Kansas City men’s hoops heads to league tournament looking for this first achievement
.JPG "Kansas City head coach Marvin Menzies talks to his players during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas State on Nov. 17, 2022, in Manhattan, Kan.")
Marvin Menzies was taken aback by the piece of information.
The KC Roos men’s basketball program has never played in a conference tournament championship game. Not as UMKC, as Kansas City or the KC Roos.
Not while playing at Swinney Center or Municipal Auditorium.
Not while competing in the Mid-Continent Conference re-branded as the Summit League, the WAC, and now back in the Summit.
Heck, it was Menzies’ New Mexico State team that denied the Roos in 2016, beating Kansas City in the semifinal round.
The Roos debuted as a Division I program in 1987-88 and didn’t play in a conference until joining the Mid-Con in 1994. Since then, there have been eight quarterfinal victories, followed by eight semifinal defeats.
The big problem with that is the program has never given itself an opportunity to play a game with an NCAA Tournament automatic berth on the line. Also, the game would be televised nationally.
“If you could put two (victories) together, that would be a first,” Menzies said. “I want to put four together.”
The Summit tournament format would require Kansas City to win four for a net-cutting ceremony. The event starts on Friday at 8:30 p.m. in Sioux Falls, S.D. The seventh-seeded Roos take on No. 10 Omaha. The winner gets No. 2 seed South Dakota State on Saturday.
Kansas City is coming off a dud finish to the regular season, dropping five straight to stand 11-20 overall. But it’s been a battle to stay healthy all year. Menzies has had top contributors miss the entire season, most of the season and pair who were injured and returned only to be reinjured and unavailable for the postseason.
Shemarri Allen, the team’s second leading scorer at 17.0, suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago. Allen David Mukeba, the top rebounder, returned from an injury only to suffer a broken bone in his foot. He hasn’t played since Feb. 9.
Twelve different players have started for the Roos, and only one — leading scorer RayQuandis Mitchell (17.4 ppg) — has started every game.
But it’s also the time to look at things with a fresh outlook. Menzies’ New Mexico State teams won five WAC tournament titles. He was hired to bring a taste of that success to Kansas City.
Just getting to a league-tournament final would be a big step.
“It brings automatic rejuvenation to the guys,” Menzies said of the Summit tournament. “It’s a chance to get your competitive juices going again and reignite them, especially after some of the injuries we’ve had.”