Bulldogs continue miracle season

The “McPherson College Miracle” continued on Saturday night at the Sport Center.

The Bulldog men’s basketball team may have saved its fairytale season with a remarkable come-from-behind 87-83 victory over Bethel in a game I twice had given them up for dead.

Coming off an ego-sapping 39-point loss at Oklahoma Wesleyan on Wednesday that was easily the low point of the season – and that came after a loss to 12th-place Sterling on the previous Saturday – the Bulldogs were facing a crucial game as they entered the night trailing Bethel by a half-game for third place in the standings and on the fringe of still hosting a first-round playoff game.

The Threshers, a senior-dominated team, virtually doubled over the Bulldogs with a 19-4 gut punch to open the game and Mac’s intestinal fortitude was about to be tested. It could have gone the way of Oklahoma Wesleyan and mailed the rest of the game in, or bowed up to start to chip way.

It chose to chip, chip, chip.

A pair of Lual Magot 3-pointers to close out the first half whittled what had once been a 17-point deficit to 9, which in the age of the 3-pointer doesn’t take long to overcome.

Mac then kept its foot on the gas and finally tied the game for the first time at 62-all and later went up 66-65.

But the Bulldogs then looked to undo all their good work as they turned it over on five straight possession without getting off a shot as Bethel took advantage to sprint to an 11-point lead with just 5 minutes left as the uber-talented Threshers probably believed they had weathered the storm.

But the final run belonged to the Bulldogs as they finished the game on a 19-4 sizzle for the improbable victory.

The Bulldogs are now 14-7 in the KCAC, still two games back of 15-5 Ottawa in the loss column. Mac has Wednesday night off while the other 12 teams do battle as each team in the conference gets two bye nights during the conference season.

Oklahoma Wesleyan is second at 14-6, while Mac and Friends are 14-7. Southwestern, Bethel and Kansas Wesleyan are all 13-7 as one loss can really drop you down at this point.

On Wednesday, Ottawa is home to play York, which has been reeling. Two huge games, though, have major bearings on the race, Friends at Bethel, while Kansas Wesleyan goes to Southwestern. Anyway you look at it, the Bulldogs are going to be helped.

Ottawa isn’t out of the woods yet as after York on Wednesday, it has a road game at Sterling (which has knocked off Mac and Southwestern in recent games), and then the Braves finish up with a home game against Kansas Wesleyan and in what could be the biggest game of the season, they play at the Sport Center on the final Saturday, where the Bulldogs have lost only once all year.

Mac’s three games include a tough road game on Saturday at Kansas Wesleyan, before coming home to host second-division Avila and then Ottawa, which it defeated at Wilson Field House last month.

That Mac is even in this position is a testament to the job Eskildsen has done. I think if the Bulldogs get to 20 wins overall, the KCAC Coach of the Year will come down to Mac’s version of Big Red or Ottawa’s Aaron Siebenthall. The KCAC coaches very seldom deviate from voting the conference champion’s coach as the best, but I think to take a team picked 11th  at the start of the season and right in the championship race until the final 2 weeks warrants a lot of consideration.

Remember, this is a Bulldog team that won only 10 games last year and was just 6-18 in the KCAC. There’s not that many new players as the ones who were here last year have elevated their games.

Hopefully the Bulldogs can win out and then get some help. It’s been a long time since those four straight years they went to Branson, Mo., for the NAIA National Tournament.

Answering questions from loyal readers

Having covered about 30 basketball games over the last 3 weeks, I just now had some time to open mail and catch up on emails.

So, it’s time for a little Q-and-A session as I answer questions from  Midkansasonline.com  Kingdom.

Q – How do you see the upcoming KCAC men’s basketball tournament playing out?

A – We still have a couple of weeks left in the regular season and there appears to be about seven or eight teams that realistically could win it. Of the teams I have seen, and this is going to sound strange, but I think Friends could be the most dangerous. The Falcons’ individual talent is off the chart and they have a star in Papi Conley. Conventional wisdom says that it’s still Oklahoma Wesleyan’s championship to lose, but Ottawa has done a good job of keeping a piece of first place. I just hope McPherson College hasn’t hit a wall after winning 10 of 11. Saturday’s home game with Bethel is huge.

Q – And the women’s race?

A – I haven’t seen Kansas Wesleyan, but I’m told by many that it’s playing the best in the KCAC right now. Sterling has the best starting five in the league, but not a lot of depth. Keith Ferguson’s Bethany Swedes are playing really good basketball right now and can’t be counted out. If I was guessing, though, I’d take Kansas Wesleyan.

Q – Can the Kansas Jayhawks catch and pass Baylor in the Big 12 basketball race?

A – Of course it’s possible, but Baylor winning at Allen Field House felt like a two-game pickup because the Jayhawks almost never, ever lose in Lawrence. Also, KU still has to go to West Virginia, where it always has trouble. If I was really pressed on it, I’d say Baylor is going to win the title with KU second. But let’s be honest, the Big 12 title is small potatoes in the big scheme of things. The only thing people really remember about a season is how far you go in the NCAA Tournament. And this year’s field is wide open because I think college basketball is enduring its weakest season in decades. When you have teams like San Diego State and Baylor as possible No. 1 seeds, that’s all you need to know. Duke, Kentucky and Michigan State are decent, but not what they’ve been.

Q – Were you surprised Minnesota traded former KU star and overall No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins to Golden State on Wednesday?

A -- When I think of Andrew Wiggins, two words come to mind – unfulfilled potential. Wiggins was a bit of a disappointment in his stopover year at KU as the Jayhawks made an early NCAA exit despite his presence and that of Joel Embiid. Somehow, Minnesota made a blunder of a move by giving him a max contract. His stats are decent, but when you watch him play, you ask yourself, “is this the best he can give you?” He struggles with his shot and it’s masked by his tremendous athleticism, which there is no denying. What happens in Golden State when Steph and Klay come back? I have a feeling Wiggins won’t be a Warrior that long.

Q – If the Chiefs don’t repeat as Super Bowl champs, who will it be?

A – I really think the Chiefs and Baltimore will go into next season as the two-best teams in the AFC, but of course the offseason moves could change all of that. Mahomes now is the best quarterback in football, he’s proven that in two years. In the NFC, don’t be surprised to see Dallas start to turn things around. A new coaching regime might be what Jerry Jones needed. San Francisco will be right there as well because of its young, fierce defense.

Robertson putting up amazing numbers

Is there any doubt that McPherson’s Taylor Robertson won’t be first-team All-Big 12?

The numbers certainly don’t lie. Robertson is putting together a season not only worthy of All-Big 12, but has to be in the conversation for All-American honors.

She has very few negatives, other than her team is a pedestrian 12-10 overall and 5-5 in the Big 12, which like the men’s side this year isn’t as strong as it’s been in the past once you get past Baylor.

But other than her team’s record, it’s all as good as gold for the player affectionately known as “T-Rob.” She’s a number-cruncher’s dream with every statistic basically making you say “wow.”

Robertson has become coach Sherri Coale’s energizer bunny. She sends her out at the start of the game and just lets her play until the energy runs out.

And it never does.

Robertson is averaging a staggering 38 minutes a game, which ranks her 11th in the country.

She also has other “mosts.”

Robertson is 127 of 281 from the field, a jaw-dropping 108 of 243 from 3-point – and that’s facing a myriad of defenses, including face-guarding. She currently has the most 3-pointers in the country and it’s not even close as second-place Rachael Childress of UAB has 84. She is 13th  in 3-point percentage.

She had 105 3-pointers last year and is now the only player in Big 12 history to have back-to-back seasons of  at least 100 3-pointers.

She is 8th  nationally in free throw percentage, which I’m sure being a former national free throw champion as a teenager gives her motivation to move up.

She’s 85 of 95 from the line for just under 90 percent and it’s a shock to everyone when she misses. I was watching her game with KU on Sunday as she took 12 free throws, making all 12, and the rim was almost never touched as it was nothing but net.

Robertson has boosted her season average to 20.3 points, but she also grabs 3 rebounds a game.

I looked at her minutes of all her games this year and was shocked. In the last 12 games, she has played 40 minutes in 8 of them. Against KU, she played all 45 minutes since that game went overtime, 44 in the overtime game against Texas Tech. That leaves two games and in those she played 38 and 39 minutes out of a possible 40. So in those dozen games, she has played all but 4 minutes.

Remember, OU plays at a supersonic pace and Robertson goes up against defenders that she would freely admit are likely more athletic than her.

But she’s an on-the-court Einstein as she lets the game come to her, then figuring out what she has to do differently if shut down. Even when things aren’t going well, she never shows an emotion. I’m guessing she would make one heck of a poker player.

Robertson has scored in double figures in all but one game this year, and in that one she scored 9 against Houston when she played “only” 37 of the 40 minutes.

Two of her best games, however, came against Kansas schools, scoring 30 against Wichita State and 31 against KU and the coaches of those schools probably wish now they had spent more time at the Roundhouse recruiting her.

I tell anyone who will listen that Taylor is the purest shooter I’ve ever watched and I’ve seen a lot of them. Moundridge legend Laurie Koehn was unreal and so was Claflin’s Jackie Stiles.

But for my money, I’d take Taylor.

Looking ahead to next year's Chiefs

As the Chiefs celebrate their Super Bowl victory with a parade today in downtown Kansas City that could draw hundreds of thousands of fans – if not a million given their wide fan base -- it’s not too soon to start thinking about the defense of their championship.

Super Bowl repeats are rare in this day and age of free agency and player movement. The last team to repeat was New England, going back-to-back in 2004 and 2005.

The Chiefs’ free-agent players figure to command more on the open market, given their championship pedigree. How many times have we seen it in recent years that a really good player from a Super Bowl team winds up going elsewhere and is paid more than he’s probably worth?

It’s common knowledge it’s impossible to bring everyone back from a champion. Everybody wants their piece of the pie and there’s no way to cut it up to make everybody happy. The Chiefs will allow some players to walk in order to pay their more high-profile players and rightly so.

Of course, Patrick Mahomes’ contract already is being analyzed as he’s the NFL’s biggest bargain right now and will no doubt be looking to re-negotiate. Clark Hunt, at some point, is going to write a big check with a bigger number than there’s ever been in the NFL. Mahomes is a generational player whose talent and intangibles carry an infinite price tag.

Mahomes seems very grounded and always puts the team first in his interviews. Being the smart guy he is, he knows a team is the sum of its parts and to keep those parts, he may have to take somewhat of a hometown discount so the toys remain in his treasure chest.

But he also has to look out for himself as he knows the career shelf of an NFL player.

Mahomes is entering the final year of his rookie contract that paid him id="mce_marker"6 million for 4 years, which is a pittance considering the revenue he’s brought to the franchise.

Hunt will get the deal done no matter what he has to do. With Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill already signed for next year, the core of the weaponry returns. Nobody is sure what Sammy Watkins’ future holds, but Mecole Hardman is a burner and made some huge plays should Watkins not come back as has been reported.

Where I think the Chiefs will invest in either free agency or with a high draft pick is the offensive line. That unit was tattered by injuries during the season and an upgrade, especially at the guard position, would be welcomed.

Defensively, I think the biggest need is at linebacker, though the Chiefs often use just two and play five in the secondary. There’s a glaring lack of speed at linebacker, so a free agent could find the Chiefs enticing.

The secondary floundered during the early part of the season, then started to grasp the new scheme. But I would think the Chiefs will use a second- or third-rounder here.

Kansas City has hit big on some later-round gems and hopefully it will strike gold again.

Kansas City has to guard against a Super Bowl hangover. But Mahomes, in his two years as a starter, has never lost a game by double digits and he keeps them in every game.

Kansas City certainly has the confidence now to make another deep run next year. The Patriots appear on the decline, with Baltimore a rising power. Free agency will play a big role as teams can get better in a hurry if they open up the checkbook.

As long as Mahomes remains a Chief, hopefully for the rest of his career, Kansas City will be among the elite teams year-in and year-out.

MHS girls will learn from loss to Northwest

McPherson High’s girls will take away much more from their 44-37 loss to Shawnee Mission Northwest on Saturday than a running-clock victory over an overmatched opponent.

No team likes to lose, and for the Bullpups the defeat was their first of the year, but it put the focus on what aspects MHS needs to get better at. And who knows, maybe taking the bullseye off their back of being undefeated may work out in the long run.

MHS’ loss in the championship game of the Mid America Classic could be traced back to its 14-2 deficit at the start of the game. I don’t know if the Bullpups were overly excited or nervous, but I can hardly remember a game in the past where they were down so much, so soon.

As you would expect, the Bullpups not only clawed their way back into the game, but even took the lead in the third quarter as they were suffocating on the defensive end. But a critical, old-fashioned 3-point play with just over a second left in the third quarter pushed Northwest’s lead from 1 to 4, then the Cougars knocked down a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter to grab control of the game.

Consider it lesson learned. The Bullpups, without 6-1 Andrea Sweat who is out for the year with knee surgery, are not a tall team. Cassie Cooks and Grace Pyle play big, but when you go up against a talent like 6-2 Northwest center Kennedy Taylor, you’re at a disadvantage.

Taylor was incredibly dominant in the tournament, leading the Classic in both scoring and rebounding. She hit a couple of straight-on banks in the first half that I’m sure she didn’t call, but the shots went in anyway. She’s a Division I talent as you don’t find many 6-2 players with her size, strength and fundamentals.

MHS may not face another team this year that can guard on the perimeter like Northwest, which will be in the hunt for the Class 6A championship. The Bullpups had many shots blocked as even when they got past the Northwest perimeter defense, Taylor was there to alter the shot. The Bullpups had really lit it up from 3-point in the first two games of the Classic, but weren’t nearly as effective in the championship game and that is a staple of their offense. They were limited to 15 attempts and 4 makes. For the game, MHS shot just 12 of 48 overall, a credit to Northwest’s tough defense.

The Bullpups have seven games remaining on their schedule, starting with two non-conference games this week. Unless they have the Classic blues, Wichita Collegiate shouldn’t put up a major challenge tonight. Andale on Friday at the Roundhouse is always competitive and well-coached with Ted Anderson, but it doesn’t score a lot of points. It did put up 63 on tonight’s opponent, Collegiate.

Then it’s the five league games to close out the season, with the only challenge most likely to come from Circle, but that game is here.

MHS, Maize South and Andover Central are leading in 5A West, all with one loss. Andover Central’s loss, of course, came to MHS back in December in that overtime game in Andover.

Salina Central and Carroll have two and three losses, respectively, then it drops down to a gaggle of teams with five losses. Carroll lost by 19 points to a Dodge City team the Bullpups blew out last month.

It’s still looking good for the Bullpups. On the East side, St. Thomas Aquinas and Kansas City Schlagle are the best teams, with Topeka Seaman, Kansas City Sumner and De Soto all fighting for a Top 4 berth.

You can never count out the Chiefs

It’s simply not possible for Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes to be merely mortal for an entire 60 minutes. At some point, he has to rip open his jersey and reveal that big “S” for Superman.

The wunderkind Chiefs quarterback, on the grandest of all stages, was on his way to perhaps the worst game of his brief career. His team’s offense had produced only 10 points through 3  1/2 quarters as San Francisco’s fierce pass rush was piercing what appeared to be an overmatched Chiefs offensive line and proving to be Mahomes’ kryptonite.

The Chiefs, of course, had been in this position before. They were down 24 to the Houston Texans and by double digits against Tennessee in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

But never were they down this big, this late. The Super Bowl is a different animal.

Mahomes was short-hopping pass after pass to open receivers, who were making like shortstops picking hot grounders. Kansas City fans, unaccustomed to this, were getting nervous. This was the Chiefs’ first trip to the Super Bowl in 50 years and it was going down the drain. Criticism of Andy Reid was already beginning to boil, though tactically he had done little wrong.

Finally in the fourth quarter, when desperation set in, Mahomes rose like the phoenix from the ashes as the Chiefs were staring at a 20-10 deficit.

Going to a hurry-up offense that started to tire out the 49ers’ front four, Mahomes finally hit on some big plays. He guided the Chiefs on a scoring drive of 10 plays and 83 yards that took only 2:40 off the clock. He flipped a 1-yarder to Travis Kelce with 6:13 to go to make it 20-17.

All year it had been asked, “can the defense win a game?”

It emphatically answered “yes.”

The Chiefs got a quick stop and you could feel the tidal wave of momentum from the very pro-Kansas City crowd. Mahomes directed another quick 7-play, 65-yard scoring drive that was capped by unsung Damien Williams catching a 5-yarder out of the backfield, a play the Chiefs have run to perfection all season. That put them up 24-20, but not yet out of the woods.

After another defensive gem, though, the Chiefs put it away on a 38-yard Williams run and the party was on.

Of course much of the attention was on game MVP Mahomes, who finished fast to complete 26 of 42 for 286 yards and a couple of scores, but also threw two uncharacteristic interceptions. It wasn’t vintage Mahomes, for sure, but the kid has “it.” I really believe every Chiefs fan knew that when they got the ball back and down 20-17, Mahomes would make some magic and get the Chiefs the lead.

He did.

But I know I was nervous that San Francisco would come right back down the field and break their heart, just as has been the case so many times in recent years if you’re a KC fan. Reid has suffered some brutally tough losses in his career and this would have been his most epic collapse.

But the defense wouldn’t let it happen, that same defense that was nothing more than tissue paper during that 2-4 stretch starting in Week 5 that took the Chiefs out of the Super Bowl conversation for about a month.

But new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo hung tough and his unit responded after that last-minute loss to Tennessee in Week 10. The Chiefs would never lose again and the defense raged up the charts of defensive stats.

A few players might have been overlooked by the all the glare on Mahomes. Williams rushed for 104 yards and totaled two scores. Tyreek Hill had 9 catches for 105 yards and Sammy Watkins had 5 for 98, including some clutch first-down catches.

And give much-maligned Bashaud Breeland some props. He has scraped off his burnt toast and turned into a quality defender. He had 6 tackles and a pick.

In McPherson, the revelation of the Chiefs’ victory wasn’t lost on the fans. I could hear fireworks going off outside of my house and cars honking in the streets. Fifty years is a long time and many weren’t born the last time they won the Super Bowl.

For me, I wasn’t even a teen-ager when they defeated Minnesota in Super Bowl IV and now I’m eligible for Social Security. I can cross a Chiefs’ championship off my bucket list as I did the Royals winning one more World Series in my lifetime when they were champs in 2015.

The Chiefs, like any Super Bowl team, won’t return intact. Because of the salary cap, they won’t be able to pay everybody what they want and a players’ worth is inflated because they played for a champion.

Mahomes will be given a blank check. I have a feeling, though, being the team guy he is, he realizes he can’t eat up most of the cap space and needs his weapons around him if the Chiefs are to get back here next year. I think he’ll earn a king’s ransom, but not so much that some of the other stars aren’t re-signed.

I look for the Chiefs to invest in their tattered offensive line and at linebacker, where they need more speed. Secondary help wouldn’t hurt.

There’s talk that Watkins might take next year off for some reason. If he doesn’t come back, though, Mecole Hardman can step right in and not miss a beat. Watkins comes with a heavy price tag and while he was oft-injured, he came up big when it mattered.

I’m happy for all of Chiefs Kingdome, but especially Reid. Critics have been harsh on Big Red for years, but he always gets his team in position. There’s a lot of franchises that would like to be in the hunt as often as the Chiefs.

Hopefully there won’t be too much of a Super Bowl hangover next season. As long as Mahomes is healthy, though, the Chiefs are never out of a game.

MHS girls overcoming all obstacles

We will never see the McPherson High girls basketball team that Bullpup coach Chris Strathman envisioned on the first day of practice back in November.

He started that first day knowing he would be without three-year starting point guard Lakyn Schieferecke for at least the first month due to her recovery from summer knee surgery.

The Washburn University signee worked incredibly hard to make a recovery faster than I would have imagined and she’s working herself back into the “Queen of Calm” form that made her among the state’s best players last year.

Then just hours before the opening-game tipoff against Andover, it was learned that Fort Hays State signee Emma Ruddle was suffering from a leg injury, which would eventually sideline her for the first 9 games.

Strathman could somewhat deal with that, but then during practice before the Derby showdown in Game 3, another Washburn signee – Andrea Sweat – was lost for the year with a non-contact knee injury, for which she subsequently had surgery.

So that meant three starters were down. I can remember a photo that Kendall Shaw took last month where they were sitting on the bench together with their crutches, braces and other apparatuses, thinking to myself “what could have been.”

Yet, the Bullpups somehow, some way got through December undefeated – including the memorable road win over Derby. They returned Schieferecke to begin January, but immediately lost new starter Emma Malm in the Piper game and she still hasn’t returned, but that could be imminent as there’s a possibility she’ll be back in the next 7-10 days.

Ruddle came back for Circle last Friday and after watching her for the first time on Thursday against Ulysses, she can still fly up and down the court with her terrific athleticism.

Fingers crossed, by the time the sub-state rolls around, only Sweat will be missing. It’s a big loss because of her versatility, height and length. She’s dealt with injuries throughout her career, but always kept a great attitude.

Even without Sweat, this is a Bullpup team good enough to win the Mid America Classic this week and make a serious postseason run. Friday’s 92-28 rout against Ulysses was a thing of beauty, as the precision with which the team played was a joy to watch, as they played unselfish, textbook basketball.

I really look for them to take it to Wellington to set up a showdown Saturday with either Shawnee Mission Northwest or Olathe South, both Class 6A powers. Both of those teams have plenty of size and a big-time player, Kennedy Taylor for Northwest and Dani Winslow for South. Both would provide a matchup problem, but MHS was able to combat height when the situation rose earlier this year.

Ruddle, Schieferecke, Grace Pyle, Kassidy Beam and Cassie Cooks make up as balanced of a starting five as there is in the state. We all knew what the first three could do, but Beam has been a revelation after being projected as first off the bench before the year. She’s now the team’s leading scorer and 3-point shooter. The improvement of Cooks also has been a bonus, as she has been a model of consistency despite often giving size away.

Lauren Labertew has filled in admirably when somebody is missing and does all the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. Peyton Howard is becoming more of a factor as she is tremendously athletic and grabbed 6 rebounds on Thursday. Ella Schmid fits right in as her strength is 3-point shooting and nearly hit for double figures against Ulysses.

It’s a shame we’ll never seen the complete Bullpup team, but it’s still good enough to win it all.

Time to crank up the Super Bowl hype

It’s time to get back into Super Bowl go-mode.

I’m one of those people who detests the 2 weeks between the conference championship games and Super Bowl, so they can play a Pro Bowl that players and fans obviously don’t care one iota about.

By the way, can anybody name the score of the Pro Bowl? Or who won for that matter?

Didn’t think so.

There was so much momentum right after the conference title games as the Chiefs won their first AFC championship in 50 years, while young, up-and-coming San Francisco was crushing it in its game with Green Bay, turning Aaron Rodgers into a mere mortal. But the hype died down last week and is just starting to crank back up.

I’ve been fortunate to have watched all the previous 53 Super Bowls, including Super Bowl I when the Chiefs were outclassed by Vince Lombardi’s Packers. I remember wondering at the time if this game was such a good idea, because the NFL seemingly was vastly superior to the AFL.

It took Joe Willie Namath and the “guarantee game” to turn the Super Bowl around forever in the third year when the Jets gave the AFL its first win. Then when Kansas City evened the series in 1970, the merger occurred and the NFL changed forever.

Now the AFC-NFC battle for superiority isn’t at the forefront since we have inter-conference play and there’s not such a novelty. We have 32 NFL teams and it comes down to the best from each conference and for the most part we have competitive games.

I think this year’s Super Bowl has a chance to be, well, super. I know Patrick Mahomes can walk on water in this part of the country and he’s on a lot of TV commercials. But if you don’t watch him every week like we do, you can’t fully appreciate his greatness. The guy never seems to have an “off game,” and he keeps the Chiefs in every game because of his ability to incorporate his immense weapons. While KC’s running game has been suspect at times, the passing game is always there.

This is the ultimate irresistible force versus immovable object game. Very seldom do the Chiefs score less than 25 points. Very seldom does the fast, nasty 49er defense give up 25 points in a game.

What I believe it’s going to come down to is a pair of trends. One, can Kansas City run the ball effectively enough to allow its somewhat leaky offensive line to protect Mahomes? Secondly, can the Chiefs stop the 49ers’ running game and slow down instant superstar Raheem Mostert, who looked like the second coming of Jim Brown against the Packers?

I can only imagine with 2 weeks to prepare, Big Red Andy Reid has been in the lab concocting some new looks. San Francisco may have the best defense his team has faced this year and its pass rush is fierce. The Chiefs are going to have to rely on a lot of motion and I think they have to keep Sammy Watkins involved and not rely solely on Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Damien Williams out of the backfield also could be huge.

I haven’t been a big fan of 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo, but they really don’t ask him to do too much. San Fran is a lot like the Baltimore Raven and Seattle Seahawk teams of the past where they banked on their defense to be stingy and have their quarterbacks manage the game and not make mistakes.

I think this will be a Super Bowl with plenty of points and every time the Chiefs have been in trouble, it’s Mahomes to the rescue. Let’s hope he has one more big game left in him this season.

Kansas City 35, San Francisco 27.

Mid America Classic reaches milestone

There will be a touch of gray when the Mid America Classic opens on Thursday at the Roundhouse.

It’s the 25th  edition of the tournament, which means silver is the anniversary color.

I happened to be on the committee when the tournament was formed for 1996 play and the original concept was a McPherson County tournament with a couple of other teams brought in to round out the field.

It was McPherson High, along with county schools Canton-Galva, Inman, Moundridge and Smoky Valley, while Little River has kids from county town Windom, though technically it’s in Rice County.

Great Bend and Hesston were the schools chosen to complete the field.

MHS was, in 1996, one year removed from beginning a three-year title run in Class 5A. Little River was in the midst of its amazing run that included 91 straight victories, while Moundridge, at least for the first two years, was on the outside looking in before Laurie Legend led the Wildcats to the title in Year 3 as Laurie Koehn fueled a Wildcat championship.

It wasn’t until Year 4 that McPherson High finally broke through, defeating Moundridge in the finals.

The crowds back then were off the charts. I remember the 1996 championship game between McPherson and Little River – or Goliath vs. David – that the doors allegedly were closed because the Roundhouse was bursting at the seams, maybe the last great crowd to attend a game.

Little River, with Nicky Ramage, the Prose twins, Hilarie Raleigh and Betsy Cordell among others, won that game and then repeated that success the following year, beating the Bullpups by double digits in both games. And again, MHS was the 5A state champion in 1997, which tells you just how good that Little River team was. I would have taken the Redskins against any team in any class, they were that good under the guidance of the great Shane Cordell.

Maybe one of the most exciting championship games took pace in 2000 in Koehn’s swan song, as the Bullpups won a crazy 54-53 overtime game played before well over 2,000 fans as the entire town of Moundridge shut down as its crowd seemed as loud as Bullpup Nation.

There was one more showdown between the Bullpups and Wildcats, that coming in 2003 in the infamous slowdown game, won 28-23 by the Bullpups.

But starting in 2004, some of what I would call the “neatness” of the tournament began to wear off. Little River and Moundridge were at the end of their amazing runs, while Canton-Galva, Smoky Valley and Inman were becoming consistent first-round victims.

In fact after 2004, Canton-Galva realized it could no longer compete at the high level required and went to a tournament that was more realistic for a school its size. As much as the atmosphere and camaraderie of bringing the area schools together – almost like a basketball version of All Schools Day – the time had come for changes. Smoky Valley also decided that 2004 was it and moved on.

Inman followed suit in 2005. Moundridge stuck it out through 2006, then left, and Little River was the last small school to exit in 2007, even though Cordell led them to the championship game that year.

That’s when the tournament philosophy changed and the lookout was for schools, no matter the size, with high-quality basketball pedigrees. St. John had turned into a small-school power and even won the Classic in 2009. The move also was made to bring in Kansas City and Wichita schools.

I understood the move and accepted it. But I still longed for those early years of the county coming together as one. We were just fortunate that in those early years schools like Moundridge and Little River were experiencing a basketball renaissance.

McPherson and Olathe South later became the dominant schools and the tournament is still one of the very best around. The McPherson Optimist Club does a great job of running the tournament and just like the boys’ tournament the week before, I’d put it up against any in the state.

There appears to be four really solid teams, with three excellent ones on one side of the bracket. McPherson is the top team in Class 5A, Shawnee Mission Northwest is No. 3 in 6A and barely beat possible semifinal opponent Olathe South earlier this year. And never count out Manhattan.

So enjoy three great days of basketball. Hopefully I’ll live long enough to see the golden anniversary in 2045, though by then I’ll definitely be in my twilight years.

Loss of Kobe shakes the entire world

In sports, you know you’re in select company when you go by just one name.

Michael. Tiger. Shaq. Kareem. Magic. LeBron. I don’t have to give you their last names, you know them by heart.

And, of course, Kobe.

On Sunday, Kobe Bryant -- who is in the conversation for greatest NBA player of all time -- tragically died, along with his daughter and seven others, in a helicopter crash in California.

It not only has rocked the sports world, but the entire world in general. Kobe was wildly popular in both China and Italy, where he was revered like a rock star.

He was one of the few players ever to make the jump directly from high school to the NBA seamlessly. He was an All-Star in his second year and went on to earn that distinction 18 times in his 20-year career.

He was a five-time champion and MVP. He achieved everything there was to achieve and left the game on his own terms, scoring 60 points in the final game of his career.

I don’t believe Kobe ever quite reached the level of Michael and LeBron, but he’s right there rubbing elbows. He was known for his competitive fire and how much he detested losing. Jerry West, then the Lakers’ general manager, saw that in him as a 17-year-old in Philadelphia and made the historic draft day deal that brought him to the City of Angels from Carolina. It’s hard to imagine Kobe playing for another other team, he was born to be a star.

It was amazing to see the reaction of the NBA players and the various tributes. Many of today’s players grew up with Kobe as their hero, as Michael had long left the game, with Kobe – and later LeBron – assuming the mantle of best in the game.

Kobe’s passing casts a pall over the NBA season. I can only imagine how difficult it will be for Laker fans when they are home for the first time. Tonight’s game with the crosstown Clippers already has been postponed – it’s simply too soon as the town and franchise needs time to grieve.

Kobe was not entirely a saint as like anybody in life, he had his faults. But he worked hard to repair his image and did his best to make himself a better person.

Kobe, though, had started to develop his life after basketball, and was making his mark with numerous endeavors, while all along becoming a better husband and father. It’s such a tragedy, too, that his daughter was aboard the helicopter and we should grieve for them, as well as the seven others.

His daughter had such an unlimited future and the UConn women’s team honored her on Monday by leaving a uniform on a chair. It was her dream to play for the school and then carry on the Bryant name in the WNBA.

Rest in peace Kobe. Mamba out.