Wahoo Wins 12th State Basketball Championship
Scheef Leads Wahoo to Another State Title: C-1 Boys Basketball COY
Launch the media gallery 1 playerThis article first appeared HuskerlandPreps, by Bob Jensen
Read it and more by Bob Jensen here.
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It’s not like the guy forgot how to coach. Not with 454 wins in the bag.
But just like his team, Wahoo head coach Kevin Scheef bounced back at state, his team winning it all and earning him Huskerland’s coach of the year honors in Class C-1.
In each of the past two seasons Wahoo - a gold standard program - had been the number one seed in the state tournament only to get upset on both occasions. His 2024 team was plenty good - 20 wins and all - but as a wild card, following a third loss to defending state champ Ashland-Greenwood - the Warriors were seeded “only” fifth at state. (BTW: Your program is in pretty good shape when being seeded fifth at state qualifies as an “only.”)
And then the magic happened. That might be a little much, this is Wahoo boys basketball we are talking about, but first came the win against Ogallala (sorta expected) and then the win over top-seeded Omaha Concordia (not as expected, but didn’t take your breath away). Which left the state final, where the Warriors faced Auburn, the team that had dunked on Wahoo in last year’s first round.
And they immediately took an 18-3 lead in that game. Before falling behind by seven at the end of the third quarter. And before finding a way to get that crazy game into overtime before emerging with a 49-42 win, in what had to be one of the most satisfying of the program’s 12 state championships. After two years of exceedingly high expectations followed by crushing disappointment these Warriors walked out of PBA a winner.
Coach Scheef, too.
“I was just so proud of our kids resiliency, poise and toughness,” says Coach Scheef, who has compiled an incredible career record of 575-226 in his 34 years as a head coach, with an even more remarkable 454-122 mark at Wahoo. The state championship is his fourth, including two more at Wahoo (2013, 2018) and one at Aquinas back in 1997. “We were down seven heading into the fourth quarter, and not many teams come back against Auburn in those situations. The second and third quarter did not go well for us, but our kids did not panic, they stayed the course, kept fighting and got themselves back in the game.”
Having lost four starters to graduation from last year’s 24-2 team you knew Wahoo would be good - it’s Wahoo - but how good was TBD, especially with conference foe Ashland-Greenwood standing in its way. And even though things didn’t go as planned in those three meetings with A-G - close losses, all of them - when the Warriors arrive at state they arrived on a mission and became a most unlikely of Cinderella stories.
“Our team chemistry was outstanding this year. These guys really cared about each other and did not care about individual stats,” credits Coach Scheef. “Their work ethic was really good and they showed up every day ready to work, and we just did not have bad practices this year. This group was so enjoyable to be around.”
Backed by his elite coaching staff and a talented team bent on making amends Wahoo's Kevin Scheef (front) has been named Huskerland's Class C-1 boys basketball coach of the year. (@HuskerlandBob)