So who’s better really?
Dec. 13, 2007 @ 5:02 p.m. by Jeff LutzLast night I got a text message from my friend who was covering the boys basketball game between Southeast and Bishop Carroll. The message read “East is better than Southeast.”
It was difficult to agree or disagree with him at the time, and that was before either of us knew that East had been upset by South. I use the term “upset” loosely — South is an extremely talented team that is capable of beating any team on any night. But East was ranked No. 3 in the state, so technically it’s an upset.
So now since Southeast is undefeated and East has a loss. But Southeast barely held off Carroll last night after winning its first four games in blowouts. So who is better at this point in the season? I say it’s too close to call. I know, taking the easy way out.
But the two teams are so similar. Before last night’s loss, East was ranked No. 3 and was one spot ahead of Southeast. The Aces have a strong trio in Leon Flowers, Jawanza Poland and Garrius Holloman, but Jordan Cyphers, Adonis Gantt and Cortez Barnes are just as good. Both teams are incredibly deep and athletic.
Ron Allen and Carl Taylor are two of my favorites in the City League. I’ve always like Allen, the East coach. And after a young reporter gets over the fear of approaching Taylor after a Southeast loss, it’s easy for him to see that Taylor is a great guy. A few years ago, I made a point to try to make him smile. It was tough, but I finally cracked him. Just barely.
I bring up the coaches because the teams play different styles. Taylor preaches defense, which allows the Buffaloes to put up a ton of points. East gets their points through a fast-break game that few teams can keep up with. It makes for an interesting matchup when the teams play against one another, seeing which team is able to control the tempo.
So who is better? If you’re looking to last year for the answer, good luck. The teams split two games — Southeast won the first by two points and East needed overtime to get revenge later. Many of the key players on both teams are back, so the games will probably be just as close this season.
Who is better? We’ll get an indication when the teams meet for the first time on January 4. But judging by last season, that game won’t tell us much or come close to providing an answer.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Who’s better?
Collegiate
December 14th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Collegiate would have trouble beating West High. Get real
December 14th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
haha thats funny, i was kidding about east and southeast. but collegiate would destroy west high
December 15th, 2007 at 12:47 am
southeast for sure
December 15th, 2007 at 3:20 am
i say south can and wil beat both
December 15th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I would have to say that South is looking pretty good this year. If they can run with Southeast, like they did East, They should win
December 17th, 2007 at 10:57 am
The Wichita Eagle is so wrapped up in city league ball that they can’t see past the city limits. There are just as good or better story lines developing outside the city league in the surrounding areas. Get a clue, Wichita Eagle. The city league lets us down time after time.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
there is a reason its called The WICHITA Eagle and not The Wichita & surronding areas Eagle
December 18th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Really? Then why does the WICHITA Eagle report on the KANSAS CITY Chiefs, the K-State Wildcats and the KU Jayhawks? Why do they have a complete section entitled STATE and LOCAL? The Eagle loves to focus on unimportant city league games and ignore many good games outside the city league. The Eagle would do well to look at it’s circulation which, by the way, includes districts outside the city league and do a better job of covering newsworthy sports like other major cities do. City league sports just aren’t all their cracked up to be in Wichita. All hype…then the big let down. As a collective group Goddard, Mulvane and Hutchinson provided more bang for your buck during football season than any city league bylines, unless you count the Bishop Carroll fiasco. Now that was newsworthy. East couldn’t make it happen with the Brown brothers, but we sure got to hear all about their wins AND losses each and every week (like I said…hype and let down). Harper couldn’t get too far in the playoffs and now here we go again with East, NW, Bishop Carroll and the round ball!
December 18th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
So if the entire country is focused on two players in the Wichita area, we shouldnt cover them? Thats a great way to get people to read the paper, dont talk about what everyone else is, get some stories about stuff no one has ever heard of. And i dont know why you didnt hear about the games with Mulvane, Goddard, and Hutch, I heard about them every week. Logan Watkins had an entire story written about him 2 months ago. But your right, the Browns and Harper got more attention, how many of Goddards, Mulvanes, and Hutch’s D-1 players got that much air time? Oh I almost forgot, they didnt have any. Dont be mad at the paper for covering what the entire nation is
December 18th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
oh and your talking about basketball, South has never been hyped for anything in 15 years except bowling. Now they are playing what might be the biggest game of the season, your tellin me to not cover that one?
December 19th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I’m all about South getting some press now because it’s newsworthy. But East getting slapped all over the papers every other day was too much. Their football team and the Brown brothers were 2 different issues. The football team was mediocre at best, but the Eagle was sure fond of covering the fb teams every move. They were all about NW and Heights, too. What were their records? You watch…we’ll get to hear all about Bishop Carroll’s basketball season like they can’t be beat. I’m just saying that we get way more information on unimportant city league games when we could getting better coverage on more exciting games.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Also, you will not my comment was about city league ball NOT city league recruiting. Yes, following the Browns and Harper are big stories. A newspaper has a responsibility to ALL it’s readers. I would like to see write-ups on more competitive games, not some of the watered-down city league games like we usually see in the Eagle. Also, I’m not talking about features…I am talking about write-ups on games so your Logan Watkins story doesn’t do anything for me.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I agree with the fact that the paper covers teams that have a “history” and i would like to see them stop covering teams because 2 or 3 years ago they won a state title, like NW in b-ball, or because of the big name players on the team. I can agree that good teams, not good players, should be the focus
December 20th, 2007 at 10:25 am
I really don’t mind a feature once in a while, especially if a kid is highly recruited, has a history, special interest, whatever, but it would have been nice to see more stories this past season on teams that were having good seasons or on games that had big implications. I got a lot of my information from hovpen because the Eagle just didn’t cover it. I just think the Eagle could spread it around a little better, look for the game that would be of more interest to a wider group of subscribers and become a better read. The story about NW and I think either Andover or BC choosing their uniforms was probably the weakest of all. Was that really worth reporting?
December 20th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
i agree on the jersey thing, they were trying to show the improvement of the team since the change but it was a little over the top
December 25th, 2007 at 11:59 am
The best team in Kansas is in Topeka on East side of Town.