Hopkins: Best Ever--Part III

So, are they? Are the 2009 Hopkins Royals the best boys high school basketball team in Minnesota history? Well, it depends on what you mean by "best." Here are two cracks at it.

Time Machine Top Ten

First, here's what I call the Time Machine Top Ten. If all of the great teams over the years could get into the time machine and travel to some neutral time and place, which ones would win? 

1. Hopkins 2009

2. Mpls. North 1996

3. Osseo 2001

4. Hopkins 2005

5. Mpls. Patrick Henry 2000

6. Hopkins 2006

7. Edina 1967

8. Mpls. North 1997

9. Braham 2005

10. Eastview 2005

Top Ten Best at the Time

These, then, are the teams that were most dominant relative to their competitors and under the conditions of the time.

1. Edina 1967

2. Mpls. North 1996

3. Mpls. Edison 1937

4. Edina 1968

5. Hopkins 1952

6. Mpls. Roosevelt 1956

7. Hopkins 2009

8. Mpls. Patrick Henry 1944

9. Melrose 1974

10. White Bear Lake 1984

Bottom line: Hopkins 10 point win over Osseo in the final didn't do enough to establish it as one of the top half dozen most dominant teams in Minnesota history. But if you could transport the 2009 Hopkins roster back to another time and place, they would beat any other team that's ever been assembled.