Defending City League champs are revived after slow start to highly anticipated season
On Jan. 10, Wichita Southeast lost to Bishop Carroll by 31 at home.
The Buffaloes were 2-5 and sat in a tie for 12th in Class 6A West alongside Wichita East and just ahead of Dodge City and Wichita West. The defending City League boys basketball champions and last year’s 6A third-place finisher was on the ropes.
As of Wednesday night, Southeast is a win away from back-to-back state tournament appearances and 14 victories in 15 games. Its only loss in the run came on the road to Carroll (21-0). It was one of the Golden Eagles’ closest games of the season.
So what happened?
“At first, we failed; we failed,” Southeast coach Joe Mitchell said after his Buffaloes’ 72-66 win over rival Wichita Heights in the first round of sub-state. “We won our midseason tournament and have been winning ever since.”
Southeast won the January Jam at Valley Center with a 71-59 victory over Shawnee Mission East in the championship game. Mitchell said he shorted his playing rotation, and that woke up everyone on the roster to earn their minutes.
It was the Buffaloes’ seventh win in an elimination game in its past eight attempts. The big game doesn’t get to Southeast. Its only loss came in last year’s 6A semifinals to Washburn Rural. Now the Buffs must go on the road and win another against Lawrence, the No. 3 seed in 6A West, something they probably weren’t completely prepared for at the start of the season.
“I think we were ready, but at the same time, I don’t think we were 100% ready,” junior Jackie Johnson said.
Last year, Southeast met Lawrence twice. The first came in the midseason tournament, and the Buffs were embarrassed for one of their three regular season losses. They came back in the 6A quarterfinals and beat Lawrence 70-67.
Southeast was loaded with talent last season, including a three-headed monster of Johnson, junior Micah Jacques and senior Jun Murdock. Johnson was chosen to The Eagle’s All-Metro team after averaging 28 points, four assists and three rebounds per game.
He has kept up that efficiency, dropping 30 points Wednesday against a diamond-and-1 defense meant to take him out of the play. Jacques has maintained his production as an All-City League player, too. But the loss of Murdock was understated coming into this season.
Murdock signed with Friends, Mitchell’s alma mater, and was chosen to the KCAC All-Freshman Team this season. Mitchell said Murdock was his floor general and his best defender.
“He was me on the court to be honest,” Mitchell said. “A lot of coaches say that, but Jun was my everything: pass-first guard, made sure the offense was set up. He knew the ins and outs. He was a true student of the game.”
The Buffaloes have had to step up to fill his void together. Southeast doesn’t have a pure point guard, Mitchell said, but with new faces like senior Larry Cherry, senior Voshun Webb and junior Caleb WIlson to go along with role players like junior Wesley Adkins and junior Rone Smith from last year.
“At the beginning of the season, we weren’t really connecting,” Jacques said. “But once we got that brotherhood and that togetherness going, we just got on a roll.”
Southeast probably isn’t the favorite to come out of its sub-state tournament this year. The Buffaloes have to go on the road about 2 1/2 hours north and play Lawrence, a team that has lost one game since Jan. 7. The Lions (17-4) have great size and a couple of high-caliber guards to challenge Southeast.
But the Buffaloes are up for it.
“Being slept on is nothing new for us,” Jacques said. “Last year, they said we were gonna be a horrible team because we got a new coach last-minute. We went on to achieve great things.
“It’s about believing in ourselves and having confidence everything we know we can do.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 10:37 PM.