Ben Powers has been challenging this year’s Winnebago team all season long.

“I told them they’d never win as many games as we did,” said Powers, who was a starting guard for Winnebago’s first state runner-up team in 2003-2004 and is now the freshman coach for the Indians.

“I told them until they got down state, then we could start talking about it.”

Now that this year’s Indians are at state, Powers and the rest of us can make some comparisons.

There have been two Winnebago teams reach the state tournament since Powers’ team set the bar five years ago. Because it was the first, the 2003-2004 team might always be remembered as the best.

But looking at the numbers (which reflect statistics going into state), all three state teams were strong in different categories.

“Every team has had a different style and different leaders, and this team is different from the others, no doubt about that,” Winnebago coach Murphy said.

Height: Advantage 2008-2009
There was nothing like a Chas Cross and his 6-foot-7 frame and blocking ability on the 2003-2004 team. The teams do match up well with their “garbage men” — Brandon Johnson in 2003-04 and A.J. Thomas this year — who are both 6-3. But this year’s team also has a Jake Doty (6-6), and the two tallest starters on Powers’ team were Devan Bawinkel and David Merchant. Both were 6-5. The 2004-2005 was mostly a shooting team, and Shawn Griseta (6-7), for the most part, was by himself.

3-pointers: Advantage 2004-2005
Winnebago’s second state runner-up team had the best 3-point shooting percentage with 39 percent (147 of 373). That team was led by the shooting of Brennan Crull (66 3-pointers), Devan Bawinkel (45) and Wes Reinke (17). Fiori is this year’s leader with 36 3-pointers. Bobby Tisdale had 46 3-pointers in 2003-2004.

Free throws: Advantage 2004-2005
Again, the team when Bawinkel was a junior had the best free-throw shooters with 67 percent. Both this year’s team and the 2003-2004 group were 62-percent free-throw shooters.

Rebounding: Advantage 2008-2009
Thanks mainly to Cross’ 323 rebounds, this year’s team wins the rebounding category easily with 1,069. Four players have at least 100 (Cross, Mann, Reinke and Thomas). Powers, Merchant and Bawinkel were responsible for most of the 947 rebounds the 2002-03 team had, and Griseta and Bawinkel each had over 200 for the 2003-2004 team that had 921.

Field goals: Even
All three state semifinal Winnebago teams shot 46 percent from the field.

Bench: Advantage 2008-2009
Both the 2003-04 and this year’s teams used a 10-player rotation and could go deep into the bench for numbers. The top bench guys for the 2003-2004 team averaged 6.0, 4.2, 2.6 and 2.4 points off the bench. This year’s top four guys off the bench (Russ Fiori, A.J. Thomas, Michael Mann and Jeff Sartorius and have scoring averages of 7.3, 4.8, 6.1 and 4.9.

Leadership: Advantage 2003-2004
Winnebago had an unbelievable group of seniors, including Powers, when his team finished second in the state. This year’s group is young. Jake Doty, Russ Fiori and Chuck Misuraca are strong senior leaders, but the 03-04 team had Merchant, Powers, Bobby Tisdale, Ryan Kaufman and Johnson leading the way.

State finish: Advantage 2003-2004 and 2004-2005
Friday’s semifinal loss to Seton Academy means this year’s Indians won’t finish as high as the team Powers played for, or the team that followed him. The Indians will instead finish either third or fourth. And this is really the category that carries the most weight, right?

So for now, players like Powers have bragging rights over this year’s team. But with so many players coming back next year, there’s a perfect opportunity to settle the score in 2009-2010.

It’s hard to argue against a state title, after all.

- Emily Tropp, rrstar.com