The River Falls High School boys’ basketball team has begun the summer schedule with nearly instant success, in large part because of the roster’s commitment to individual development and team camaraderie.

River Falls rolled off five consecutive wins in the first game action of the summer to claim the annual Marshfield Tournament championship on Saturday, June 10. One week later, the Wildcats swept through the annual University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcon Shootout with a trio of victories at the Falcon Center.

If online figures are correct, the Wildcats’ varsity squad is 10-0 through the first two weeks of action this summer, which includes the aforementioned tournaments and two games of the annual Stillwater Summer League.

While every high school program handles offseason programming differently, River Falls head coach Zac Campbell has made it clear to his athletes that summer league is an important development opportunity and precursor to the upcoming season starting in November.

“I think every program treats their summer league differently,” Campbell said. “Some may have a more open gym approach, but we’ve never been that way. It’s an important priority for us, so we hit June really hard. We’re playing three weekends in a row. We still do some stuff in July, but it’s a little bit more sporadic.”

Campbell, his staff and the players have hit June hard and they’re already seeing dividend returns in the form of offseason victories. While stacking wins is never negative, Campbell is just as focused on making sure the team chemistry is ahead of schedule going into the season.

With four of five starters returning from last year’s primary varsity lineup, River Falls has a strong foundation to build upon. Through the first two weeks of offseason programming, Campbell has already seen leadership traits and camaraderie among his returning veterans.

“It’s the camaraderie,” Campbell said. “In our open gym yesterday, guys identified areas of weakness that we’ve had so far and then designed their drills based on them. We have leaders who have a vision and then carry it out. They know what needs to be done, but aren’t being overly serious about it. Our guys have done a great job so far.”

River Falls has already demonstrated that this could be a special year. After just two days of practice before that debut Marshfield Tournament, River Falls went down to that 25-team event, competed in the toughest pool, and knocked off four of the best teams in attendance.

The Wildcats were placed in the top pool with Marshfield, Medford, Wisconsin Rapids and Eau Claire Memorial, all of which they defeated. River Falls went to the title game and bulldozed Little Chute by nearly 30 points to claim the tournament championship.

“That’s an important weekend for us to kick off the summer,” Campbell said. “Every game up until the championship was a single-digit win for us. That was good because it put us in difficult situations against good teams. That’s a tournament where we went 1-3 down there last year.”

River Falls went from below .500 to undefeated tournament champions in just one year. Their run to the tournament title included a victory against Eau Claire Memorial, which will likely be picked to win the Big Rivers Conference again this season.

While it’s just summer league, River Falls appears to be making a jump and in coach Campbell’s eyes, his locker room leaders have been the catalyst. Junior Preston Johnson and senior Joey Butz have brought leadership to the floor that has expedited offseason development.

“From Joey and Preston’s perspective, what they’ve shown this first week has been phenomenal leadership,” Campbell said. “They have the respect of others because they treat people well and when you do that, people tend to want to listen to you.”

The best example of their leadership this offseason came in the first Stillwater Summer League game of the year. River Falls got out to a sluggish start and fell behind 14 points early. Campbell swiftly called a timeout and then let his veterans control the conversation.

Campbell used it as an opportunity to see how his leaders would send a message to the rest of the players and how they’d respond to those athlete-led communications. The players responded, strung together an offensive salvo and went on to win the game.

“In our first league game on Tuesday we hit some adversity in the first half,” Campbell said. “To be able to call a timeout, let the guys talk in the timeout and not have it be me, they responded appropriately and that was awesome.”

River Falls had a strong 2022-23 campaign last winter that included a 15-10 overall record and an 8-6 showing in Big Rivers action, which finished tied for third place in the standings with Chippewa Falls just behind Eau Claire Memorial and Hudson.

If River Falls is going to climb the ranks and make a run at a conference title this season, the Wildcats need more interior scoring. That will likely be done by junior forward Eli Johnson, who was an All-Conference Honorable Mention last season.

If Eli Johnson makes a jump like so many junior players often do, River Falls could have a true three-level scoring offense. Campbell spoke about Eli Johnson and how his interior scoring could take River Falls to another level.

“We have a team that can play fast and shoot at a high level, but we’re going to need to put pressure on the rim,” Campbell said. “Preston Johnson can do it, Joey has gotten better at it, but Eli will be a huge aspect to that. We need an interior scoring presence to balance us out.”

River Falls will be back in action at the Stillwater Summer League on Tuesday, June 20. The Wildcats’ first game is slated to begin at 7:40 p.m.