The Spring Valley Cardinals are one of several local high school boys’ basketball teams that began their offseason programming at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcon Shootout on Saturday, June 17.

Going to compete at UW-RF has become a staple in Spring Valley’s offseason summer circuit. For longtime head coach Rob Bosshart, the guaranteed three games against larger schools is a perfect measuring stick opportunity to begin the offseason.

“It’s always our first tournament of the summer and it’s a great place for kids to see where they are as far as speed of the game for younger guys moving up,” Bosshart said. “We look at it as the beginning of our summer circuit. We will see where we are at our last tournament in July. Hopefully, every guy is a little better at something, which will make us better overall.”

While most of the local high school programs gave young players their debut action at the varsity level, Spring Valley’s roster at the Falcon Shootout featured its fair share of familiar faces. More than half a dozen varsity returners from last year’s roster saw action for Spring Valley at UW-RF.

The core group of returning players included Cade Stasiek, Caleb Bartko and Masyn Wolf, all of whom will be juniors this fall. They are paired with a talented senior class that includes Jameson Bauer, Diego Schmitt and Wyatt Goveronski.

Spring Valley also has some fresh faces looking to make varsity contributions this summer, but the Cardinals are a veteran-laden team that strives to foster individual growth and play against tougher competition, both of which happened at the Falcon Center on Saturday afternoon. Bosshart spoke about what a successful summer circuit would look like for his Cardinals.

“I’d say it would be mostly individual growth,” Bosshart said. “We have most of the kids coming back from last year, so they’re pretty used to playing with each other. There are a couple of additions, but the core of the group is back.”

Spring Valley certainly saw the tougher competition and larger schools last weekend. The Cardinals began the day with a buzzer-beating win against Fridley in the 9 a.m. session before losing a lopsided contest to Prescott in the second game of the day.

The Cardinals finished off the three-game slate with a narrow defeat against Forest Lake. Spring Valley led most of the game, but a late second-half charge by Forest Lake culminated in the Cardinals’ second consecutive defeat.

Bosshart didn’t overreact to the losses, as the three games are supposed to serve as a baseline for the rest of the summer. He recapped the three contests and the overall results at the Falcon Shootout.

“We certainly had a chance to win this one (against Forest Lake),” Bosshart said. “In the first game, we were behind most of the game but came back and scored right at the end to win (against Fridley). That was a good test for grittiness and competitiveness. Prescott played well and shot well and we didn’t. We didn’t take care of the ball either.”

The Spring Valley coaching staff loves competing at the local university against teams that the Cardinals wouldn’t ordinarily see. Throughout its three decades of competing in River Falls annually, Spring Valley has squared off against some of the best teams in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

“We’ve come to this one for probably 30 years,” Bosshart said. “The competition is good and we usually see some bigger schools. Prescott is bigger than us and so is Forest Lake. It’s good to play against teams we don’t usually see and some schools that have big, athletic kids.”

Spring Valley is coming off of a 2022-23 campaign that included a 16-11 overall record and a 9-5 showing in Dunn-St. Croix Conference play, which netted the Cardinals third place in the league standings.

The Cardinals have been – and will continue to be – led by the aforementioned Stasiek, who netted First-Team All-Conference honors last season as a sophomore guard. He averaged a league-high 18.4 points per game last season, in addition to team-high figures in rebounding (8.6), assists (3.6) and steals (2.6).

For as great of a two-way player as Stasiek was last season, Bosshart believes he’s going to continue finding aspects of his game to improve as he enters his junior season.

“It’s not too much to ask Cade (Stasiek) to get better,” Bosshart said. “If there is any sophomore or junior that doesn’t have room to improve, they’re not going to get to where they want to be as a senior. He has probably already picked out two or three things he wants to improve.”

Stasiek and the Cardinals will have a chance to continue their offseason improvement at the Altoona Summer League, which features approximately 20 teams that compete every Monday night. It’s Spring Valley’s first time competing in Altoona’s Summer League program.

Spring Valley is slated to be back in action in Altoona on Monday, June 26. Games are slated to begin late afternoon and early evening.