The winningest high school basketball programs of the decade: No. 50 Thornwood

When high school basketball fans think back to the 1980s, programs like Quincy, Providence St. Mel, East St. Louis Lincoln and the arrival of city powers King and Simeon are easy to think back on.

The 1990s brought us memorable basketball giants in Peoria Manual and Thornton, a few steamrolling Proviso East teams and the continued dominance of King.

The first 10 years of the 2000s included Glenbrook North, Peoria High and the beginning of a Simeon juggernaut.

Now, with the calendar inching closer to wrapping up an unforgettable 2020, the end of this month closes out another decade. And it’s another high school basketball time period to look back on.

Earlier this year we broke down the decade’s best teams and best players. Now, with every season of the past decade complete, it’s time to look at the Chicago area programs who won the most.

This list is comprised of the 50 winningest programs over the past 10 years, starting with the 2010-11 season and concluding with the 2019-20 season. Every team in every class throughout the Chicago area will be broken down in a variety of ways. But total wins, with winning percentage used as tie-breaker, determined the rankings.

We present No. 50 today and will add one program a day going forward.

50. THORNWOOD: 180-106

Decade’s biggest storyline: The two-year run during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons were memorable. There were back-to-back regional championships, including a perfect 14-0 mark in the Southwest Suburban Red in 2013-14.

Underrated decade highlight: The Thunderbirds didn’t lose a home game for two-plus seasons, a streak that began in 2013 and ended in 2016.

Player of the Decade:Darrell Combs (2012)

Sun-Times file photo

All-Decade Team:Darrell Combs (2012), Khapri Alston (2012), Donte Thomas (2014), Chelby Frazier (2015), Kaliph Fagan (2015),

Other decade news and highlights:

-On Thornwood’s Senior Night in February of 2016, Marcus Hussey poured in a whopping 40 points.

-Star Donte Thomas, who missed a large portion of his senior year with an injury, put together a solid college career at Bradley as a three-year starter, while Darrell Combs scored over 1,000 points in two seasons at IUPUI.

-The decade also included tragic news with the sudden death of former T-Bird star Chelby Frazier, who collapsed and died while playing in a pick-up basketball game in 2018. Frazier was 21 and a senior at Robert Morris University.