I don't know why it is, but Martin Luther King Day and basketball go hand in hand like root beer and ice cream. T-Pain and autotune. Detroit and crime. (Just kidding, Terez!) 

So on this glorious day, I've been watching wall-to-wall NBA action, listening to reflections about the great man Dr. King and now, catching up on the prep scene. On Friday, I saw the undefeated Bishop Miege Stags take down Blue Valley. The Stags started red hot, making 14 of 18 shots in the first quarter and scoring 29 points! Those are amazing numbers for a high school team but it also helps when most of your field goals are scored two inches away from the hoop. I counted 10 lay ups in that quarter - rarely did Miege have to run a halfcourt set but who cares? The Stags converted steals into fastbreaks and even when Blue Valley missed, they were off running and getting good looks under the hoop. There was one point in the second half, when Blue Valley converted a free throw and four seconds (!) later, Miege had scored a lay up. How do you get a transition bucket after a made free throw? Now that's quick.

To Blue Valley's credit, Miege couldn't blow open the doors until the fourth quarter. The Tigers have some good shooters and the leading EKL scorer in Ryan Magdziarz. (Ten bucks if you can pronounce his last name correctly on the first try). He can score 'em a lot of ways but when you're going up against an athletic team like the Stags, it's easy for your 24 points to get overshadowed. Also, if you're an old school fan like myself, you'll appreciate senior Tyler Van Gerpen's eye wear. Nobody wears goggles these days but Van Gerpen was rocking a set, which if I'm not mistaken he wears for football, too. When you think of bespectacled players, you think of the dudes who grab offensive rebounds, take charges and set screens

 but kudos to Van Gerpen for being the first high school goggle-wearer I've seen. And the kid actually has a nice game.

On Saturday night, I saw a couple of 8-6 teams in Rockhurst and Raytown South. The Cardinals have a couple of good wins (and bad losses) so they're still a mystery to me. Another mystery was where were all the student fans? I know it was a Saturday game but Ray South has had one of the livest student sections around and on that night, a couple of guys were loud and proud but there was really no buzz in the gym.

Which brings me to my final item: Student cheering sections are awesome until a couple knuckleheads mess it up for everyone. Check out this story from Orange County, Calif., where fans from Servite High, an all-boys Catholic school, heckled African-American players with racist taunts. The insane thing about this is, there are people of color in the Servite student section and also on their own team!

http://www.ocvarsity.com/video/index.php?bcpid=1126062229&bclid=1134010117&bctid=8278512001

http://www.ocvarsity.com/ocvarsity/sports/basketball/gotw/b/article_2284054.php

Let's make sure nothing like this ever happens around here.

Well, till later kids. I highly, HIGHLY, recommend you find and listen to Dr. King's final speech, "I've Been To The Mountaintop." It is brillant and prophetic and beautiful and tragic all at once. It's worth the 27-minute listen.