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. 37 Plano today and will add one program a day going forward.
37. PLANO: 190-114
Decade’s biggest storyline: In the middle of the decade Plano was bumped up a class, moving from Class 2A to Class 3A, and didn’t miss a beat. The Reapers won back-to-back Class 3A regional titles in 2016 and 2017, losing in the sectional semifinals to Hillcrest in 2016 and to Rich Central in 2017.
Underrated decade highlight: The decade was the winningest decade in Plano basketball history. Plano’s five 20-win seasons were the most 20-plus win seasons the program had registered in any one decade. In fact, prior to 2010-11 season, the Reapers had only three 20-win seasons in the previous 70 years.
Player of the Decade:Udo Agomo (2015)
All-Decade Team:Devin Haws (2012), Udo Agomo (2015), Marcus Ramirez (2016), Nathan Shead (2017) and Robbie Taylor (2020)
Other decade news and highlights:
-Both the 2016-17 and last season’s 2019-20 teams tied the record for most wins in school history with 23.
-The Reapers won the Interstate Eight Conference last season while Robbie Taylor was named the conference’s Player of the Year.
