NCMC opens 2020-2021 season against KCK

Four basketball teams, two men’s and two women’s, all ranked in the Division Two preseason Top 20, will go head-to-head on Wednesday night at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton, as the Kansas City Kansas Blue Devils take on the North Central Missouri College Pirates.  The 5:30 women’s game and 7:30 men’s contest will both be aired on Hot Country Z 101.7.

The women’s contest features a Lady Pirates team ranked #15 in the D-2 junior college poll, released on Tuesday afternoon.  However, the challenge will be a big one for North Central, as KCK, a traditional powerhouse from the Jayhawk Conference, is ranked #9.  While acknowledging the target it creates for for team, an excited coach in NCMC’s Jenni Croy believes the level of depth and talent on her roster justify the preseason hype: 

The Lady Pirates season will continue on Sunday afternoon, hosting John Wood CC at 2 o’clock, with the first road game, at Mineral Area College, set for 3 o’clock on Tuesday afternoon.

Storylines for the men’s game in Trenton are abundant, as two coaches, who played together in the mid to late 2000s as Pirates under coach Steve Richman, lead their squads into an opening night showdown.  Both the Blue Devils and Pirates, last March, advanced to a national tournament that never was able to begin due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Head coach Brandon Burgette lead 19th ranked KCK into the home court of his alma mater, to take on Jeremy Esry and 6th ranked NCMC, with the Pirates looking to keep momentum going from a 2019-2020 season that saw the program reach the program’s first ever #1 national ranking, a spot the team held for six weeks from December into early February.

Of note for a team that was so highly ranked was a curious #9 seed in the 16 team national tournament, a seed that conceivably could have placed the Pirates in a second-round game with the top seed.  It was a snub that has fueled the team, particularly the returning sophomores, since mid-March: 

Only five teams are ranked higher than Esry’s Pirates in the first national poll of the season, with #1 ranked Kirkwood followed by South Suburban, Davidson-Davie, Schoolcraft, and Muskegon.