What are the best basketball conferences in the Rockford area? Check out our rankings
The NIC-10 boys basketball race was far and away the most competitive and balanced race in the Rockford area this winter. But how good was it? How did the league compare to other local conferences?
Here is how the 10 local leagues (five boys and five girls) stack up, based on postseason success, competitiveness and how they fared against nonconference competition. Each conference is ranked from best to worst in each category with the three figures added together for each league's total score. Three is a perfect score (ranked 1st, 1st and 1st).
More:6 reasons why this Rockford boys basketball season was like no other
No. 1: Big Northern girls
Winning: 70.7 percent, 157-65 in nonconference games. This was quietly one of the great seasons for any local basketball conference in recent memory. Stillman Valley (28-7) tied for fifth in the conference and still won more games than two of its three state qualifiers. Even Oregon and North Boone, a combined 1-17 in the BNC, were 20-21 in nonconference games. Rank: 1st.
Playoffs: Byron finished second in the state in Class 2A. Stillman Valley lost to Byron in the sectional finals. Rank: 1st.
Balance: Yes, Byron (35-3) went unbeaten in the conference, but its only three wins all year by less than 10 points were three tight conference wins, by 1 over Dixon, 3 over Winnebago and 6 over Lutheran. Rank: 2nd.
Total score: 4 points.
No. 2 Big Northern boys
Winning: 60.1 percent, 137-91. Six of the 10 teams won at least 19 games. Rank: 2nd.
Playoffs: Rockford Lutheran lost in the supersectionals by only one point and Rock Falls won a regional, but Dixon, Byron and Rockford Christian were upset in regionals. Rank: 5th.
Balance: Lutheran has won 41 consecutive conference games the last four years and Rockford Christian has lost only to Lutheran the last two seasons. The league is slightly more balanced than that sounds, with both Winnebago and Rockford Christian beating Lutheran in nonconference games. Rank: 4th.
Total score: 11 points.
No. 3 NUIC West boys
Winning: 55.9 percent, 81-64. And that is skewed by last-place West Carroll going 1-31. The other six teams in the league won 64 percent of the time against outsiders. Rank: 3rd.
Playoffs: Scales Mound, second in the state in Class 1A, is the only regional champ, but No. 6 seed Warren lost by only three to Scales Mound and No. 7 seed East Dubuque gave sectional runner-up Fulton its closest game (six points) before it lost. Rank: 4th.
Balance: State runner-up Scales Mound lost once in the conference. Warren and Galena lost three times each and both finished 23-9. Rank: 5th.
Total score: 12 points.
No. 4 NIC-10 boys
Winning: 40 percent, 58-87 in nonconference games. Even sectional champion Auburn was only 5-8 in nonconference games before the playoffs. Rank: 10th.
Playoffs: Auburn reached the Class 4A supersectional. Boylan won a regional title in 3A. East lost in a 4A regional final by one point. Rank: 2nd.
Balance: Four teams finished within two games of first place and all four won either 22 or 23 games overall. Three teams tied for last at 4-14 and the other three were between 8-10 and 7-11 in the league. Rank: 1st
Total score: 13 points.
No. 5 NUIC North girls
Winning: 53.8 percent, 77-66 in non-league games. Three 20-win teams. With 5 of 6 First Team all-conference players returning and 4 of 7 second teamers, the North should be even better next year. Rank: 4th.
Playoffs: Orangeville reached the sectional finals and Pecatonica won a regional. Rank: 7th.
Balance: League champ Orangeville split with runner-up Aquin. Pecatonica, Aquin and Lena-Winslow all finished between 8-3 and 7-4 in the league, but the bottom two teams were a combined 7-50 overall. Rank: 3rd.
Total score: 14 points.
No. 6 NUIC West girls
Winning: 52.8 percent, 65-58 in non-league games. Rank: 5th.
Playoffs: Galena took third in Class 1A after taking second last year. River Ridge/Scales Mound (26-6) lost big in the regional finals to Galena but beat regional champ Pecatonica twice, by 29 and 24 points. Rank: 3rd.
Balance: Galena and RR/SM were both powers, but the other four teams were a combined 22-52 outside of the league. Rank: 8th.
Total score: 16 points.
No. 7 NIC-10 girls
Winning: 47.1 percent, 66-74 outside the conference. Rank: 8th.
Playoffs: Harlem, Guilford and Boylan won regionals and Harlem reached the 4A sectional final. Rank: 6th.
Balance: Hononegah went unbeaten in the league for the second year in a row. The top four teams in the league were 42-19 outside of conference, but the other six teams all had losing records. Rank: 6th.
Total score: 20 points.
No. 8 NUIC South boys
Winning: 44.7 percent, 63-78 in non-conference. Rank: 9th.
Playoffs: Fulton (26-10) reached the sectional finals, but no league rival was higher than a No. 7 sub-sectional seed. Rank: 8th.
Balance: Fulton lost twice in the conference, but every other team in the league except sixth-place Ashton-Franklin Center had a losing record outside of the conference. Rank: 7th.
Total score: 24 points.
No. 9 NUIC North boys
Winning: 46.4 percent, 64-74 outside of the league. Rank: 7th.
Playoffs: Pecatonica was the only North team to win a regional. Rank: 9th.
Balance: Pecatonica went unbeaten in the league. One of its wins was by only one point over Lena-Winslow, but it beat the Panthers three times. Rank: 9th.
Total score: 25 points.
No. 10 NUIC South girls
Winning: 53.9 percent, 62-53 in nonconference games. That is a little bloated by Amboy not fielding a team. South teams played easier schedules than the NUIC teams from the West and North. Rank: 6th.
Playoffs: Only Polo won a regional, and the Marcos were whomped 55-27 by Orangeville at sectionals. League champ Eastland was only a No. 6 seed and lost 54-28 to NUIC West runner-up River Ridge/Scales Mound in its regional semifinal. Rank: 10th.
Balance: Eastland went 10-0 in the league, beating the two teams that tied for second, Amboy and Polo, four times by an average of 14 points. Rank: 10th.
Total score: 26 points.
NOTE: Three local boys teams play in leagues with no other local schools. South Beloit (27-6, 5-1) and Christian Life (19-14, 3-3) played in the NAC, which had a 48.2 winning percentage. Only South Beloit won a regional, losing to 1A state runner-up Scales Mound in double overtime at sectionals. Rochelle (10-19, 4-10) tied for last in the Interstate 8, which had a 45.2 winning percentage (62-75) and no teams that won a regional title.
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: What are the best and worst basketball conferences in Rockford?
