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.
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. 7 Bogan today and will add one program a day going forward.
7. BOGAN: 231-67
Decade’s biggest storyline: Bogan basketball arrived as a powerhouse in the past decade. When coach Arthur Goodwin’s program finally broke through in the 2018-19 season, it shedded the label of being the best program to have never played in Peoria.
The Bengals won a heart-thumping battle over Morgan Park in the sectional championship game behind a heroic effort from unheralded guard Jordan Booker. Bogan then handled Normal U-High in the supersectional and defeated DePaul Prep by 20 in the state semifinals.
So a program that was virtually non-existent 10 years earlier was playing for a Class 3A state championship in Peoria. That 2018-19 Bogan team, which was led by Booker, Rashaun Agee and Antoine Bloxton, fell in agonizing fashion to East St. Louis, losing 68-63 in overtime to finish second in the state.
The best team in Bogan history finished the season 30-4.
Underrated highlight: The Chicago Public League championship game had been played since 1901 –– a stretch of 114 years –– without Bogan having ever even appearing in the championship game. That all changed in the 2014-15 season.
The Bengals, led by the best player in program history, mighty-mite guard Luwane Pipkins, knocked off city heavyweights Young in the semifinals and Simeon in the title game to claim their first-ever Chicago Public League championship.
That great Bogan team reached the sectional championship game where it fell to Morgan Park.
Player of the Decade:Luwane Pipkins (2014)
All-Decade Team:Luwane Pipkins (2014), James Jones (2016), Jordan Booker (2019), Rashaun Agee (2019) and Antoine Bloxton (2020)
Other decade highlights:
-The 2013-14 team won what was at the time the first sectional championship in program history. Bogan pounded Hyde Park 67-37 in the sectional title game to set up a monumental matchup with South Side rival Morgan Park.
The supersectional showdown was the fourth time the two powers met that season, with Bogan having beaten Morgan Park twice during the regular season. But Bogan lost a heartbreaker, falling 68-67 to finish the season 27-6.
-Pipkins, the school’s all-time best player, became the leading scorer in program history.
-With Pipkins leading the way, the 2014-15 team won its first-ever Proviso West Holiday Tournament, beating Young in the championship game.
