Published: Jan. 18, 2014
G’town still the favorite
Well, the streak is finally over. Probably much sooner than
most expected. Nonetheless, the streak is over. On Tuesday night, Brookfield
Central sent a shockwave through Wisconsin high school boys basketball by
beating Germantown, ending the Warhawks’ 69-game winning streak.
Brookfield Central went into the game as the state’s
second-ranked team in the Division 1 coaches poll. Obviously, Germantown was
No. 1. After Tuesday night, Brookfield Central will likely assume the top spot
in next week’s state rankings.
Germantown started the 2011-12 season No. 1 and has been
there ever since.
The 69 games in a row led the nation and broke a state
record that stood for more than 30 years.
Germantown won in a variety of ways. In most of the games,
the Warhawks crushed their opponents. They also showed it can win the close
games, the high-scoring games and the low-scoring games.
In last year’s state championship game, they beat Mukwonago
without scoring 60 points, but allowed less than 30.
Germantown has four college prospects on its team, including
three headed to Division I schools next season.
While the Warhawks may not have much satisfaction for what
they accomplished right now, it’s an accomplishment worth celebrating. But
we’re not going to overlook what Brookfield Central did, either. It took a
special kind of team to beat a special kind of record and that’s what happened.
Brookfield Central is indeed a special team with a ton of
talent and deserved to win the game by all accounts. Now we’ll get to see how
good Brookfield Central can be. Come March, Germantown will re-emerge as the
top team in the state and win a third straight state championship.
Which team is the best is still up in the air. Best and top
are different from each other. Top just means a team is at the top of its game
or, in this case, the state polls.
What needs to be kept in mind here is the game was at
Brookfield Central, which automatically gives the edge to the Lancers. If the
game was at Germantown or on a neutral floor, Germantown would’ve won.
A big victory like this could be the turning point of both
teams’ seasons. Can Brookfield Central maintain the momentum it has built? How
will Germantown respond?
Germantown has balance and toughness. The Warhawks have one
more thing in their favor and it is the most important: experience.
Germantown knows how to win the big games. Brookfield
Central hasn’t done that just yet. This was a big victory in a big game. It’s
just one, though. Next time around, you can almost be assured that Germantown
will have revenge on its mind and have that chip on its shoulder. Last time
that happened, a lot of teams in this state found out how relentless the team
can be. The pressure is now off of Germantown. In the season the Warhawks won
the first of their back-to-back state championships, even though they spent the
whole season ranked No. 1 in the state coaches poll, they weren’t the
favorites.
Madison Memorial was the favorite and with good reason. The
Spartans had been to state nine straight years.
What did Germantown do to Madison Memorial? Blew them out,
winning 81-43 in the state semifinal. That was the first time Germantown was
thrust into the spotlight. And it was brilliant in the twoplus years with it on
it.
Now it’s Brookfield Central’s turn. Germantown won’t be too
far out of the spotlight, though.
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