HuskerlandPreps.com - From a Scrub's Standpoint

March 22, 2013

Bob Jensen
HuskerlandPreps.com Publisher

OK, so there's a certain amount of boring that goes along with being a traditionally great program, agreed? (That is what makes them great in the first place, the fact they always win.)

For instance, did you know Omaha Central won Class A in boys basketball? (OK, so I could have written that sentence the past four Marches, and seven of the last eight...just answer the question...) The Eagles have elevated their game to a place no other team in the big boy world of Class A boys basketball has ever gone before; and, yes, I know Lincoln Northeast won four straight titles in the 1990s.

Booorrriiinnnggg.

In a good way, course.

While Central did again what Central has done for the better part of the decade the rest of the state championship teams came from across the board. Let's take a quick review before we wrap things up for the season...

Class A: Well, didja? The thing about Central, I mean. It would have been to hard to miss Central's ascent (remaining) to the top of Class A in this crazy media-driven world we live in. (Thank goodness that is true!) And after a couple of mid-season bumps in the road Central roared into Lincoln wanting to prove a point. Or points. Many, many points.

And they did, routing all three opponents, including a worthy Papillion-LaVista team in the finals. Savor what you saw as it is unlikely we will see a team, a program, performing to such perfection again for some time.

Class B: Who knew it could be so fun (and unexpected) to be boring? While Central sledgehammered the Class A field, South Sioux City made you feel like you just got a new puppy for Christmas by reaching its fourth straight state tournament final, winning for the third time in that span.

That's what happens when you're the underdog - people tend to forget boring.

Look, man, South Sioux was sub-.500 (11-12) heading into district play and you can say all you want about strength of schedule and getting on the same page and all that, but 11-12 is 11-12. Dead in the water, that was South Sioux City. Right?

Wrong.

Not only did the Cardinals become the darling of Class B but they did it with some style, coming back from deficits of 18, 14 and 11 points in their three state tournament wins. Has anybody ever wanted to be Jordan Comstock more than they did on that Saturday night, when he scored the winning basket, then intercepted the final in-bounds pass.

Suh-weet.

Again I ask - what was the Gesell kid's name again? (It's OK for me to do that, I love that what's-his-name...)

Class C-1: While much of the 84-point type was saved for Omaha Central (are we will talking about them?) there were only two teams to finish with perfect records and C-1 champ Wahoo was one of them.

Without a pure basketball player in the starting line-up. Or so it says here. Now, hear me out...I'm telling you that Jon Abbott and Ben Scheef are both worthy of their all-state standing, and I get an enormous kick out of the so-very-enthusiastic Tyler Kavan, but in my mind its because they have both (all) mastered the art of modern basketball, where speed and daring mixed with aggressive play and some smarts trumps the 15-foot jumper. (Can anybody make a 15-foot jumper any more, any way? Not with a guy hanging on his arm, like usually happens they can't...)

Wahoo has as rich a history as any program in the state and it was fun to watch the Warriors salt away another title.

Class C-2: All I can tell you is that after the game I wound up talking to Spencer Kucera about his goat herd. In between raising the goats and selling the goats he managed to piece together a state tournament final performance that reminded me of UCLA's Bill Walton back in the 1973 NCAA Final Four. (Kids, quick, look that up...)

With him as the centerpiece, senior guard Dakota Best playing one of the best supporting roles in the tournament - was sort of Ernie to Spencer's Bert - and one of our coaching masters, John Miller, on the bench, Southern Valley won its first-ever state title. There wasn't a better on-court, postgame celebration, trust me.

Class D-1: Back in the day, "Adorable" Adrian Adonis used to apply what they called in pro wrestling the sleeper hold. Howells-Dodge did that in the D-1 final, wringing the life right out of an athletic, high energy Paxton team that had no answer.

There is nothing fancy about Howells-Dodge did their business, no, it was a mallet to the top of the head, like they did with Brainy Smurf back in the '80s. Power basketball at its finest, led by all-stater Mat Gooch.

Class D-2: Frenetic in a way that resembled the bicycle chase scene from the movie What's Up Doc? - '70s, Barbara Streisand, hysterical that's all you need to know - Wynot outlasted Spalding/Spalding Academy in double OT to win its first-ever state title and, sort of, save face in the lunch room...the Wynot girls have won three of in a row, you know. For such a fast-paced game it seemed ironic it ended with Wynot being smart enough to not even bother in-bounding the ball while the clock rolled out to triple zeroes. Very nice.

Before there was Jordan Comstock, did anybody else REALLY want to be Jackson Sudbeck, the way I did, when he made those three threes in a row position his team for the title. Standing at mid-court, cheers rushing over him like a spring rain (when there was such a thing...)...will his life ever be better than it was at that moment?

You hope so but you get my point...

With that we are done for another year of Huskerland Prep Report high school coverage; that makes 23 in the books. Thanks for supporting our efforts and now we turn our attention to...football? Can that be?

Yes it can, and we hope you stay with us in the coming weeks and months as we preview the 2013 season.

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