Woodland West rivals could meet in title game
The WIAA boys state basketball tournament is scheduled to begin Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison with Division 3 and Division 4 state semifinal games. Semifinals continue Friday with Divisions 5, 2 and 1, before championships begin Saturday morning with Division 5.
The Milwaukee area will have eight teams competing across four divisions at state, including three in Division 2. Here are three story lines to follow in the D2 tournament.
All-Woodland West title game possible
After three years of meeting in sectional final games that provided matchups befitting of a Kohl Center meeting, Wisconsin Lutheran and Pewaukee are one win apiece away from a D2 title game for the ages.
The Woodland West Conference champion Vikings (28-0) earned the No. 1 seed, and will face No. 4 Nicolet (24-4) in the first of two Friday afternoon semifinals. The Woodland West runner-up Pirates (24-4) received the No. 2 seed and will face No. 3 seed West Salem (25-3) in the latter semifinal.
Wisconsin Lutheran senior Kon Knueppel and Pewaukee senior Nick Janowski are finalists with two of the strongest cases for the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association's Mr. Basketball Award, scheduled to be announced during the state tournament. Both are the leading scorers in their high school program's history and NCAA DI commits to Duke and Nebraska, respectively.
Until this season, Janowski owned the rivalry with Knueppel. Without 2023 grad Milan Momcilovic this season however, Knueppel and the Vikings beat the Pirates in both regular season meetings. The Mr. Basketball Award could be in the possession of one or the other by the time a championship meeting tips off, adding another layer of intrigue to what would be compelling title game rematch.
Wisconsin Lutheran, Pewaukee seek to complete historic runs
A perfect season and repeat titles are two of the achievements that separate programs and individual players in the weighing of legacies. Wisconsin Lutheran has the chance to complete the second 30-0 season in WIAA history with two more wins at the state tournament, matching what De Pere accomplished a season ago in D1. Pewaukee meanwhile has the opportunity with two more wins to become the third team in WIAA boys state tournament history to win four consecutive state titles. The Pirates would join Randolph, who won the D4 title from 2002-2005, and Dominican, who won five-straight D4 titles from 2012-2016, in an elite club of four-peat champions.
Nicolet seeks to capitalize on second straight state trip
Pewaukee's bid for a third-straight D2 title nearly ended just shy of the title game last year, as an up-and-coming Nicolet team took the Pirates down to the buzzer in a 58-56 state semifinal. Back at state for the second consecutive season, Nicolet has reason to view itself as far more than a potential spoiler.
The Knights boast an experienced lineup led by junior 6-foot-6 wing Davion Hannah and 6-foot-4 senior guard Nacir Beamon. For the 2021-2022 season, Hannah and Beamon were teammates on a Milwaukee Academy of Science team that reached the Division 4 title game. Two years later, the two have reunited. Hannah (19.5 points per game) and Beamon (17.8 points per game) are again the catalysts for a state-qualifying team, but their goals have been much higher from the outset.
Nicolet head coach Terence Smith called the semifinal loss last year "a championship game" and promised "We will be back." It is now on the Knights to go out and prove they are a true contender in D2.