By Reagan Hoverman

The River Falls High School boys’ basketball team has made strides throughout the 2022 offseason at the Stillwater Basketball Sum – mer League, according to head coach Zac Campbell.

After the 2021-22 season, River Falls graduated four starting players that accounted for nearly all of the offensive and defensive production throughout the year. The lone returning starter, junior Joey Butz, and the rest of the young varsity roster are making strides this offseason through summer league games and optional workouts during the week.

Campbell and the River Falls coaching sta have built a strong culture that they hope will ease the transition to a younger core group of players now that mainstays in the program like Ethan Campbell and Michael Schurman have graduated.

While some basketball programs have trouble get –

ting student-athletes to optional workouts, River Falls’ culture has kept retention high among offseason programming. Campbell spoke about what the offseason has entailed for his Wildcats.

“We do workouts four days a week that are optional because we can’t have any – thing required,” Campbell said. “The boys have set a re – ally good culture and we get a lot of guys that come in. We probably have upwards of 90% of our varsity roster to come in, but it’s pretty close to 100%, JV is similar.” One of Campbell’s biggest goals for the Stillwater Summer League is getting his younger players acclimated to the system that River Falls runs every year, both offensively and defensively. By getting younger players acclimated to the system, his squad will be able to shake o the rust and get into mid-season form faster because of that summer programming.

“With the league, a huge part for us is continuity in our offensive and defensive system from where we started the summer to where we are now is a completely different spot,” Campbell said. “When we get done next week, guys will step away for their fall sports or workouts, when we get back together our first week of practice is spent re – viewing concepts from the summer instead of teaching new concepts.” Campbell spoke about how general skills and basketball IQ have improved throughout the summer. However, the most notable jumps have been in leadership among a few select players on the team. Players that had previously taken a back seat to leaders like Ethan Campbell and Michael Schurman are now getting a chance to lead the program themselves.

“We’ve got guys who were in the program last year and didn’t talk a whole lot and were followers and are now leading drills,” Zac Campbell said. “Joey (Butz) has been unbelievable this summer if we’re talking leadership.” Butz is entering his junior year and is the most experienced returning player for the upcoming season. Last season he was a player that fit solidly into a tight seven or eight-man rotation for the Wildcats. Zac Campbell spoke about his development both physically and as a leader this offseason.

“Whether it’s grabbing fifth graders and cheering them on or getting other high school guys to jump into drills, he has certainly made a jump this summer and has taken a lot on his shoulders,” Zac Campbell said. “Last year he was a perimeter play –

er and when he got in the interior he got bumped around. Now he’s doing a much better job of getting into the paint and being strong with the ball – a lot of that is him being in the weight room and putting the work in.” Although the summer programming is almost done and the Stillwater Basketball Summer League will wrap up this week, River Falls has exceeded outside expectations. River Falls is one of ten Minnesota or Wisconsin schools that competes in the league.

Only the top four teams make the postseason tournament which is slated to hap – pen on Tuesday, July 26. In the penultimate week of the season, River Falls managed to beat Mounds View, a team that went into the game with an 8-1 record. River Falls went into that game with a 5-4 record.

The win bumped River Falls into the fourth slot in the tournament which gave them another week of sum –

mer basketball. Zac Campbell spoke about his inexperienced squad beating some of the best teams in the league to keep their season alive.

“The top four teams go play for the title next week. We had a huge win over Mounds View and beat them by eight or nine points,” Zac Campbell said. “That got us the fourth spot. We’re that inexperienced team who maybe doesn’t have the athleticism or length that we did last year, but all of a sudden we have an opportunity to play for a league title.” Campbell stressed the fact that it’s great to have the opportunity to play for a league title, but what is most important is that his players are getting high-level experience during the summer and are learning the River Falls system before the season begins in the winter.

“We stress the importance of the league to our guys and the vast majority of our roster is there every week,” Zac Campbell said. “Our benefit is that our guys know this is important for us to build on it over time and through the summer.” River Falls will look to claim the summer league championship on Tuesday, July 26, when the Wildcats take on the undefeated first place Zephyrs of Mahtomedi in the league semi-final. That game is slated to begin at 6 p.m. at Stillwater High School.

River Falls junior Joey Butz and his team of youth basketball players including Mason Rogers, Aaron Lother and Spencer DuMond celebrate after winning round two of the River Falls boys basketball program’s 3v3 tournaments. Head coach Zac Campbell praised Butz this offseason for his help coaching young players and taking on a larger leadership role in the program this summer. Photo courtesy of River Falls boys basketball