Best Wisconsin High School Basketball Teams since 2000

This is a topic that stems from me watching some of the best regular season basketball I have ever seen in this state yesterday. Watching Brookfield Central beat the #2 team in Division 2 by 25 points and doing so handily while also seeing the quote unquote Game of the Year with Sussex Hamilton vs. Nicolet. The star power in this state may never have been higher and this was evident yesterday as these 3 teams just blew me away. That makes for the conversation to see where these teams rank compared to previous top teams from this state since 2000. Now I do want to warn you that teams that I have seen with my own eyes may be advantaged in these rankings but again these are just my opinions on the top teams this state has seen in recent years.

Honorable Mentions: Wauwatosa East (26-1) 2008 Division 1 State Champions, DePere (25-3) 2011 Division 1 runner-up (lost title game in 3 OT), Onalaska (27-1) 2012 Division 2 State Champions, Appleton Xavier (28-0) undefeated Division 3 State Champions, Oshkosh North (27-1) 2018 Division 1 State Champions, Manitowac Roncalli for their 7 State appearances since 2005, and the 2011 Grafton Black Hawks for stopping a 69 game conference losing streak against eventual Division 2 State Champions Whitefish Bay Blue Dukes.

Alright back to the rankings. I did not take multiple teams from 1 school for this as I choose what I thought was the best team from a certain school since 2000. That way Germantown, SPASH, etc. eat up all the rankings.

Alright so I couldn't decide with just a top 10 so we will go with the top 11 and count down.

11. Racine St. Catherine's (25-2) 2009 Division 3 State Champions. I chose the 2009 team over the undefeated team from 2005 mainly because I saw them play and again was very impressed with how good they were defensively. They also had two future college players who could score in Steve McWhorter and Jake Thomas. McWhorter was an athlete that the smaller schools could not compete with.

10. Randolph (26-0) 2004 Division 4 State Champions. Complain what you may that they were in Division 4 but this was the best of the Randolph run as they won titles from 2002-2005. The '04 Randolph team was led by 6'11" senior Greg Stiemsma (later played at Wisconsin and in the NBA) and 6' 7" junior Ryan Tillema (later played at UWM). This size and ability to shoot would be tough for any team to defend and Randolph during the season went and beat bigger basketball schools such as Madison Edgewood and Monroe.

9- La Crosse Aquinas (25-1) 2011 Division 3 State Champions. While this team did not have the full on star power that some of these other teams had, they were led by 2 very players. Mike Conway was not a scholarship player but he was a very solid high school basketball player who could hit the open shot which was perfect since he had one of the best High School passers I have ever seen in Bronson Koenig. Koenig's feel for the game and ability to pass and score was very difficult for any school to stop. While he went on to play at Wisconsin he was a top recruit offered by Duke and North Carolina.

8. New Berlin West (26-0) 2000 Division 2 undefeated State Champions. I remember watching this team because my cousin was going to New Berlin West. They were ginormous. As a 7 year old watching them on TV playing at the Kohl Center, I just remember thinking they are huge. They started 6' 10", 6' 8", and 6' 5" with no starter smaller than 6' 2". They were led by two future college players in the Chappell brothers (Jason played at Madison). That size alone made them difficult covers in the state at that time.

7. Oshkosh West (26-0) 2006 undefeated Division 1 State Champions. While this team does not impress you with any names other than future Badger role player, Tim Jarmusz, this was a team that I remember watching and just admiring the way they played basketball. Being led by Lance Randall they played methodical basketball and played very strong defense on their way to beating a star-studed Madison Memorial team in the championship game 52-40. 

6. Milwaukee King (26-0) 2002-2003 Division 1 undefeated State Champions. This King team was not filled with star power like the Milwaukee Vincent teams of the early 2000's but being led by Jim Gosz you knew they would get after you defensively. They were led by Dupree Fletcher who went on to play at Evansville than UW-Whitewater. They won their 3 games at the State Tournament by scores of 55-48, 39-27, and winning the Championship against a Brian Butch led Appleton West team 57-46.

5. Madison Memorial (26-1) 2009 Division 1 State Champions. This Madison Memorial team was chosen over the 2005 team with Wesley Matthews and a young Keaton Nankivil because this 2009 team was stronger, deeper and had more star power. Led by future Golden Eagle, Vander Blue and Tennessee Volunteer, Jeronne Maymon, this team was athletic, strong and could shoot. Then you add a Cleveland State, Providence and Western Kentucky future point guard in Junior Lombomba (who by the way best name ever announced at the State Tournament) and this Spartan team was very difficult to stop. 

4- Whitefish Bay Dominican (27-1) 2012 Division 4 State Champions. I chose the first team of Dominican's 4 straight years of State Championships. This 2012 team had two of the best kids to ever come through that school in Duane Wilson (future Golden Eagle) and Diamond Stone (future Maryland Terrapin). It's amazing to think that these 2 did not even lead their team in scoring as future South Dakota School of Mines player, Jamall Taylor led this team in scoring. 3 different types of scoring weapons and players that can affect the game in multiple ways. 

3. Milwaukee Vincent (25-2) 2000-2001 Division 1 State Champions. This team was led by five future college players that made their name inside and outside of the state. At this time Vincent was on quite the run as they had won State Championships in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2001. I chose the 2001 team as the best due to all the star power they had. Maurice "Boo" Wade (who later played at Wisconsin and Marquette) was not even the best player on his team and neither was a young Carl Landry (later played at Purdue. This team was carried by Boo Wade's cousin, Dejuante Wade (later played at UWGB) and Deonte Tatum (Played at Hawaii) who was the MVP at the State Tournament in 2001. This team was also joined by Greg Brown who in 2002 won Mr. Basketball over Steve Novak. This Vincent team finished 11th in the country and was something to be reckoned with.

2- SPASH (26-0) 2016 undefeated Division 1 State Champions. If you want to talk about a team with star-power that played unselfish basketball, this SPASH team has to be near the top of the list. They were so fun to watch with so many weapons on the court including future Badger Trevor Anderson and future Golden Eagles in Sam and Joey Hauser. SPASH ran through the state this year in the middle of their 3 year run as Division 1 State Champs. At state in 2016 they beat their competition by scores of 75-48 and 89-64. 

1- Germantown (28-0) 2013 undefeated Division 1 State Champions. This was by far the toughest decision on this list choosing between their 2012 team led by Seniors Zak Showalter and Josh Mongan or the 2013 team led by transfer Lamonte Bearden. I went with the 2013 team as Luke Fisher (Indiana Hoosier) was a much different and better player in '13 and Lamonte Bearden provided something that this team did not have previously. He was the quickest player on the court every night with the ability to dish and hit deep 3's as he did at state in 2013. The 2013 team won their games at state by scores of 80-60 and 57-28. This 2013 team also had future South Dakota State players in Evan Wesenburg and Jake Showalter along with D2 player Jon Averkamp. Combining 5 college players with the assertiveness of Coach Steve Showalter, this Germantown team was arguably the best this state has seen since 2000.

Now last night I watched 3 teams who I think could potentially end up on this list but we will see if they can live up to the hype. Brookfield Central always has 5 guys on the court who can score including 4 future college players and they move the ball like the SPASH and Germantown teams. Sussex Hamilton has the #1 sophomore in the country and he lived up to the hype and can carry any team he is on to stardom. Nicolet as everyone knows has all the talent in the world with 3 Power 5 college players including the #4 junior in the country who dropped a triple double last night. Only time will tell if they can leave their mark as one of the best teams this state has ever seen.

I will leave a highlight from one of the most impressive dunks I have ever seen at State from the 2012 Germantown team. They knew how to set the tone early in the game including their students chanting "Thanks for practice" at tip off against Grafton in 2010.

Learning in the Classroom

My last blog post talked about the power of student choice and some things I was trying in my classroom. This blog post I want to focus on one of the reasons why I started this blog and that was to broadcast all the amazing things that go in in a classroom over the course of a year.

This past week if you would have came into my classroom you would have seen something you may not be used to. I almost gave up my role as a teacher and the students guided their own learning. I was there to help facilitate and guide some of their learning but it was all student initiated. While I was not giving direct instruction every day it was amazing how tired I would be after these days as well. The students working throughout the room asked such great questions and really wanted to discover their own learning. This was the true definition of flipping your classroom and allowing the students to lead the learning.

The students at the end of the week completed a survey for me and all 48 of my students said that they enjoyed this type of learning more than taking notes or reading a book. Can I blame them? They were excited that they were able to learn about what they want and that they could learn at their own pace. I also allowed the students different options to present their information to the class. Some did a skit, some made a poster, some made a Google Slides presentation, and some made a video. It was such a powerful week for me as an educator as I got to see the students truly enjoy learning and strive for more.

I have now asked my students what they want to learn about our next unit which is water. Some of the questions the students created once again were amazing and will continue to guide the learning that goes on in our classroom. The students also in math solved various real-world problems all week and below is some pictures of student work and engagement. I have also included a link to more photos so you can see the true engagement in our classroom last week.

Photos from my classroom this week.