After each round of the playoffs, we’ll break down how each conference faired with regards to who advances, who doesn’t, and which conferences over and under-exceeded with regards to their seed.
The full conference list and breakdown will be listed at the bottom of the article with win percentages of each conference through the regionals.
Top 5 conferences with the most regional championship
1. Big East - 6
T-2. FVA - 4
T-2. Marawood - 4
T-4. Big Eight - 3
T-4. Cloverbelt - 3
T-4. FRCC - 3
T-4. Greater Metro - 3
T-4. Southern Lakes - 3
T-4. Trailways - 3
Conferences that had the Most Success
The Big East has been the most successful conference this postseason to this point with the highest win percentage of any conference in the league, 73%. Saturday, the league had six teams take home a regional championship, three from each division. Two of those squads will play each other in the sectional semis in Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah and Reedsville, but the other four will have a chance to advance.
The Big Eight has struggled in years past against teams outside of its league come playoff time. This year, the former power conference in Division 1 has three regional champions, the top three teams in the league. Though it was no cake walk as the top-seeded Madison Memorial squad needed two overtimes to get by eight-seed Badger. Memorial and Middleton will square off in the sectional semis, while Verona will get former Big Eight foe Beloit Memorial.
Speaking of the Southern Lakes, that conference had a great turnout in the regional finals, winning 3 of the four games with nine-seed Badger pushing top-seeded Madison Memorial to the brink on the road. Seven-seed Burlington went on the road Friday and took down second-seed Martin Luther, then did the same to six-seed Greenfield on Saturday. The co-champions in the league Waterford and Beloit Memorial handled business at home to get their regional titles.
The FVA was supposedly in a “down year” with the top level individual players may not being where it was in years past. The league proved again why it’s one of the best in the state, going 4-1 in regional final action, with the only loss coming in an intra-league matchup. Nine-seed Neenah and ten-seed Oshkosh North both went on the road as the Rockets took down top-seed and WVC co-champ D.C. Everest while the Spartans knocked off two-seed and Classic Eight champion Arrowhead.
The top two teams in the Eastern Wisconsin were the only two left come Saturday’s regional final action, but both Brillion and Roncalli advanced. The Lions handled Little Chute at home while Roncalli went on the road to knock off Manitowoc Lutheran.
The Marawood dominated the Cloverbelt on Regional Championship Saturday, going 3-0 against its rival conference, including Prentice going on the road and knocking off second-seed Columbus Catholic. Four-seed Assumption also waved the league flag, going on the road and knocking off Scenic Bluffs champion and top seed Royall.
The SWC is a conference I know far too well, having coached in it the past 9 years. Saturday night both Lancaster and Platteville represented the league with regional championships. Lancaster went on the road and knocked off top-seed Mineral Point while Platteville took down a red hot Lodi squad on their home court.
The Northern Lights teams have struggled in the playoffs in years past, but on Saturday the top two teams took home regional titles. Hurley held off Auburndale in a D4 matchup, while Drummond did the same with Webster in a D5 tilt.
Conferences that Struggled the Most
The Classic Eight went 1-3 in the regional finals, with the one win being the biggest surprise of them all. Champion Arrowhead fell to FVA team Oshkosh North, while Oak Creek and Waukesha West fell on the road. The big surprise was Muskego going to West Allis Central and knocking off the powerhouse Bulldogs. Regardless, a conference that has sent teams to state at a high rate, struggled in this year’s postseason.
The Great Northern co-champs were the lone teams left in the Great Northern on Saturday night. Both fell. Mosinee lost at G-E-T in a game I was at that came down to the final minute. Rhinelander fell to Big Rivers school Menomonie. It was a tough year overall for the league in the playoffs, with just a 20% win percentage in regionals.
The Rock Valley is officially out of the boys basketball playoffs as the last two teams alive both lost in the regional finals. To be fair, both East Troy and Monroe traveled to the one or two seed in their sectional and fell, but the league as a whole had a 35% win percentage overall.
The Trailways conference can be looked at through a different lens depending on perspective, as the conference did have three regional champs, and a 51% win percentage these playoffs. However, the league went 3-5 overall in regional championships, with the three wins all coming against other Trailways opponents.
The Woodland went 2-4 overall with the East division going 0-3 with West Allis Central and Greenfield losing games at home and Whitnall going on the road and falling to Waterford.
Full Conference Breakdown
Reg. Quarters | Reg. Semis | Reg Finals | ||||||||
W | L | H2H | W | L | H2H | W | L | H2H | Win % | |
Badger | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 44% | |
Bay | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 50% | ||
Big East | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 73% | |
Big Eight | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 56% |
Big Rivers | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50% | |
Capitol | 7 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 57% | |||
Classic Eight | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 46% | |||
Cloverbelt | 5 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 54% | ||
Coulee | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 62% | |||
CWC | 8 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 42% |
Dairyland | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 41% | ||
Dunn-St. Croix | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 47% | ||
EWC | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 45% | ||
Flyway | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 50% | ||
FRCC | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 56% | |
FVA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 63% |
Glacier Trails | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 58% | ||
Great Northern | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 20% | |||
Greater Metro | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 65% | ||
Heart O'North | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 38% | |
Independent | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 38% | |||
Lake City | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 25% | |
Lake Superior | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0% | |||
Lakeland | 8 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 48% |
Marawood | 7 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 68% | ||
M&O | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18% | ||
Metro Classic | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 63% | |
Middle Border | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 64% |
Midwest Classic | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 48% | ||
MCC | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 36% | |
MVC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 45% | |
North Eastern | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 50% |
North Shore | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 58% | ||
Northern Lakes | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 56% | ||
Northern Lights | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 50% | ||
Packerland | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 59% | ||
Ridge & Valley | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 50% | |
Rock Valley | 4 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 35% | |
Scenic Bluff | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 46% | |||
Six Rivers | 4 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 37% | |
South Central | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 33% | |||
Southeast | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 50% | |
Southern Lakes | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 64% | ||
SWAL | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 60% |
SWC | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 64% | ||
Trailways | 10 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 51% |
WVC | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 64% | ||
Woodland | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 50% |
Colton Wilson serves a contributor and member of Bound Wisconsin. Wilson has worked in high school sports for 10 years, covering the state of Wisconsin in various sports. He has had roles in content creation, boys basketball coverage, director of events, and data management. Wilson is a graduate of Richland Center High School where he will currently serves as the Varsity Reserve boys basketball coach, entering his eleventh year coaching at the high school level. Wilson also has officiated basketball and organized youth tournaments for multiple years. You can follow him on Twitter at @ColtonWilson23 or reach him at [email protected].
