South boys fall short in 6A as City League gets shut out

It didn’t happen for South on Wednesday night in the first round of the Class 6A boys basketball tournament at Koch Arena.

Will it happen for the City League?

The Titans, the league’s only representative in the 6A tourney, fell 48-42 to Free State. So the semifinals of the tournament will have two teams from Lawrence and two teams from Johnson County.

In Wichita, where the City League has ruled 6A, and before that 5A, for more than five decades.

Only nine times in the 58 large-class state tournaments since 1960 has a City League failed to win a game. And the last time the league failed to win a boys state tournament game in any class was 2004.

That puts some pressure on Heights and Bishop Carroll on Thursday. Heights meets Pittsburg and Carroll meets Eisenhower in the 5A tournament in Topeka.

The City League needs to be careful here. Since Heights wrapped up its fourth consecutive 6A title in 2012, before moving to 5A, the best basketball league in the state will have one of the past five championships in 6A.

That’s not exactly a monumental drought, but consider that in the 42 seasons from 1971-2012, City League teams won 26 championships. But they’ve added only one since, East’s title in 2015.

South, which has reached the state tournament the past three years only to lose its first-round game each time, won 10 championships during a 19-season span from 1978-96, but the Titans haven’t won a state tournament game since 1998.

Their problem Wednesday was finding offense and rebounding. The Titans shot 35.4 percent and were out-rebounded 37-21. Free State also made 20 of 24 free throws to South’s 4 of 7.

The City League had parity this season, which is a kinder way of saying there were no real standout teams, just a bunch of pretty good ones. The league was won by Kapaun Mount Carmel, its first CL championship in 42 years, but the Crusaders were beaten by Carroll in a five-overtime sub-state final classic last weekend.

City League football success on the state level has been sporadic, to say the least. But this league has been a dominant basketball force and it’s strange for the CL to sit out the semis of the 6A tournament, the first time that’s happened since 2013.

I’m not saying it’s time to panic. The City League won only one 6A championship from 1997-2001 and went four years without a title twice, 1983-86 and 1973-76.

It’s something worth keeping an eye on, since basketball in the northeast part of the state seems to be improving. Blue Valley Northwest, which won its first-round game Wednesday, won 6A championships in 2013 and 2014 and Shawnee Mission North knocked off Wichita Southeast in the championship game at Koch Arena last year.

The City League, though, has seven wins in the past five 6A tournaments, its lowest total since five wins from 1964-68. Losing Heights from 6A has obviously been part of the reason for the slowdown because the Falcons perenially have one of the best basketball programs in the state and won in 5A just two seasons ago. Kapaun made it to the 5A title game last season, losing to Mill Valley 87-84.

There is still City League power and a group of coaches who understand how important basketball is, not only for the now but also the then. This is a league that has produced some of the best players in state’s history.

Southeast and East, who have done damage in many state tournaments over the years, are still strong programs and could both be in the mix next season. North and Northwest have struggled to maintain consistency and West was 0-21 this season.

By City League standards, at least at the 6A level, this was not a good season.

The best thing about City League basketball over the years, though, has been that the next good season is never far away. And that’s likely still the case, even after the disappointment of South’s first-round loss.

Heights and Carroll could take some of the 6A sting away with deep runs in the 5A tournament. Still, there’s something not right about a 6A tourney void of the City League in its semifinals. It’s going to be strange for Lawrence and Blue Valley schools to take center stage Friday.

South is awaiting its breakthrough and perhaps will get another shot next year. The Titans’ 10 state titles are the fourth most in state history, so there’s no shortage of tradition.

There’s no shortage of tradition anywhere in the City League. It’s a tradition that consistently pushes the nine CL schools to strive for excellence and trophies. It’s a league that has produced 178 wins in 58 largest-class tournaments since 1960. But it didn’t get one this year.

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 10:54 PM with the headline "South boys fall short in 6A as City League gets shut out."