Top 10 boys basketball teams of the MaxPreps era

MaxPreps is celebrating its 10th anniversary this summer. In recognition of a decade as America's source for high school sports, we will look back at the top teams, athletes, games and moments of the MaxPreps era over the next month. MaxPreps debuted prior to the 2002-03 academic/athletic year.

The series begins today with a list that is sure to stir debate. Who is the top boys basketball team of past 10 years? Is it LeBron James and his Fighting Irish of St. Vincent-St. Mary? Greg Oden, Mike Conley and Lawrence North? The highest-scoring team in high school basketball history? Or will legendary head coaches Steve Smith of Oak Hill Academy or Bob Hurley of St. Anthony add another mythical crown to their mantles?

Top 10 Boys Basketball Teams of the MaxPreps Era
10. 2011-12 St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.)
Head coach: Bob Hurley
Record: 32-0
Season highlights: MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national champions, New Jersey Tournament of Champions winners
Key contributors: Kyle Anderson, Jerome Frink, Tariq Carey, Josh Brown, Hallice Cooke
Legacy: Despite winning a national title in 2011, this Friars team came into the season a bit under the radar after sustaining key personnel losses. Behind the play of Anderson, who captured MaxPreps National Player of the Year honors, they responded by extending the school's win streak to 65 games and winning yet another New Jersey TOC crown. St. Anthony closed the season in impressive fashion, blasting six postseason opponents by an average margin of 36.3 points per game.

{PAGEBREAK} 9. 2006-07 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)
Head coach: Steve Smith
Record: 40-1
Season highlights: National Prep Basketball Poll national champions, Les Schwab Invitational champions
Key contributors: Brandon Jennings, Nolan Smith, Alex Legion, Howard Thompkins, Julian Vaughn
Legacy: This team knocked off several heavyweight programs, including Norcross (Ga.) with Gani Lawal and Al-Farouq Aminu, South Medford (Ore.) and Kyle Singler in the Les Schwab Invitational final, a Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) team with Taylor King and the Wear twins, Tyreke Evans and American Christian (Aston, Pa.) and Chace Stanback and Fairfax (Los Angeles). The lone loss for the 06-07 Warriors came against Derrick Rose and Simeon (Chicago).

{PAGEBREAK} 8. 2009-10 Yates (Houston)
Head coach: Greg Wise
Record: 34-0
Season highlights: MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national champions, Texas Class 4A state champions, Iolani Prep Classic champions, T-Mobile Invitational champions
Key contributors: Joseph Young, Brandon Peters, Darius Gardner, Alexander Davis, Clyde Santee
Legacy: The highest-scoring team in high school basketball history threw up 116.2 points per game and thrashed opponents by an average margin of 51 points per outing. The Lions blew up scoreboards with single-game totals of 170, 163, 154 and 148. Young and Peters closed their careers at the school by leading Yates to 58 wins in a row. The Houston dynasty beat teams from six states at tournaments in Hawaii and Alabama over the holidays.

{PAGEBREAK} 7. 2003-04 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)
Head coach: Steve Smith
Record: 38-0
Season highlights: National Prep Basketball Poll national champions, won five tournament/invitational titles
Key contributors: Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, Brian Johnson, DayShawn Wright, Aaron Scott
Legacy: While Rondo has emerged as one of the NBA's elite point guards, Josh Smith created much of the buzz for this Oak Hill Academy team with his highlight-producing athleticism. He took advantage of a big senior year at OHA by jumping straight to the pros and was drafted 17th overall by Atlanta. As noted above, the 2003-04 Warriors captured five tournament titles, including the Iolani Prep Classic in Hawaii and the GlaxoSmithKline Invitational in Raleigh, N.C.

{PAGEBREAK} 6. 2010-11 St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.)
Head coach: Bob Hurley
Record: 33-0
Season highlights: MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national champions, New Jersey Tournament of Champions winners
Key contributors: Kyle Anderson, Myles Mack, Lucious Jones, Jerome Frink, Jordan Quick, Jimmy Hall
Legacy: One game defined this Friar outfit. On March 9, 2011, St. Anthony met then-No. 1 and archrival St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) for the Non-Public North B title in the most highly anticipated contest of the MaxPreps era. St. Anthony ended the high school career of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist by running away in the second half for a 62-45 victory. Anderson, Mack and Jones led a balanced attack as Hurley's boys smacked opponents by an average of 31 points per game, including a memorable 75-25 win over DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) that was televised by ESPN.
{PAGEBREAK} 5. 2011-12 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)
Head coach: Steve Smith
Record: 44-0
Season highlights: MaxPreps Academy Top 10 national champions, Les Schwab Invitational champions, Chick-fil-A Classic champions
Key contributors: Tyler Lewis, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Jordan Adams, A.J. Hammons, Damien Wilson
Legacy: These Warriors were talented, deep, mature and led by six Division I-bound seniors. OHA beat teams from 13 states, won a pair of major invitational titles and even embarked on a postseason tour of China. Oak Hill Academy had it all clicking in mid-January against City of Palms Classic champion Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas) at the Spalding Hoophall Classic, crushing Julius Randle and the nationally-ranked Lions by 30.



{PAGEBREAK} 4. 2008-09 Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.)
Head coach: Michael Peck
Record: 33-0
Season highlights: MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national champions, National High School Invitational champions, Montverde Academy Invitational champions
Key contributors: Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph, Avery Bradley, Carlos Lopez, Victor Rudd, D.J. Richardson
Legacy: In just its third season of existence, the 08-09 Findlay Prep squad established the Pilots as a bona fide national power and one that wasn't going away. Three standouts – Thompson, Joseph and Bradley – are already in the NBA. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.), Montverde Academy (Fla.), Orlando Christian Prep (Fla.) and now-defunct Rice (New York) were among the victims of the Nevada juggernaut, which won by an average of 30 points per game that winter. Peck's squad beat Oak Hill Academy in the final of the National High School Invitational in the only meeting to date between the nationally-recognized programs.

{PAGEBREAK} 3. 2002-03 St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, Ohio)
Head coach: Dru Joyce II
Record: 25-1 (loss came via forfeit)
Season highlights: Ohio Division II state champs
Key contributors: LeBron James, Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton, Corey Jones
Legacy: The 2003 campaign marked St. Vincent-St. Mary's third state title in four years behind the play of James. The Fighting Irish made the biggest statement that season against then-national No. 1 Oak Hill Academy, whipping the Warriors 65-45 in front of a national television audience. The James gang also took their act to the West Coast and beat a Top 10-ranked Mater Dei team.

{PAGEBREAK} 2. 2007-08 St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.)
Head coach: Bob Hurley
Record: 32-0
Season highlights: MaxPreps national champions, New Jersey Tournament of Champions winners, T-Mobile Invitational champions
Key contributors: Mike Rosario, Tyshawn Taylor, Travon Woodall, Jio Fontan, Dominic Cheek
Legacy: High school basketball is a guard's game and few teams in history stack up with this Friar team in the backcourt. Rosario (Rutgers/Florida), Taylor (Kansas), Woodall (Pittsburgh) and Fontan (Fordham/USC) all wound up at high major college programs and helped St. Anthony crush opponents by an average margin of 39 points per game. After a series of disappointments against rival St. Patrick, the 07-08 Friars beat a Kevin Boyle-coached Celtics team – featuring Dexter Strickland, Quintrell Thomas and a young Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – in a defining, postseason showdown.

{PAGEBREAK} 1. 2005-06 Lawrence North (Indianapolis)
Head coach: Jack Keefer
Record: 29-0
Season highlights: National Prep Basketball Poll national champions, Indiana Class 4A state champs
Key contributors: Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Damian Windham, Qadr Owen
Legacy: Oden and Conley helped the Wildcats win 45 straight games and three state titles in a row before moving on as a package deal to Ohio State. The 2005-06 campaign was the culmination of their storied high school careers and drew major national attention. Indiana travel restrictions prevented this team from compiling the out-of-state resume that other teams on this list did, but the Wildcats notched victories over Eric Gordon and North Central (Indianapolis) twice, Jon Scheyer and Glenbrook North (Northbrook, Ill.), Daequan Cook and Dunbar (Dayton, Ohio) and Jacob Pullen and Proviso East (Maywood, Ill.) among others. The school's claim to the No. 1 national ranking was never in question after thumping opponents by an average margin of more than 22 points per game. Other teams in the last decade had a deeper list of notables on the roster, but Oden and Conley were the most celebrated duo and both went in the first four picks of the 2007 NBA Draft.