Back on its lofty perch as state champion and on the short list of extended dominance in Class A boys basketball during the past 60 years is Omaha Central.

Four titles in five seasons for coach Eric Behrens' Eagles. Only one Class A school has done better, Lincoln Northeast with four straight with Rick Collura as coach from 1995 to 1998.

For comparison, it took Larry Ribble and Millard South seven years to collect four (1983 to 1989). Same for Ed Johnson at Northeast (1967 to 1973). A fifth for the Ribble-Millard South connection came two years later.

Central might reach its fifth in only six years, depending how Behrens builds around one of this season's top 100 freshmen nationally, 6-foot-7 Akoy Agau, next season.

In what ranks as the most outstanding performance ever by a ninth-grader in a state championship game — any class — Agau was one blocked shot from a triple-double. His 18 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocks helped Central beat Norfolk 71-58 in Saturday's final.

The Eagles have six seniors on the tournament roster, with the biggest departure to be 21-point scorer Deverell Biggs. Besides Agau, they will return 6-3 senior-to-be Dominque McKenzie in the paint and top reserve Darian Barrientos-Jackson on the perimeter.

Behrens said Central's program has progressed so a state title is the expectation every season.

“This is where we want to be. This is our goal,” he said Saturday night. “If we would have lost, it wouldn't have changed anything as far as our goals are. I think right now our guys are comfortable in these big games. They're not too tight. They come out and play pretty loose.

“They're competing at a high level, but they're not tightening up. When it gets down to six with under two minutes left, and you can really start to feel the pressure, they play through that.”

Any talk of this Central run has to include what could have been, a possible five in a row. Central didn't get to state in 2009, losing to Bellevue West in a controversial finish in a district final. While some Central fans bemoan what they believe was a “phantom foul” that gave West three free throws, all of which were made, Behrens won't look back.

“You control what you can control,” he said. “We tried our tails off and got beat.”

Although there were four losses on this season's 23-4 record, Central was not far from a perfect season. There were a pair of two-point losses, to Omaha Burke to open the season and to Millard North, and an overtime loss to Lincoln High. Only Omaha Creighton Prep, in a game when Cole Martin went for 40 points, handed Central any sort of sizable setback, 74-65. The Eagles then won their last eight games to finish atop the final all-class Top 10 for the sixth time. Before the current period, they led the Top 10 in the state championship seasons of 1974 and 1975.

Three small schools land Top 10 berths in the wake of how they played at state compared to how some of the Class A qualifiers fared.

Class B champion South Sioux City, which has only its third final ranking in school history, is sixth in the Top 10. Class C-1 champion Hastings St. Cecilia is eighth and Omaha Skutt ninth. Skutt was in the Top 10 for most of January and lost 60-56 in overtime to South Sioux in Saturday's final. St. Cecilia, which beat Skutt 73-59 in February's Heartland Hoops Classic at Grand Island, is the first to three-peat in Class C-1/C-2/C and is coming off a No. 3 ranking in last season's final Top 10.

In all six classes this season, the state tournament winner is first in the final rankings and the runner-up second.

Form charts: Central was seventh and Norfolk ninth in the preseason ratings, but they were the teams that spent the most time atop the Top 10 during the season. South Sioux City was third in B, Hastings St. Cecilia second in C-1, Ravenna was first in C-2, Freeman was third in D-1 and Ewing went wire-to-wire in D-2.

As for the other preseason No. 1s, Omaha Creighton Prep ends up third in A, Ralston fourth in B, Chadron second in C-1 and Humphrey St. Francis fifth in D-2.

The final tally also shows four state champions from my pre-tournament forecast, missing on only Central and Ravenna. The congratulatory handshake from colleague Mike Patterson, who picked only two winners in the girls tournament, came after the first three picks of the finals came in.

Centennial hoopla: There can be a second opportunity for the Nebraska School Activities Association to celebrate and do it better after it chose to observe the 100th year of the boys basketball tournament rather than next year's centennial. Lincoln broadcaster John Bishop and I have this vision for the 2011 tournament of honoring the great players, teams and moments in tournament history, as Iowa does annually on milestone years. Introduce the Bill Hollidays, Fred Hares, Kent Reckeweys, Andre Woolridges at halftime of the semifinals and finals, by class perhaps, and use the HuskerVision boards in Devaney to show vintage clips such as Scott Copple's Miracle on Vine Street shot (1971) and the Richter Roar finish for Wahoo (1989). And the NSAA can sell commemorative T-shirts again.

Earlier starts: Since 9 a.m. is the starting time for the first two days of the state tournaments, why shouldn't that also be used on Saturday for the finals. Then start the evening session of three games at 4:30 p.m., giving a chance for starting the late game closer to 9 p.m. Again this year, it was well past 9:30 p.m. — 9:45 precisely — for the Class C-2 tipoff between Ravenna and Fremont Bergan.

Sportsmanship: Another suggestion, this one for the Nebraska Coaches Association's tournament sportsmanship awards. Eligibility should be restricted to the four teams that are playing three games in the tournament, since their fan behavior is exposed twice more than a first-round loser. Tournament advancement means higher possibilities of close games that can raise emotion levels. I'm sure Millard South and Crete have very polite fans, but neither was in a close game while losing on Thursday. And if no school merits the award in class, don't hand one out.

400 for Weeks: During the Orangemen's third-place weekend in Class B, Beatrice's Jim Weeks notched his 400th career win. Our tally of 400-133 includes two years at Axtell in the late 1980s and a 7-33 start to his 22 years in Beatrice while the school was playing a largely Class A schedule.

All-state nominations: Coaches are asked to return theirs as soon as possible this week. The All-Nebraska and all-state boys and girls teams are scheduled for publication March 28.

Contact the writer:

444-1041, stu.pospisil@owh.com

« High Schools

Share