Braylon Backaus of Black River Falls
Below are some quick takeaways from the first round of the boys basketball playoffs.
For the full first round results on the Bound Wisconsin scoreboard, please click here.
HOME TEAMS DOMINATE, BUT SO DO A FEW ROAD TEAMS
Higher seeded home teams went 141-24 in the first round of regionals, good for a winning percentage of 84.5%. That includes one forfeit victory for Ozaukee over Random Lake in Division 5.
From a seed standpoint, the biggest upsets in round one were:
#10 Waukesha South over #7 Pius XI Catholic
#11 Black River Falls over #6 Elk Mound
#10 Carmen Northwest over #7 University School
#12 Ladysmith over #5 Glenwood City
#12 Augusta over #5 Whitehall
#10 Waterloo over #7 Dodgeland
#12 Gibraltar over #5 Suring
#10 Plum City/Elmwood over #7 Wonewoc-Center
#13 Rio over #4 Pecatonica
Friday night’s regional semifinals will start to get really interesting, with some number one and two seeds likely to go down based on past history.
DOMINATING SCORES RULE THE NIGHT
The overall average margin of victory was 24.1 points (compared to 28.7 in girls opening regional games). That includes some sizable blowouts on Tuesday night. Milwaukee Bradley Tech defeated Tenor/Veritas 129-20, while Brown Deer’s 137-36 win over Milwaukee Madison meant a pair of 100+ point wins on the evening. A total of 34 games were decided by at least 40 points, with 19 coming by at least 50 points, 10 by at least 60, and five by at least 70.
All of the wins by at least 30 points were by home teams, with Ashwaubenon’s 62-34 victory against Green Bay East the largest margin of victory for a road team.
On the other end of the spectrum, there were 45 of the 164 games played (not counting forfeit) that were decided by single digits, including four, one-point victories: Rice Lake over Lakeland 61-60 in overtime, Rio over Pecatonica, Brookfield Academy over St. John’s Northwestern, and Luxemburg-Casco over Green Bay West. 19 games were decided by three or less points.
TRACKING THE CHAMPIONS
All five of the defending state champions are still alive, though just one of them played in the first round of the 2026 playoffs.
D1: Wisconsin Lutheran - bye
D2: Wauwatosa West - bye
D3: Milwaukee Academy of Science - bye (Elevated to D2)
D4: Aquinas - bye
D5: Cochrane-Fountain City beat Port Edwards 59-41
BEST REGIONAL SEMIFINAL GAMES
Below are the top five regional semifinal games in each division based on the Bound Power Index. Numbers for each team indicate WIAA seed.
Division 1
Oshkosh North at Bay Port
Homestead at Menomonee Falls
Neenah at Hudson
Pewaukee at Sheboygan North
Madison La Follette at Monona Grove
Division 2
Milwaukee Lutheran at Wauwatosa West
Brookfield Central at Sauk Prairie
Whitnall at Greendale
DeForest at Beaver Dam
New London at West Salem
Division 3
Shoreland Lutheran at Kenosha St. Joseph
Saint Thomas More at Racine St. Catherine’s
Brown Deer at Kettle Moraine Lutheran
Evansville at Lake Mills
Messmer at Racine Lutheran
Division 4
The Prairie School at Dominican
Kohler at Winnebago Lutheran
Laconia at Roncalli
Algoma at Saint Mary Catholic
Manawa at Kewaunee
Division 5
Potosi/Cassville at Kickapoo
Owen-Withee at Loyal
De Soto at Southwestern
River Ridge at Belmont
Athens at Columbus Catholic
Travis Wilson serves as the Bound Wisconsin Manager. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisBound or reach him at [email protected].