After finishing the conference season 10-6 and second seed in the conference tournament, many had high expectations for the Kansas City men’s basketball team.
However, when the time came for the team to show up, it didn’t.
In the do-or-die situation of the Summit League Basketball Championships, the Roos lost a challenging game against seventh-seeded Denver by one point.
While the game was disastrous offensively, the defense still shined with two blocks, five steals, and 28 defensive rebounds.
But, as Head Coach Marvin Menzies mentioned in the post-game press conference, it’s now time to look ahead to next season.
The motto of the team since coach Menzies arrived has been “#BAM,” or “Building a Monster.”
In the post-game press conference, he reflected back on the “building” aspect of that motto.
“It’s like when you’re building a house,” Menzies said.”You lay the foundation, then you come back the next day and you put up the frame. Every day you come back you start to see the house being built.”
Menzies also mentioned that there are changes he wants to make going into next season. “I would like to play a little differently offensively,” said Menzies. “I’d like to be a little more aggressive on the offensive side. That wasn’t one of our strengths [this season].”
Looking ahead to next season, some additions to the Kansas City roster can already be seen.
Three high school players from Arizona have committed to attend UMKC–Blake Ammons from Phoenix Prep, Ahmere Carson from Skyline Prep and Ring Nyeri from Liberty.
From junior college, three players have announced they will transfer to play for the Roos. Gob Gob from Hill College, Davante Hall from Indian Hills and Kasheem Grady from Howard College.
Kansas City Associate Head Coach Joe Esposito mentioned that, alongside offensive production, the team’s biggest offseason struggle will be getting used to the new faces on the team.
While the team certainly has an interesting offseason ahead of it, the coaches and players believe they can win.
“Year one of a rebuild is always about getting used to the league. In year 2, we were picked to finish eighth in the conference but finished second,” said Esposito. “We believe next season we can win the conference and make the [NCAA] tournament, which has never been done in school history.”
