WIAA BOYS BASKETBALL SECTIONAL PREVIEW
The WIAA boys basketball postseason enters sectional play Thursday, with 23 Milwaukee area teams still in contention to hoist a gold ball. A minimum of three will qualify for the WIAA state tournament across the five divisions, with as many as nine able to punch their ticket to the state semifinals in Madison next week.
Here is a breakdown of each sectional semifinal matchup, along with predictions for how the week will play out through Saturday's sectional final games.
DIVISION 1 Sectional 2 No. 4 Homestead (21-5) vs. No. 1 De Pere (26-0)
Homestead draws a rematch of a Jan. 28 meeting won by De Pere 64-41 in a neutral site game in which the Highlanders shot 15-of-51 and did not have any individual player over 10 points for the game.
Homestead is the winner of six straight games and eight of nine since that loss, but De Pere has shown few holes in rout wins of 87-34 over No. 16 Sheboygan South and 81-34 over No. 9 Milwaukee King thus far this postseason.
Prediction: De Pere, 75-58
No. 7 Marquette (20-6) vs. No. 6 Kaukauna (16-10)
Marquette enters its sectional semifinal coming off an 87-80 win over Fond du Lac in the regional final. The Hilltoppers go from facing the winners of the Fox Valley Association to a team that finished fifth in the same conference. Kaukauna played Fond du Lac competitively in their two conference meetings but came up short. Marquette has gotten some efficient shooting performances from their junior trio of T.J. Adams, Nolan Minessale and Ryan Meehan this postseason, which has them looking like the hotter team at this point in the season.
Prediction: Marquette, 79-70 Sectional final prediction: De Pere, 8467
Sectional 3 No. 1 Arrowhead (24-2) vs. No. 13 Brookfield East (13-13)
Brookfield East has been one of the Cinderella stories of the tournament with wins of 66-58 over No. 4 Oregon and 67-62 in overtime over No. 5 Sussex Hamilton. Arrowhead, meanwhile, dominated No. 16 Sun Prairie East in a 77-35 win before surviving a rough first half against No. 8 Madison La Follette to pull away to a 80-59 victory in the regional final.
Brookfield East has shown a lot of fight thus far, but the Warhawks' versatile scoring options look like too tough a matchup Thursday.
Prediction: Arrowhead, 87-62
No. 6 Milwaukee Hamilton (20-6) vs. No. 2 Middleton (25-1)
Hamilton senior Demarion Burch has lit up the box score as one of the leading performers in the state this postseason. His 44-point effort in a 77-68 win over No. 11 West Allis Hale was nearly matched later last week with 42 points in a regional 73-67 final victory over No. 3 Waunakee.
Hamilton is a team that can really thrive if a game turns into a track meet, but it may not get that chance against Middleton. Defense has continued to be the calling card for a team that won 57-44 over No. 15 Madison East and 53-38 over No. 10 Madison Memorial. Expect Middleton to try and slowthings down in this one as well.
Prediction: Middleton, 65-61 Sectional final prediction: Middleton, 70-67
Sectional 4 No. 1 Kettle Moraine (16-10) vs. No. 4 Kenosha Indian Trail (20-6)
Kettle Moraine has been streaky and raised some eyebrows when hitting on all cylinders. The Lasers handled their regional semifinal matchup with No. 16 Kenosha Tremper in an 86-58 final, before outlasting No. 8 Oak Creek, 5650.
Kenosha Indian Trail overwhelmed No. 13 Milwaukee Pulaski, 95-44, and beat No. 5 Waukesha South, 67-51, as well to reach the sectional semifinal. The Hawks have lost two games since Jan. 10, each coming by four points. Kenosha Indian Trail has proven to be a bit more consistent over the latter half of the season than Kettle Moraine.
Prediction: Kenosha Indian Trail 67-59
No. 2 Franklin (18-8) vs. No. 6 Mukwonago (13-13)
If Mukwonago wants to pull the upset in a rematch of a 85-72 loss to Franklin on Feb. 11, it will have to protect the ball better than it did last month. Sixteen turnovers cost Mukwonago dearly. One thing going for Mukwonago in its two postseason games thus far has been its ability to make halftime adjustments. A 42-point second half against No. 11 Badger helped Mukwonago pull away in a 70-47 win, before a 48-point second half against No. 3 Muskego proved pivotal in a 63-55 win in the regional final.
Senior Will Gardner has been relied upon heavily by the Sabers, with 58 points across their two wins of 90-65 over No. 15 Racine Horlick and 62-55 over No. 10 Janesville Craig. Gardner had 28 points in the first meeting with Mukwonago.
Prediction: Franklin, 66-58 Sectional final prediction: Franklin, 74-69
DIVISION 2 Sectional 2 No. 1 Nicolet (22-4) vs. No. 2 Whitefish Bay (15-10)
North Shore foes square off in the rubber match of a conference series that went to the home team in each meeting. The biggest difference from their first to second meetings was Whitefish Bay senior Jaden Guyton, who exploded for a season-high 42 points to lead the Blue Dukes to a 64-57 win in the rematch after being held to 13 in the first meeting. Nicolet has similarly relied upon sophomore Davion Hannah this season but was able to survive an eight-point night in its 52-39 win over No. 4 West Bend East in the regional final. The winner will face the winner of No. 1 West De Pere and No. 2 Notre Dame.
Prediction: Nicolet, 61-56 Sectional final prediction: Nicolet, 6762, over West De Pere
Sectional 3 No. 1 Westosha Central (23-2) vs. No. 2 Whitnall (22-3)
Whitnall looks to knock off its second straight Southern Lakes Conference opponent on Thursday after beating No. 3 Burlington 70-59 in Saturday's regional final. This matchup features two teams that have gotten where they are with balanced scoring. The winner will go on to face the winner of No. 1 McFarland and No. 2 Stoughton.
Prediction: 57-52 Westosha Central Sectional final prediction: McFarland, 75-58
Sectional 4 No. 1 Wisconsin Lutheran (22-4) vs. No. 2 Pius XI Catholic (18-8)
All four remaining Division 2, Sectional 4 teams call the Woodland Conference home, which means plenty of familiarity across the sectional matchups. Wisconsin Lutheran swept Pius. While Pius has played competitively in the conference this season, their depth has not proven a good matchup with Wisconsin Lutheran's in their previous meetings.
Prediction: Wisconsin Lutheran, 85-67
No. 1 Pewaukee (23-3) vs. No. 2 Greenfield (21-5)
While Pewaukee did not face Greenfield in any Woodland crossover games this season, some context can perhaps be discerned from how Greenfield fared in matchups with other Woodland West teams. Losses of 72-56 to Pius and 90-66 to Wisconsin Lutheran in February suggest a much-improved Greenfield team may still not be up to par with the twice-defending D2 champion Pirates.
The Pewaukee duo of senior Milan Momcilovic and junior Nick Janowski looks like the odds-on favorite to lead the Pirates to a sectional title.
Prediction: Pewaukee, 88-65 Sectional final prediction: Pewaukee, 82-69
DIVISION 3 Sectional 4 No. 2 Milwaukee Academy of Science (16-6) vs. No. 4 Dominican (17-8)
Milwaukee Academy of Science's lowest-scoring contest since Jan. 28 was its 79-69 win over Brown Deer in the regional final, and they exceeded 90 points in five of their other seven games during that span. Dominican has topped 90 points in five of their last six games, including regional wins of 11972 over No. 5 Messmer and 95-66 over No. 1 Carmen Northwest. This game has been moved to Wednesday at Brown Deer.
Prediction: Dominican, 100-95
No. 1 Racine St. Catherine's (25-1) vs. No. 2 St. Thomas More (22-4)
Metro Classic Conference rivals that finished first and second respectively will run it back for the third time, with St. Thomas More seeking to avenge its only two conference losses. Racine St. Catherine's appeared to key in defensively on St. Thomas More star junior Amari McCottry in both previous meetings, holding him to a combined 10-of-29 shooting (34.5%) and 34 points.
RSC has beat teams to sleep defensively all season long, and that projects to continue Thursday in their sectional semifinal.
Prediction: Racine St. Catherine's, 6857
Sectional final prediction: Racine St. Catherine's, 89-71
DIVISION 4 Sectional 4 No. 1 Kenosha St. Joseph (16-10) vs. No. 6 Williams Bay (17-9)
Kenosha St. Joseph has had to play against several teams in higher divisions due to enrollment in the Metro Classic. Put on more equal footing in their Division 4 playoff run however, the Lancers have beat No. 9 Living Word Lutheran 59-56 and No. 5 Milwaukee Juneau 61-46 to reach the sectional semifinal.
Williams Bay is a senior-heavy team that will be looking to avenge a 76-54 loss last year to St. Joseph in the regional final. The winner will face the winner of No. 3 Kohler and No. 4 Valders in the sectional final.
Prediction: Kenosha St. Joseph, 74-62 Sectional final prediction: Kohler, 85-73
DIVISION 5 Sectional 4 No. 2 Heritage Christian (24-2) vs. No. 5 Reedsville (20-7)
Heritage Christian has put up some impressive scoring totals this season, which continued in postseason victories over No. 10 Hilbert by an 83-46 final and No. 6 Elkhart Lake Glebeulah, 7754, in the regional final. Reedsville's only game scoring more than 75 points this season was against No. 12 Chesterton Academy in their opening-round WIAA regional matchup, an 88-29 win. Reedsville's brother duo of Zach and Camden Dvorachek will be the key players to slow down for Heritage Christian The winner faces the winner of No. 1 Fall River and No. 7 Cambria-Friesland.
Prediction: Heritage Christian, 73-64 Sectional final prediction: Fall River, 78-66