KRIS BAUMANN

Don’t know if you caught my Jayhawk Conference previews, but in case you didn’t … here’s my men’s story on Garden City Community College coach Kris Baumann, and here’s my women’s story on Hutch shooting guard Heather Robben.

Impressions? Both came off well. Of course, if you’re ending up as our season preview story it usually means you’ve had some type of success. And with both subjects, they’re coming off Region VI titles … you get the point. And as for Baumann’s knickname, Bucket? He’s still not saying how he got it. Just the generic “my teammates and coaches gave it to me” line. Aside from that, I was happy with the story.

Friends redshirt freshman center Zak Vanlooy — a 7-footer from Michigan — is the subject of Tuesday’s KCAC men’s preview and UMKC transfer Jessica Halsig, who should be the man for Friends this year — is the women’s subject. Newman on Thursday.

Out.

PS — IF YOU’RE NOT WATCHING, YOU PROBABLY SHOULD.

CHRIS ANDERSON

So we knew Hutchinson C.C. running back Chris Anderson had a big game — 120 yards and 6 rushing TDs — in the No. 6 Blue Dragons’ rout of Highland on Saturday. He’s rolling in NJCAA Player of the Week honors because of that, it now appears as if seems like Hutch CC has a 1-2 running back combo of Anderson and Chris Clay, that, well … it might be hard to stop. Imagine getting in a game against those two … you spend half your time chasing the 5-foot-10, 170-pound Clay all over the place, then you spend the other half getting run over by Anderson, a Troy signee out of high school who’s clocking in at 5-10, 193. That’s called a long afternoon, and that’s why HCC leads the nation with 346.5 yards rushing per game. Somebody needs to buy that O-line some Count Chocula or some Buffalo Wild Wings.  

Hutch should roll against Dodge City on Saturday — then it’s proving ground time with a 3-0 record, a top 10 ranking … and back-to-back games at No. 8 Fort Scott on Sept. 26 and then they get to host No. 5 Butler on Oct. 3. That might be a big game.

What else … it’s a beautiful day in Wichita.

TA

Here’s how it breaks down — an anonymous bowl committee set up a game, the Mid-America Bowl — that was supposed to be played at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium on Dec. 6, 2009. The NJCAA said that the powers-that-be behind this game called them and said it wasn’t going to go off, and the national office didn’t get much more than that.

But, that leaves two bowl games left in Kansas. The Citizens Bank Bowl in Pittsburg (Dec. 9) that will be played at PSU’s Carnie Smith Stadium, and the Salt City Bowl in Hutchinson. Presumably, these are bowls set up to facilitate the local schools — Fort Scott for the game in Pittsburg and Hutchinson for the game in Hutch. Under that same presumption, I’m assuming the Wichita bowl game would have been a vehicle for Butler. And, of course, there’s a chance that one of these game could end up the national championship game featuring the Region VI champion, because hey, that’s where the champ has come from the last two years.

One thing to ponder: Who was behind the Wichita game and why did it fall apart? Were three games just too much for one state? Anyways … more on this later. But having these bowl games can only help. Gotta think Hutch’s new digs are set up perfectly for an event like this.

OUT. TA

JOE MITCHELL

Southeast point guard Joe Mitchell is headed to Hutchinson Community College — no surprise here — he’s a guy who seems like he’d be a great fit for the Blue Dragons. I think he looks to score a little more than most Steve Eck-coached PGs, but he was definitely one of the best players in the state this season, leading the Golden Buffaloes to a second-place finish in Class 6A. Was he the best guard in the state? I’m having trouble thinking of anybody that was better.

Here’s the release from Hutchinson SID Steve Carpenter:

Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball coach Steve Eck announced his fifth signing for the 2009-10 season.

The Blue Dragons have signed Wichita Southeast All-State guard Joe Mitchell to a letter-of-intent.

Mitchell is a 6-foot-1 combo guard who played on Southeast’s 2009 Class 6A state runner-up team and 2008 Class 6A state championship team.

“He’s scorer and a good defender,” Eck said. “He is a nice shooter who knows how to play the game. Some considered him to be the best guard in the state.”

Mitchell averaged 22 points per game in his senior season with the Buffaloes. He was a consensus all-state player by the Wichita Eagle and Topeka Capital-Journal.

Mitchell is the fifth player Eck has signed for the 2009-10 season. He is the third in-state player.

In-state signees

Dylan Frantz, Phillipsburg (6-1, guard)

Bruce Reed, Olathe East (6-6, forward)

Joe Mitchell, Wichita Southeast (6-1, guard)

Out-of-state signees

Josh Davis, Oklahoma City (6-5, forward)

Jerome Cohen, Everton, Mass (6-7, forward)

DYLAN FRANTZ

Heard the Binghamton rumors. Heard the Cornell rumors. Now Phillipsburg’s Dylan Frantz is headed to Hutchinson Community College — which makes me think he’s got his sights set on becoming a mid-major Division I player, or higher. Either way, if Steve Eck thinks he can play for him … that’s a pretty nice endorsement right there. And a pretty good chance he’ll get him ready for the next level.

It’s Eck’s first signing at HCC — and a nice fit for the 6-foot-2 guard, who was a Class 3A honorable mention all-state pick after averaging 17.8 ppg this season. I’m thinking there’s more signings on the way for Eck and the Blue Dragons so stay tuned.

Here’s the release from HCC:

ECK ANNOUNCES FIRST IN-STATE SIGNING AS BLUE DRAGON COACH

HCC Sports Information

Thursday, April 16, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball coach Steve Eck announced on Thursday that Phillipsburg High School product Dylan Frantz has become his first signee for the Blue Dragons’ 2009-10 team.

Frantz is a 6-foot-1 combo-guard who led Phillipsburg to a 15-6 record and a berth in the Class 3A substate semifinals.

During his senior season, Frantz average 17.8 points per game and shot 48.3 percent from the field. He was a 33.3-percent 3-point shooter and was 78 percent from the free-throw line. Frantz also averaged 5.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists. 3.0 steals and 0.9 blocked shots per game.

Frantz was a third-team Class 3A all-state player in the Topeka Capital-Journal and was 3A honorable mention in the Wichita Eagle and in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll.

ADONIS GANTT

I finally got a chance to catch up with former Wichita Southeast point guard Adonis Gantt, who just completed his freshman season at Cowley — and he was in decidedly good spirits Monday afternoon.

So with that said, let me get this out of the way first: He wants to transfer to Hutchinson Community College.

Thought it might be a little bit of an elephant in the room. Hate that. It turns out Adonis had heard the rumors that Steve Eck, who recruited him, might be leaving Cowley for Hutch, just like the rest of us. He found out for sure when Eck held a meeting with his former players to tell them he’d taken the job for sure, leaving a bunch of very talented basketball players in Ark City, led by former City League standouts Gantt (who signed with Division I Georgia Southern in high school), Jayhawk East freshman of the year Jawanza Poland and Garrius Holloman.

“I wasn’t surprised that coach left, I’d heard it might happen,” Gantt said. “He told us he was leaving and that was the one time I talked to him. After the meeting was over I went up to him and he told me he wouldn’t be able to talk to me anymore.” And, Adonis added, they’ve had no contact since. Nothing. No texts, no third-party messages, no smoke signals, no Facebook pokes … nothing.

That’s nothing new — NJCAA rules are pretty strict on contact between coaches and players at other schools when it comes to that topic. Gantt then met with new Cowley coach Tommy DeSalme and told him he wanted to go to Hutch. The powers-that-be at Cowley have since informed Gantt that they wouldn’t grant him his release — not granting it would have forced him to sit out a year — until the end of the school year. I thought he might have a problem with this … I know his moms did (more on that later). But he seemed cool with it.

“I knew nothing, zero, about transfer rules when I decided I wanted to leave,” Adonis said. “But if they’re saying they’re going to do it at the end of the year then I believe them. That they didn’t do it right away doesn’t bother me at all. I want to go play at Hutch, I told them that straight up.”

As far as academics, any rumors of problems with grades, he says, are just that. Rumors.

“I can take care of that, of my academics,” he said. “I’m focused on my classes right now, doing what needs to be done.”

GANTT: THE PREP STAR VERSION

And as far as his mom, Vera, well that’s a different story. She wasn’t quite as relaxed when I talked to her last week. Her main concern? A promise to release isn’t a release. And, she wants Adonis to remain under Coach Eck’s stead, which I can understand, too. I definitely got the feeling this particular mother has a very, um, protective, outlook on her child and his future.

She was pretty fun to talk to. I like opinionated people. Like I said, she was concerned. Concerned, but polite. And pointed. Vera played for Eck back in the day when he was coaching volleyball and track at Jardine Middle School, and was her fave coach. That’s a little context for what you’re about to read.

“Coach Eck recruited Adonis out of Southeast. Coach Eck is the one who came to check on him in the dorms. Coach Eck is the one I trusted to look after my son. Not these other coaches. Nothing against them, but I don’t know if they have my son’s best interests in mind,” Vera said. “I have no issue with the new coaches, but I know how I feel and so do they. It’s frustrating. Cowley is telling me that they’re pretty sure they’re going to release him. Well I don’t want pretty sure when it comes to my son’s future. I want it in writing. They can’t make me understand where they’re coming from.”

So now you know how serious Mrs. Gantt is. Upon hearing Adonis wasn’t going to get released from Cowley right away … she went to the president of Cowley College’s office for a little sitdown. This, my friends, is what they call maternal instinct. Another point of concern — and this goes outside the realm of basketball — was Adonis’ eight-month old daughter with a Wichita woman. His obligations to her were something that had been established with Eck — meaning if something came up with the baby and Adonis had to leave Ark City to scoot back to Wichita for a day then there was an open line of dialogue between player and coach.

My take? From what I’ve seen being around teams and players Eck has coached since I was 14 has taught me one thing — dude inspires a tremendous amount of loyalty. That Gantt, who has Division I talent, falls in that category is nothing new. If Cowley lets him out, which they’ve said they’re going to do, then that’s cool. If not, it hurts Gantt but it is within their rights. Don’t think they’ll do that. From a completely basketball angle … with Darius Johnson-Odom leaving to Marquette a year early, I can’t think of a single player in the league who Eck would need more than Gantt. If Jawanza Poland makes the move, too, watch out. They’ll win the West and have a shot at Region VI. What more is there to say?

I’M OUT. -TA

DARIUS JOHNSON-ODOM

This one surprised me because I thought he had to stay for two years because of a problem with the NCAA Clearinghouse — but Hutchinson Community College combo guard Darius Johnson-Odom has signed with Marquette, where he’ll have three years of eligibility remaining. DJO is a 6-foot-2 wunderkind. Dude can do it all and seems like he has it together off the court. Averaged 21.6 for the Blue Dragons this season and was one of the most sought-after juco guards in the country after a first-team all-league and Jayhawk West freshman of the year campaign.

So, you might ask, how does this affect Steve Eck’s reclamation project at HCC?

Not much, if a certain Wichita-loving guard can get a transfer waiver …

Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel broke the story about DJO on April 1.

i’m out.

So here’s the skinny: Six kids want out, I won’t put their names out there yet, but they’re high profile kids with Division I talent. In-staters and out-of-staters alike. And some, if not all, want to join Eck at Hutch.

One problem. The parents are telling me that Cowley is not going to grant their releases/transfer exemptions, which means they would have to sit out for a year. The two parents I talked to said they had meetings with Cowley AD Tom Saia and new head coach Tommy DeSalme to let them know their kids wanted out and that was when they got denied. According to KJCCC commish Bryce Roderick, the only guaranteed out you have as a transfer within the Jayhawk is if you transfer to a junior college in your home county. Ex.: If you go to Garden City High School then go play for Hutch, then you can transfer to Garden City C.C. and you don’t have to sit out. That won’t help in most of the cases here.

My take? It is well within Cowley’s right not to let them out. But should they? I don’t know enough about it yet to say. There’s a lot of gray area in this bad boy. I’ll be on the horn with the respective parties this weekend.

But I know this: This one is going to get ugly before it’s all said and done.

I’m out.

-TA

More as it comes … here’s the release from HCC on the matter that I got in e-mail a couple o f minutes ago:

Media:

The Hutchinson Community College athletic department will have a news conference at Noon on Wednesday to announce its new men’s basketball coach.

The news conference will be in the Blue Dragon Room of the Parker Student Union.

The HCC athletic department will not comment on this subject until the news conference on Wednesday.

As always, thanks,

Steve Carpenter,

HCC Sports Information Director

NO SATURDAY DETENTION FOR YOU, JOHNNY

Quick question: If Johnny Be Good – aka Bryce Brown — picks Kansas State on Monday, would that make him more popular than the governor? Just a question … talk amongst yourselves.

Ok, back on topic.

Kansas is Ground Zero for NJCAA national tournaments this week, with the men at the Sports Arena in Hutchinson and the women at Salina’s Bicentennial Center. Your Region VI teams — Garden City for the men and Hutchinson for the women — don’t have a lot of name recognition but both have solid resumes. I talked to both coaches on Sunday night, Garden City’s Kris Baumann and Hutchinson’s John Ontjes, along with first-team all-Jayhawk West pick Heather Robben, a Maize H.S. product.

Robben seemed pretty psyched about the upcoming tournament — “How could I not be?” She asked me — Ontjes was pretty reserved though, and had the company line rolling. Can’t blame him. As much as I’d love coaches to go off at any second, I do appreciate keeping things close to the vest.

Baumann said his guys were dealing with things pretty well after what had to have been an emotionally draining Region VI run and then return to GC — probably best that it’s spring break. Just thinking in terms of distractions here. He said Highland (Ill.), their first round opponent on Wednesday is incredibly tough — they’ve got like six guys that average in double figures and shoot 45 percent from beyond the three-point arc. That translates into about 67 percent inside of it, he told me. That must be Bucket math.

I gotta go now. Gotta start filling out my brackets.

-TA