Varsity Kansas – The Blog » Blog Archive » Which city has produced the best ballers?

March 3, 2009 @ 2:57 p.m. by jlong

By: J. Long

My hometown is better than your home town.

I usually have this argument once a week. The category changes, but my argument never does, because I stand up for my city.

One of the more popular city vs. city arguments I have with people from Tennessee is about basketball. While Memphis is easily the in-state mecca, Chattanooga — where I was born and raised — ranks second.

My history of Wichita high school basketball isn’t at a level where I feel comfortable arguing for or against. Nor do I think there are enough people in Kansas that are knowledgeable about Tennessee high school hoops to be objective.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t discuss which city in Kansas has produced the better ballers. By the way, this isn’t gender specific. It’s Wichita’s five best vs. the other city’s five best.

If Wichita is the mecca, who would your top five players be? Who would have the next-best team?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 2:57 p.m. and is filed under Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

AndyJ

Kansas is better than Tennessee.
http://kansas.com topcity

there good high school ball in georgia
NWBB

I can’t wait for someone to say andover or Oxford,(just an example) that some town like them actually have produced the best! Lol

Obviously it is the city league that has put out the best. Topeka or kansas city would be a way distant second probably
onlooker

Nationally, has to be New York or Chicago. Locally, Wichita has to be the front runner. The number of prospects that have went on to play years ago up until now is tremendously more that any other place around. Per capita might be McPherson, they have had a number of prospects both male and female.
LaneTech81

Can’t say I was a basketball enthusiast when I lived in Chicago but they do have some good teams there and only a couple of those schools do well in football. And then there’s the transfer issue – Jordan’s sons went to a Catholic school on the north side until the older graduated so the younger one transferred to one of the top public school teams (No. 6 overall in IL).
NWBB

When I said Wichita, obviously I was talking about kansas only.
NWBB

Wichita has had at least six kids that I could think of right off the top of my head that have played in McDonalds All American game. Has any other city/town had any that anyone remembers? if so who?
bartont_32

name those six
NWBB

Darnell Valentine, Antoine Carr, Rickey Ross, Aubrey Sherrod, Greg Dreiling and Korleon Young. I’m almost sure noone else has any but I could be wrong.
bartont_32

leavenworth had simeon and lawrence had manning. i didn’t think young played, i guess i was wrong
inthedark

Young was at the game but did not play because of injury. Perry Ellis will surely be picked for the game. In Kansas, Wichita is a no brainer. Overall I would say New York or Chicago especially when it comes to street balla’s.

Top 5 from Wichita:
Darnell Valentine
Ricky Ross
Antonio Carr
Aubrey Sherrod
Greg Dreiling
Hoop Fan

I would add Lynette Woodard to the list since it was open to females as well, and she’s definitely too good to leave off the list.

Darnell Valentine
Ricky Ross
Antonio Carr
Aubrey Sherrod
Greg Dreiling
NWBB

Yound was in the dunk contest and guess he got hurt or something and couldn’t play in the game. Manning only played one year in Lawrence. So I’m not giving them that one, lol. And guess I didn’t even realize Semien was picked. Don’t know how I missed that one.
BballFan

Per capita….or players per residents in town….I would say a town like Claflin….for Jackie and Roxie Stiles…2 out of a town of 659 with full DI scholarships. Of course then you could argue its the family that produced the athlete. Not the school or town.

McPherson definitely a basketball town…..goes all the way back to Steve Henson and most recently would include Ashley Sweat and Marlies Gibson.

The size of Wichita they should have a lot more than they do….I mean if you are counting Sedwick County residents….its likely at least 700,000 people.

Lets talk schools that produce a lot of DI basketball talent….
Heights for sure tops the list (both boys and girls)
Derby because of all the McFarland sisters
Andover Central with Kari Kincaid, Bailey Gee, and Tiffany Bias
Circle with Bekah Mills, Val Siemens and Kyrie Kinder
Lawrence had Danny Manning and Brady Morningstar

Those are just a few…..

I’m always wondering with schools like Andale, Hesston, Wichita Trinity and Collegiate with all their Baskeball State Championships….why not more DI athletes produced from those teams?
that guy

i dont know this for fact or anything, this is simply a comment..
so all of you that are convinced that wichita is the city where basketball was invented CALM DOWN

i would bet that there are 5 players in the KC area thate are better than our 5 best here in the wichita city league…of course we just dont hear about them…
Joanna

OK, I’ve got two comments here.
Just because you win a state title does not mean you must have Division I talent. It doesn’t always happen. There’s plenty of teams out there with a strong 10 players that will beat those teams that have a Division I athlete and nine OK players. I see it happen again and again. Look at Derby this year. McFarland is easily one of the state’s best players, but Derby, if it wins its first round game will probably face Washburn Rural, one of the state’s best teams.

OK, my second comment is about Wichita should have produced more top basketball players. I think what you’re forgetting is the history of the city. I’m not saying it’s the best. But a lot of times people look only at this year or the last two years or whatever.

You can go back to the 70s with Darnell Valentine, Ricky Ross, Antoine Carr, Aubrey Sherrod. The 80s, Greg Dreiling, Clint Normore, Val Barnes, Cortez Barnes.
The 90s, Adrian Griffin, Johnny Murdock, Brian Jackson, B.J. Williams, Manny Dies, Korleone Young, Rashad Washington. The 2000s, Javin Tindall, Taj Gray, Brandon Polk, Dupree Lucas, Jack Crowder, Jordan Cyphers, Adonis Gantt, Garrius Holloman.
And that’s just the boys side — and kids who have graduated. Doesn’t include Perry Ellis or Evan Wessel or Blake Bell or Joe Mitchell.
Now the girls side. This we’ll just keep in the 2000s — Christine Elliott, Jennifer Lane, Julia Marshall, Shekeira Copeland, Savannah Ellis, Megan Lassley, Taylor McIntosh, Taylor Steven, Tenia Green, Kelsy Richardson, Nichole Switzer, Angela Buckner. All were Division I athletes (or will be in the case of Marshall). That’s also not taking into account athletes like Taylor Chandler and Jhasmin Bowen and Tahlia Pope and Allegria Chisom and Kamisha Richard.

Again, I’m not saying who’s the best and who’s not city-wise. It just irks me when some unbelievable athletes — including NBA players — are just written off.
Joanna

that guy — I didn’t address your comment. I think it came on while I was writing my book above. KC has certainly turned out a ton of quality athletes. No doubt about it.
Right now for KU you’ve got Brady Morningstar and Travis Releford. That’s just the most recent. But I’m also betting in the years that Wyandotte was THE team to beat, that there was plenty of amazing talent there.
Coach EM

inthedark

Dont forget about south in the 90′s…Steve Woodberry, B.J. Williams, Manny Dies…
BballFan

Joanna…glad I sparked your book. Good discussion for sure.

And yes I do believe Jackie Stiles never won a State Championship either…perhaps thats what drove her to break records on her own at Southwest Missouri State.

I guess what I’m saying….Andover Central on the girls side(State Champions) and produced some D1 talent. Heights always does(boys and girls). Just think its interesting for sure.

State tournaments usually spark a lot of interest from college coaches and you’d think that some would get offers at State. Or does this begin the whole debate on when kids get looked at for sports anyway? I mean there does seem to be a WAR between summer coaches and High School coaches.
BballFan

Hmmmm…another thought….which Heights players beside Taylor McIntosh actually went to the Big 12? Isn’t it weird that Big 12 doesn’t recruit Wichita (city league) talent?
justanotherfan

Many of the smaller classes in Kansas don’t have a lot of D-1 athletes, so really strong teams tend to dominate, particularly in 1A, 2A and 3A. For that matter, the state of Kansas only produces 8-10 D-1 players every year (only a couple high D-1′s, the rest mid major or low major).

Even at the 5A level this year, Highland Park and Miege, two of the top teams, may only have a couple D-1 players between them. Among the top 5 teams in 4A, there may only be 2 or 3 D-1 players on those 5 rosters.

No doubt, Wichita has produced more high quality basketball players than anywhere else in Kansas, but I would note that the guard play from Kansas City, Kansas is top notch. Not many quality big men from Wyandotte County, but if you track from Lucious Allen to Larry Drew to Victor Williams and Nate Johnson (and that’s just Wyandotte High school) or Kris Weems, or Earl Watson, or Malcolm Campbell, or Jeff Hawkins, there have been a number high talent guards to come from KC, although fewer so in recent years.
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