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.
Here how my picks went overall from round 1:
Division 1: 5/8 (62.5%)
Divison 2: 21/25 (84%)
Division 3: 30/36 (83.3%)
Division 4: 25/34 (73.5%)
Division 5: 55/62 (88.7%)
Total: 136/165 (82.4%)
The full conference list and breakdown will be listed at the bottom of the article.
Conferences that had the Most Success
The Capitol conference went 7-2 in the first night of playoff hoops, losing just two games where the teams were the lower seeds. Ten-seed Waterloo went on the road and got a win over seven-seed Dodgeland. The higher seeds were relatively dominant with five of the six wins coming by double digits, including three 25+ point wins. Lake Mills, Lakeside Lutheran, and Cambridge received byes, so the Capitol will have ten of its twelve teams playing on Friday.
The Marawood went 7-3 in the opening round with two of those losses coming to intra-league opponents. The two intra-league games were Marawood-South teams beating their Marawood-North counterparts. The Marawood also went 3-0 against the Cloverbelt in the first round of games.
The Metro Classic went a perfect 4-0 on Tuesday night with all four wins coming by double digit points. With the rest of the league on bye, three Division 3 and one Division 4 teams advanced to the regional semis.
With four of the six Wisconsin Valley teams not playing on Tuesday, both Wausau East and Wisconsin Rapids took care of business and got wins for the league in the lone games of the night.
The Greater Metro, Glacier Trails, and Mississippi Valley conferences had three teams play in the opening round of the playoffs and went 2-1. The only loss from each of those conferences game in a game between conference teams.
Conferences that Struggled the Most
Though the Central Wisconsin Conference advanced eight teams, ten of those league teams did not. The league overall went 8-10 with four head-to-heads on the night.
The Eastern Wisconsin conference struggled on Tuesday night, going 1-5 with the lone win coming in an intra-league matchup. Lower seeds in the other four matchups, none could go on the road and score the upset.
Four Great Northern teams played Tuesday night, and four are going home. Two of those teams were the higher seeds, but fell to non-con opponents coming into their gym.
Independent teams went just 3-7 on the night with Lake Country Classical Academy getting one of those victories, the first in the program’s history.
The Lake City went just 2-6 with one of those two wins coming against a conference opponent. A league that has struggled in playoffs, continued to do so this year.
What was said about the Lake City can also be attributed to the Marinette & Oconto conference. The M&O went 2-6 with one of those wins coming against a conference opponent. The lone win came in Division 4, while the M&O went 1-6 in Division 5.
The Six Rivers struggled mightily in the opening round of playoffs, going just 4-9 with two intra-league victories. The East division struggled the most, going just 1-6 and that lone win came in a same conference game. The Trailways went 6-0 against the Six Rivers as a whole and 5-0 against the East division.
Full Conference Breakdown
WIN | LOSS | H2H | |
Badger | 5 | 3 | 2 |
Bay | 2 | 3 | 1 |
Big East | 5 | 2 | 1 |
Big Eight | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Big Rivers | 1 | 1 | |
Capitol | 7 | 2 | |
Classic Eight | 1 | 0 | |
Cloverbelt | 5 | 6 | |
Coulee | 3 | 2 | |
CWC | 8 | 10 | 4 |
Dairyland | 5 | 5 | |
Dunn-St. Croix | 3 | 3 | |
EWC | 1 | 5 | 1 |
Flyway | 4 | 2 | 1 |
FRCC | 1 | 2 | |
FVA | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Glacier Trails | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Great Northern | 0 | 4 | |
Greater Metro | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Heart O'North | 5 | 5 | 3 |
Independent | 3 | 7 | |
Lake City | 2 | 6 | 1 |
Lake Superior | 0 | 0 | |
Lakeland | 8 | 7 | 4 |
Marawood | 7 | 3 | 2 |
M&O | 2 | 7 | 1 |
Metro Classic | 4 | 0 | |
Middle Border | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Midwest Classic | 5 | 3 | 1 |
MCC | 5 | 6 | 2 |
Mississippi Valley | 2 | 1 | 1 |
North Eastern | 4 | 2 | 1 |
North Shore | 0 | 1 | |
Northern Lakes | 2 | 3 | |
Northern Lights | 4 | 5 | 2 |
Packerland | 5 | 3 | 1 |
Ridge & Valley | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Rock Valley | 4 | 6 | 2 |
Scenic Bluff | 3 | 5 | |
Six Rivers | 4 | 9 | 2 |
South Central | 3 | 3 | |
Southeast | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Southern Lakes | 3 | 2 | 1 |
SWAL | 3 | 2 | 1 |
SWC | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Trailways | 10 | 8 | 1 |
Wisconsin Valley | 2 | 0 | |
Woodland | 6 | 5 | 4 |
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].