By Reagan Hoverman

For the second time in as many seasons, the River Falls High School boys’ basketball team will graduate four senior starters and will look to younger talent to fill those now-vacant varsity roles.

Few programs in high school basketball survive graduating more than three senior starters in one season. Typically, the program bottoms out and begins a full rebuild of the program. In the last full season that River Falls played before this year, the Wildcats went to the WIAA Division 1 State Semi-Final game.

That game, a 56-48 loss against Wauwatosa East, left the program with questions going into the 2021-22 season. When those four senior starters in Chris Chapin, Liam and JT Dougherty and Zac Johnson graduated, the Wildcats lost nearly all of its offensive and defensive ability. The only returning starter from the aforementioned 2020-21 team was Michael Schurman, who was a senior on this year’s team.

River Falls not only didn’t bottom out after losing that much talent to graduation, but it also managed to have another successful season and made a run at the Big Rivers Conference title, coming up just short to Eau Claire Memorial. River Falls head coach Zac Campbell credits the program’s culture with its ability to stay relevant, despite graduating droves of talent in the last two years.

Campbell spoke about how going into the 2021-22 season felt the same as it does going into the 2022-23 season in terms of graduating four starting seniors – the same number in both instances. CULTURE

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“We were in a similar spot last year,” Campbell said. “We lost a Division 1 player and two Division 2 players last year, players who drove our culture. We had Michael (Schurman) start for us that year, but I think that look was bleak.”

Going into this season, River Falls was picked by prognosticators to finish as high as third and as low as seventh in the Big Rivers Conference standings. Campbell spoke about how his team bounced back from losing those seniors and crafted another great season, finishing second in the Big Rivers standings.

“Our guys showed up and it’s a byproduct of the culture that we trust our guys are leading,” Campbell said. “It’s about the expectations within our program.”

River Falls’ internal expectations remain high. However, Campbell said he once again expects publications to pick his team to finish in the bottom half of the Big Rivers Conference next season, based solely on the physical skill that he returns to his roster.

The Big Rivers is a notoriously strong boys’ basketball conference and always has one or two truly outstanding teams that make noise in the playoff bracket. Campbell said there is going to be a steep learning curve for his team at the beginning of next season, in large part because only one returner, junior Joey Butz, has seen significant varsity minutes.

“You’re going to see a steep learning curve for us early in the year,” Campbell said. “We’re going to try to adjust as much as we can this summer, but we trust that our culture and the process are in the right spot. We trust that our foundation has been laid from groups before these guys that will allow us to exceed expectations, whatever they are.”

While much of River Falls’ best talent is graduating, there are a couple of returning players that showed promise – albeit in limited minutes – last season. Perhaps the most exciting player will be Preston Johnson, who is going into his sophomore year for the 2022-23 campaign. He saw limited minutes this year but showed flashes of greatness while on the floor.

“(Preston Johnson) is a ball-in-hand guy,” Campbell said of the freshman. “He didn’t get to play to his true strength this year because we wanted Michael Schurman in that role. You’d see it a little bit, but he was mainly relegated to off-ball this year. You’re going to see him have the ball a ton next year.”

Moving forward, Johnson will be back to his regular ball-dominant play and will be able to shine in the role. In addition to Johnson, Butz will be back next year for his junior season with the Wildcats.

“(Johnson) has growth opportunities, and he will be back to the role that he excels in next year,” Campbell said. “Joey Butz got minutes for us this year and he spends more time in the gym than anybody. What you saw this year, he will be completely different next year.”

Two other players that will likely get varsity time next year are Jonah Severson and Eli Johnson, who will be a junior and sophomore next season respectively. Campbell spoke about what to expect from those young players.

“Jonah Severson will give us the Michael Schurman role, without the ball in his hands. He’s a really good slasher and finisher at the rim. We expect big things of him,” Campbell said. “Having a freshman in Eli Johnson, he’s 6’5” and we look forward to him filling in an important role as well.”

The Big Rivers Conference will once again, unsurprisingly, be fantastic next season. Eau Claire Memorial returns several players and had one of the best junior varsity teams in the conference. They will likely be atop the standings again at this time next year.

However, River Falls will continue to rely on young players and a strong program culture to rebuild after losing another sizable senior class. The aforementioned players of Eli Johnson, Preston Johnson, Jonah Severson and Joey Butz will be critical in preserving that culture and once again exceeding expectations.

River Falls sophomore guard Jonah Severson drives into the lane and looks for an open teammate to pass to. Head coach Zac Campbell said Severson is going to be a player to watch next season as he begins getting serious varsity minutes. Photo by Reagan Hoverman