Everything You Need to Know about the 48th Annual Ralph Miller Classic

As is tradition this Thursday marks the beginning of the 48th annual Ralph Miller Classic. This year Chanute hosts Goddard, Soldan, Shawnee Mission South, Wichita Defenders, Emporia, Olathe North, and Andover Central.

If you don’t happen to be an expert on everything Kansas and Missouri high school basketball, you may be looking at that list of teams and wonder how good these schools are or even who some of these teams are. If that’s the case here is a guide to all eight teams in this year’s Ralph Miller.

Chanute Blue Comets

Record: 4-4

State Rank: 118

Notable Win(s): Rose Hill (7-4, 67th in state)

Where else would be a better starting place than the tournament hosts? Coming off the back of a close win vs Independence, Chanute enters the Ralph Miller with a 4-4 record. Chanute this year have been the definition of “live by the three, die by the three.” I’ve been comparing this team to the Houston Rockets. When they shoot well, they shoot very well but when they shoot bad, they shoot very bad. 

Goddard Lions

Record: 1-8

State Rank: 299

Notable Win(s): none

Goddard is a team that has entered this tournament with a bad record before and it has worked out fine, but this year I wouldn’t have high hopes for Goddard. They’ve beat one every bad team, lost to one really good team in the 7-2 Eisenhower Tigers, and then lost seven more to team that were ok at best and pretty bad at worst.

Andover Central Jaguars

Record: 3-5

State Rank: 143 

Notable Win(s): Maize South (5-4, 110th in state) 

The reigning 5A state champions enter this year’s tournament 5-3. Andover Central is a solid team on the glass. In the win over Maize South they outrebounded their opponents by 15. However their percentages from the free throw line this season haven’t exactly been stunning, with the Jaguars shooting less than 70% in many games this season.

Olathe North Eagles

Record: 4-5

State Rank: 131 

Notable Win(s): Olathe East (5-5, 121st in state), Olathe South (7-2, 22nd in state)

Olathe North enters this tournament with at 4-5 record. What stands out to me is their 66-65 win against their rivals Olathe South. Also on their rap sheet are close losses to the 5th ranked Piper, and 20th ranked Lawrence Free State. The Eagles’ record may not look too pretty but don’t sleep on a team that’s at least kept it close with three different top 25 opponents.

Emporia Spartans

Record: 4-4

State Rank: 79

Notable Win(s): West (4-2, 45th in state)

Heading to Chanute after back-to-back losses, Emporia is looking to get back to the winning ways that launched them to win their first three games of this season. The Spartans are nothing to sleep on, they’ve shown great fight and endurance in a double-overtime win over West.

Wichita Defenders

Record: 6-9

State Rank: 174 

Notable Win(s): Bixby (5-6, 166th in OK)

The Wichita Defenders are a homeschool team. After looking at their schedule on Maxpreps, I’ve found that they’ve played 4 teams who don’t have a Maxpreps page, and they’re 2-2 against those teams. However I wouldn’t completely look past the Defenders as they did beat Bixby, who’s ranked 166th in Oklahoma.

Shawnee Mission South Raiders

Record: 6-5

State Rank: 107 

Notable Win(s): none

Shawnee Mission South is coming into the Ralph Miller on a five-game win streak. They haven’t beaten anyone too notable but have a few wins against closely ranked competition including two wins against 119th ranked Shawnee Mission East.

Soldan

Record: 6-7

State Rank: 190 in MO 

Notable Win(s): Kirkwood (4-6, 163 in MO), Lift for Life Academy (14-6, 89th in MO)

Soldan is coming to Chanute representing St Louis Missouri.They join Andover as the only teams in this tournament that have upset two teams with a higher state rank than them.