Nebraska's Top 10 most improved boys basketball teams

Video: Padyn Borders highlights vs. Bennington High School
See the Broken Bow junior in action as the Indians make a dramatic improvement over last year.

With the Nebraska boys high school basketball season reaching its midway point following last weekend's round ball action, we crunched some numbers to determine which programs made substantial turnarounds from a year ago.

Using Tuesday's MaxPreps Computer Rankings, calculations were made in determining which of the nearly 300 Cornhusker State schools that compete in basketball climbed the most rungs in this year's rankings over last season's final ratings.

Having climbed 144 places to 44th, Broken Bow takes the top spot in this week's Top 10, and is our most improved boys basketball team so far this season after posting 10 wins in 13 games. A year ago, Nate Olson's Indians were good for a 6-15 record on their way to a No. 188 ranking, regardless of class.

Hershey and Centennial gave Broken Bow a run for its money, but had to settle for second and third, respectively, after improving 139 and 134 spots over 2015-16. Of all of the members of our Top 10, Wayne earned the highest ranking at No. 27 Tuesday, and sits sixth in this week's Top 10.

All of Nebraska's smaller classifications (C1, C2, D1, D2) were represented in this week's Top 10; however, none of the Cornhusker State's Class A or Class B teams were able to crack the Top 10. Bellevue East climbed 99 spots to 124th in leading the way for Nebraska's big schools, while Holdrege was the big winner in Class B, climbing 67 spots to 73rd.

Omaha Bryan (89 spots) and Millard North (75 spots) were big movers in Class A, as well, while Columbus (63 spots) jumped substantially in Class B.


1. Broken Bow +144
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 188th (6-15)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 44th (10-3)

2. Hershey +139
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 210th (6-18)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 71st (8-4)

3. Centennial (Utica) +134
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 177th (9-13)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 43rd (13-1)

4. Nebraska Lutheran (Waco) +129
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 214th (10-10)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 85th (8-1)

5. Alma +128
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 220th (9-14)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 92nd (12-2)

6. Wayne +123
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 150th (8-18)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 27th (11-3)

7. Crofton +121
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 209th (2-19)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 88th (7-5)

8. Kimball +117
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 217th (7-14)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 100th (7-2)

9. Spalding Academy (Spalding) +115
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 248th (3-17)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 133rd (7-3)

10. Cody-Kilgore (Cody) +113
Final 2015-16 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 265th (5-13)
2016-17 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 152nd (8-1)