a difficult early schedule, and of those seven straight losses, six were by 10 or fewer points.
Also, he needed more buy-in. Burgette had coached junior-college teams long enough to understand that most players are auditioning for four-year programs. But the best way to go about that, he told them, was to become successful as a team.
Unselfishness started to pay off in victories. They came in a trickle at first, but a nine-game winning streak in January and February changed the season’s direction. The eighth of those nine triumphs clinched the program’s first conference title.
The next step was to reach the national tournament in Danville, Illinois. For that to happen, the Blue Devils would have to get past rival Johnson County in the Region IV title game in Hutchinson, Kansas.
KCK fell behind by 13 points with eight minutes remaining but stormed back for a 75-68 victory.
The Blue Devils were headed to Danville with an 18-13 record, the No. 14 seed in a 16-team field.
Until the event was canceled.
“I thought it was going to be the year of Kansas City sports,” Burgette said. “The Chiefs won the Super Bowl, KU was ranked No. 1, the UMKC women won the WAC. We were going to represent Kansas City.”
Instead, one of the best seasons in school history is over. But some great things happened this year. Sophomores Jalen Davis (13.9 points per game) and Calvin Slaughter (10.8) became the leaders Burgette needed. Five more players averaged at least 7.4 points per game for a team with five players from the Kansas City metro that learned to spread the wealth.
They got to cut down nets twice — for the conference and regional titles — and at least the Blue Devils had that. KCK also learned a lesson in perseverance.
“We started playing for one another, became ‘we’ and not ‘me’ guys,” Burgette said.
And that’s an experience that even a canceled tournament won’t erase.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 5:01 PM.