As March Madness was 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 version 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 more bids since the men's tournament does include the 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' final Nebraska computer 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 the last two weekends. For example, in the Men's South Regional No. 15 seed Princeton played its way into last weekend's Sweet 16. Therefore, Shelton, the No. 15 seed in the boys South Regional, advanced to the tournament's second weekend.
South Regional No. 13 seed Furman bumped No. 4 seed Virginia from national championship contention, allowing boys 13th-seed Parkview Christian to advance to the Round of 32. Fairleigh Dickinson pulled the upset of the first round by knocking off East Regional No. 1 seed Purdue from the tournament, allowing Ansley-Litchfield to move onto the Round of 32 over Bellevue West.
Four of the Top 5 seeds in the Midwest Regional advanced to the Sweet 16 and beyond. Arkansas, however, upended No. 1 seed and defending national champion Kansas in the second round which allowed Central City to advance to the Sweet 16 over 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 are the school's record and its final MaxPreps computer 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. The score used in the Sweet 16 results is identical to the score for that contest in the men's tournament.
Alec Noonan of Elkhorn South drives in a Feb. 7 game against Lincoln East. (Photo: Samuel Mfinanga)
Boys Sweet 16 Results5.
Auburn (23-7, No. 19) 71, 1.
Ashland-Greenwood (Ashland) (29-2, No. 4) 64
6.
Johnson-Brock (Johnson) (27-4, No. 24) 86, 15.
Shelton (25-3, No. 66) 75
Boys Elite Eight Result5. Auburn (24-7) 57, 6. Johnson-Brock (28-4) 56
East Regional (New York)
Boys Sweet 16 Results9.
Elkhorn South (Omaha) (19-7, No. 36) 62, 4.
Omaha Westside (Omaha) (19-8) 55
3.
Concordia (Omaha) (26-5, No. 10) 98, 7.
Lincoln Southeast (Lincoln) (18-10, No. 26) 93
Boys Elite Eight Result9. Elkhorn South (20-7) 79, 3. Omaha Concordia (27-5) 76
Midwest Regional (Kansas City)
Boys Sweet 16 Results5.
Bennington (19-9, No. 20) 89, 1.
Skutt Catholic (Omaha) (27-3, No. 2) 75
2.
Millard North (Omaha) (25-4, No. 6) 83, 3.
Cedar Catholic (Hartington) (26-5, No. 11) 71
Boys Elite Eight Result5. Bennington (20-9) 88, 2. Millard North (26-4) 81
West Regional (Las Vegas)
Boys Sweet 16 Results4.
Amherst (28-2, No. 16) 88, 8.
Central City (26-4, No. 31) 65
3.
Pierce (25-4, No. 12) 79, 2.
Ogallala (30-1, No. 8) 76
Boys Elite Eight Result4. Amherst (29-2) 82, 3. Pierce (26-4) 54
Boys Final Four MatchupsAuburn (25-7) vs. Elkhorn South (21-7)
Bennington (21-9) vs. Amherst (30-2)
