Our latest first look at the roster changes of a Summit League team. This time Kansas City
Losses
C Sidy Diallo to Mercer
G Emmanouil Dimou
G Logan Mukeba to Chadron State
G Sam Martin to Valdosta State
G RayQuawndis Mitchell to Penn State
G Shemarri Allen to UCF
The losses of Allen and Mitchell are the ones that hurt here. Both Allen and Mitchell had career years last year in their first year with Head Coach Marvin Menzies. The Roos begin their season without their top two scorers of last year as both averaged over 17 points per game last year. That leaves no returners who averaged double figures last season for a Roos team that was 7-11 in league play. It will be tough to replace the scoring and leadership of the two grad transfers. It’s hard to blame Mitchell and Allen as they get a chance in their last year to play at a higher level but it’s likely they will be taking on a much smaller role at their next stops. All other transfers played limited minutes last year and transferred to a lower level of competition.
Additions
G Artese Stapleton from Lincoln (D2)
G Khristion Courseault from Chattanooga
G/F Jamar Brown from Pheonix College (JUCO)
F Melvyn Ebonkoli from Independence (JUCO)
G Malik Olafioye Freshman
G Jayson Petty Freshman
In a very small 1-year Summit sample size the Marvin Menzies staff showed they can turn veteran guards without a lot of past success into stars. Very curious about what they get from Stapleton and Courseault this season. Both had made several stops in their college career without a lot of success but we saw what happened with a guard with similar career numbers in Mitchell last year. Brown and Ebonkoli both had impressive numbers at the JUCO level last year. Ebonkoli started his career at Missouri State and brings the type of size in the frontcourt Kansas City likes. Olafioye comes with some fanfare on the recruiting sites and was considered a top 5 or so player in the state of Michigan. As far as impact this season I would tend to lean towards Courseault being the breakout player. Wouldn’t be surprised if he factors into some of the all-league discussions. He seems the most likely to grab the reigns as a volume shooter in the backcourt. Stapleton has experience as a Division 1 guard and certainly has a path to major minutes and contributions.
He is not a newcomer but really has the feel of an addition this season. Forgotten when predicting Kansas City this season is senior guard Anderson Kopp. Kopp only played in 4 games last season and might be one of the most talented scorers in the Summit League. Kopp is easily a top 5 outside shooter in the league and could be the biggest “addition” to Kansas City this season.
Todd’s First Thought
Kansas City finished 7-11 in league play last season and lost their top two scorers from last season. So the simple answer is to predict a drop-off for the Roos. Overall I would think a drop-off is likely. It seems likely that there will be a drop-off on the defensive side of the ball. As impressive as Allen was scoring the basketball last year. He was a pest all season on the defensive side. The return of Kopp eases the pain of some of the losses. At the same time, the core of potential returning starters are all entering their second full year of division one basketball. If Allen Mukeba, Tyler Andrews, and Jeff Ngandu can show significant growth in their second year maybe we don’t see the drop-off that many expect from the Roos.