Greater Metro hoops flexing its muscle
This is the Greater Metro Conference’s time.
What else would you say about a conference that has two teams in the state boys basketball tournament this year and owns a four-year streak of trips to Madison that have included five schools, three of which weren’t even the league champion?
How else would you think of a conference in which not one, not two but THREE teams that finished below .500 in league play this season had a nonconference win over a conference champion?
When it comes to the debate over the area’s best conference, the GMC holds more trump cards than most.
“There’s a lot of good teams, obviously, in this area, but when you have two teams representing (the league at
state) … Even if it’s one, it’s definitely a great thing for the Greater Metro,” Wauwatosa East coach Tim Arndorfer said.
Sussex Hamilton, the Greater Metro’s third-place team, will face No. 1 seed Oshkosh North in a Division 1 semifinal at 6:35 p.m.Friday at the Kohl Center in Madison. Later than night, it will be Brookfield East’s turn. The Spartans, second in the GMC, will face No. 2 seed Sun Prairie in the other semifinal. It will mark the first time in 10 years that two teams from an area conference reached state in the same year in the same division.
The last time? That would be 2008, when Arndorfer led Tosa East to the Division 1 state title, beating Brookfield Central in the semifinals.
Back then Arndorfer was a first-year head coach. Today he is one of the deans of the league and one of the reasons the league is special.
In a nine-team league, he is also one of seven coaches who have led a team to the state tournament. He and Menomonee Falls’ Steve Showalter have titles, although Showalter won his with Germantown as part of the North Shore. Brookfield Central’s Dan Wandrey has qualified with boys and girls. Sussex Hamilton’s Andy Cerroni and Brookfield East’s Joe Rux have done it with two schools
That roster of coaches has brought a variety of styles that helps teams get ready for what they might see in the tournament.
“If you look at Menomonee Falls, that is going to be a game that's up and down. That isn’t going to be a slow-itdown kind of game,” Arndorfer said. “You play against a team like Marquette and you know you’re always going to be up against size. The athleticism you see from teams like Tosa East, like Tosa West, I think there is some validity (to that idea). You’ve seen it, whatever you might be up against in the playoffs.” The GMC's résumé is impressive. Marquette, which tied for fourth in the league, upset Southeast Conference champion and No. 1 seed Franklin in the regional final after knocking off Woodland East champion Brown Deer during the regular season. Tosa East, which also tied for fourth in the GMC, knocked off Classic 8 co-champion Kettle Moraine during the regular season. Tosa West, the other fourth-place team in the league, defeated North Shore champion Cedarburg in the season opener.
Sure league champion Brookfield Central bowed out early, but even that came at the hands of West Allis Central, a school that was part of the Greater Metro last year.
Even a state qualifier such as Hamilton wasn’t immune. It lost to the league’s last- and seventh-place teams, Germantown and Menomonee Falls, respectively.
“There was separation between Brook Central, Brook East (and the rest of the league),” Rux said. “Conferencewise, record-wise, it looked like there was a bigger gap, but it’s such a wellcoached conference that that gap wasn’t as big as people thought.”
That has led to a memorable postseason and exciting possibilities for the future. The league was home to two of the state’s top freshmen, Hamilton’s Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Brookfield Central’s David Joplin.
A young team such as Wauwatosa West might be ready to take the next step. Hamilton, Brookfield Central and Brookfield East will have enough talent back to stay in title contention.
But really you never know know who is on the rise. Two years ago, the Brookfield East Spartans were winless in the league. Now look at them.