As the NCAA tournament is taking hold around the country with its usual maddening upsets and drama, here at MaxPreps we were hard at work crunching numbers and seeding the Cornhusker State's boys basketball teams into their own versions of March Madness.
Since many basketball fans aren't as familiar with the Division I hoops programs as they are with their own high school basketball programs, the goal here is to demonstrate just how wacky the men's basketball tournament has played out to this point using that familiarity for the fans.
Here is how we set it up. Forty-seven district champions in Classes A (7), B (8), C1 (8), C2 (8), D1 (8) and D2 (8) were given automatic bids to the tournament. The 21 highest ranked boys basketball programs, that did not win a district basketball title, were then given at-large bids. The boys were allowed four extra bids since the men's tournament includes four play-in contests.
Once the field was set, the 68 boys basketball teams from around Nebraska were seeded according to their ranking in MaxPreps' Nebraska Rankings. For example, the schools ranked 1-4 were given the top seeds, Nos. 5-8 the 2-seed, Nos. 9-12 the 3-seed and so on. Then they were placed into Regionals based on their geographical location in the state.
Teams advanced through their bracket identical to the movement of their college counterparts last weekend. For example, in the Men's East Regional No. 15 seed St. Peter's played its way into this weekend's Sweet 16. Therefore, Wynot, the No. 15 seed in the boys East Regional, advanced to the Sweet 16.
When it comes to March Madness this year, there have been quite a few surprises. The top four seeds in the boys West Regional are all safe entering this weekend's action. However, Elkhorn South and Wynot, the Nos. 8 and 15 seeds in the East Regional knocked out the No. 1 seed Omaha Roncalli Catholic and No. 2 seed Omaha Westside respectively.
Hastings St. Cecilia, the No. 11 seed in the South Regional, bumped sixth-seeded Creighton Prep and No. 3 seed Platteview from championship contention to find a spot in the Sweet 16. Both, No. 11 seed Central City and tenth-seeded O'Neill pulled major upsets in the Midwest Regional. The Bison upended sixth-seed Bennington and No. 3 seed Wayne while the Eagles were the end of the road for seventh-seed North Platte St. Patrick's and No. 2 seed Wahoo.
Now let's take a look at how our make-believe brackets are taking shape. To the left of each team is its seed and to the right, in parenthesis, is the school's record and its final MaxPreps Nebraska Ranking. Two wins were tacked onto each school's record to represent the two wins each school would have acquired in advancing to the Sweet 16.
Boys Sweet 16 Matchups
West Regional (San Francisco) 1.
Ashland-Greenwood (Ashland) (29-1, No. 3) vs. 4.
Grand Island Central Catholic (Grand Island) (26-4, No. 15)
3.
Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family (Humphrey) (30-1, No. 10) vs. 2.
Kearney Catholic (Kearney) (29-2, No. 6)
East Regional (Philadelphia) 8.
Elkhorn South (Omaha) (18-9, No. 29) vs. 4.
Gretna (21-7, No. 16)
3.
Concordia (Omaha) (24-4, No. 9) vs. 15.
Wynot (25-3, No. 66)
South Regional (San Antonio) 1.
Skutt Catholic (Omaha) (26-2, No. 4) vs. 5.
Beatrice (19-6, No. 18)
11.
St. Cecilia (Hastings) (20-8, No. 43) vs. 2.
Bellevue West (Bellevue) (27-3, No. 5)
Midwest Regional (Chicago) 1.
Millard North (Omaha) (28-2, No. 1) vs. 4.
Norfolk Catholic (Norfolk) (25-5, No. 13)
11.
Central City (23-6, No. 42) vs. 10.
O'Neill (22-6, No. 38)
