Video: Top 25 national basketball rankings
See who leads the way around the country.
As the basketball season begins to wind down, but ramp up in the level of importance in late February to mid-March, Omaha Central will be trying to win its first boys state basketball championship since 2012-13. Despite the recent lack of state championship success, however, the Eagles remain atop the standings as Nebraska's most dominant boys basketball program over the past 14 years.
Omaha Central did most of its point-scoring damage from 2006 through 2013, landing in MaxPreps final Nebraska Top 25 Computer Rankings in each of the last 14 seasons to keep Jay Landstrom's club on top of Omaha Creighton Prep and the rest of the field.
The Eagles won seven state titles from 2006-13 and captured 10 state championships total. All together, Omaha Central has been to the state finals 20 times, tied with Lincoln High for the top spot in the Cornhusker State. Omaha Central claimed the No. 1 spot in the computer rankings seven times over the past 14 years and finished in the Top 10 11 times.
Fellow Cornhusker State power Omaha Creighton Prep, the only other school to finish in the Top 25 in each of the past 14 seasons, winds up second this week after claiming three Class A state basketball titles since 2009. Class A power Bellevue West rounds out the top three by winning the Class A state title in 2014 and playing its way into the state finals four times during the time span used in calculating this week's Top 10.
Classes A, B, C1 and C2 are all represented in this week's Top 10. Wauneta-Palisade is the highest ranked Class D1 squad after scoring 50 points and finishing 47th in the standings. Humphrey St. Francis leads the way in Class D2 after accumulating 100 points to finish 22nd out of the 126 schools that earned points this week.
South Sioux City (Class A), Omaha Bryan (Class A), Scottsbluff (Class B), Wahoo (Class B), Omaha Benson (Class A), Lincoln Southeast (Class A), Ravenna (Class C2), Papillion-LaVista (Class A), Ponca (Class C2), Omaha Westside (Class A), Lincoln Pius X (Class A) and Humphrey St. Francis (Class D2) all missed out on the Top 10 despite accumulating 100 points or more.
MaxPreps has developed its own system in determining which boys basketball programs compete at the highest level over an extended period of time. Here is how the points for this week's Top 10 were accumulated:
1. 20 points for a state title
2. 10 points for finishing as a state runner-up
3. Other points are based on a team's Top 25 standing in the final MaxPreps Nebraska Computer Rankings presented by the Army National Guard. For instance, if a school claimed the top spot, it received 25 points, while a No. 25 ranking is good for one point.
Nebraska's dominant boys basketball programs since 2005-06
1. Omaha Central (Omaha) – 425State titles: 7
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2005-06 (1), 2006-07 (1), 2007-08 (1), 2008-09 (22), 2009-10 (1), 2010-11 (1), 2011-12 (1), 2012-13 (1), 2013-14 (4), 2014-15 (8), 2015-16 (23), 2016-17 (11), 2017-18 (5), 2018-19 (9).
2. Creighton Prep (Omaha) – 301
State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 0
Top 25 state rankings: 2005-06 (16), 2006-07 (18), 2007-08 (7), 2008-09 (1), 2009-10 (2), 2010-11 (5), 2011-12 (25), 2012-13 (6), 2013-14 (13), 2014-15 (1), 2015-16 (11), 2016-17 (9), 2017-18 (2), 2018-19 (7).
3. Bellevue West (Bellevue) – 255
State titles: 1
Runner-ups: 3
Top 25 state rankings: 2005-06 (4), 2006-07 (9), 2007-08 (3), 2008-09 (16), 2009-10 (11), 2010-11 (18), 2011-12 (13), 2012-13 (9), 2013-14 (1), 2014-15 (3), 2017-18 (17), 2018-19 (3).
4. St. Cecilia (Hastings) – 238
State titles: 5
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2007-08 (4), 2008-09 (2), 2009-10 (6), 2014-15 (12), 2015-16 (4), 2016-17 (14), 2017-18 (12).
5. Omaha South (Omaha) – 234State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2009-10 (17), 2010-11 (10), 2011-12 (6), 2012-13 (2), 2013-14 (5), 2014-15 (2), 2015-16 (3), 2016-17 (13), 2018-19 (2).
6. Skutt Catholic (Omaha) – 223
State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 2
Top 25 state rankings: 2005-06 (13), 2006-07 (2), 2007-08 (16), 2009-10 (10), 2013-14 (8), 2014-15 (24), 2015-16 (7), 2016-17 (23), 2017-18 (6), 2018-19 (8).
7. Beatrice – 188
State titles: 1
Runner-ups: 3
Top 25 state rankings: 2006-07 (7), 2007-08 (9), 2008-09 (9), 2009-10 (24), 2010-11 (12), 2011-12 (10), 2013-14 (12), 2014-15 (13), 2015-16 (8), 2016-17 (18).
8. Norfolk – 185
State titles: 1
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2005-06 (11), 2006-07 (12), 2008-09 (23), 2009-10 (4), 2010-11 (8), 2011-12 (4), 2013-14 (9), 2014-15 (4), 2016-17 (4).
9. Gretna – 171
State titles: 2
Runner-ups: 1
Top 25 state rankings: 2005-06 (20), 2009-10 (25), 2010-11 (7), 2012-13 (14), 2014-15 (16), 2015-16 (1), 2016-17 (1), 2017-18 (13), 2018-19 (16).
10. Bishop Neumann (Wahoo) – 164
State titles: 3
Runner-ups: 0
Top 25 state rankings: 2005-06 (3), 2010-11 (24), 2011-12 (17), 2013-14 (11), 2014-15 (19), 2015-16 (2), 2016-17 (2).
