Further Review
GH: I played Frasier Crane with UMKC Coach Rich Zvosec and asked him to respond off the top of his head to a few subjects. Here are his responses.
Kansas City barbecue: “No personal favorites, although I’m leaning toward KC Masterpiece.”
The Plaza: “Fantastic. It reminds me of inner-harbor Baltimore — without the harbor. We take all our recruits to dinner on the Plaza. But we can’t go to the place with the flames out front [Canyon Café] anymore. We lost a recruit the last time we went there, and I’m superstitious. I won’t take them back there.”
High school basketball in Kansas City: “There’s just not enough players, just because there’s not as many players as in Brooklyn or Jacksonville. I might get in trouble for this comment, but I would say the Kansas City area has good guards but lacks good big men. I say that, but our junior class has a couple of big kids from Kansas City who are going to be very good.”
Division I basketball and UMKC: “No question we belong in D-I. The one thing we lacked that we have now is the kids living in the same apartment complex right off campus. So they’re right here and all together so we can build more of a family-type atmosphere.”
The Mid-Continent Conference: “I love how coaches are always saying their conference is the toughest conference in the country. Well, sure it is, because it’s the only conference they play in! To me the Mid-Con is the toughest conference in the country. If I had to use a word to describe the Mid-Con, it would be ‘underrated.'”
Ohio vs. Kansas City: “Yeah, Ohio’s in the Midwest! When was this geographical shift that moved Pittsburgh to the East Coast? I laugh at that. I always considered Cleveland the Midwest. This was the Great Plains. I’ve got to be honest, and this may sound silly, but I’ve lived in a lot of places, big cities, small towns; the only place I can compare Kansas City to is the place I grew up [Lorain, Ohio]. It has the same small-town feel. You’re big enough here that you have diversity but there’s still a sense of belonging.”
Philosophy: “I take what I do seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously. I also know that there are bigger issues in the world than UMKC basketball — but not for those forty minutes we’re on the court.”
