Don Richards

Jay Wollan, who once scored 62 points (without benefit of the three-point shot) in a single game for RFHS (1966 vs. Glenwood City), but now is a "has been" basketball player, said to me recently, "Don, can tourists laugh out loud in Hawaii, or would a lo ha be more appropriate?" When all others in the coffee group groaned about the bad joke, Jay just blamed it on Steve Goff, who had asked Jay that same question.

In contrast to Jay's lack of accountability, Zac Johnson (River Falls), a current Falcon basketball player, demonstrates full accountability in his response to a question about his recruitment to Augustana U. (Sioux Falls, S. Dakota): "It was a good experience," he said. "When I was thinking about committing to another school, assistant coach Authier, a great person, checked on me regularly. At that point he showed me that he was interested in me personally and that Augustana really wanted me there.

"I got along with all the coaches, liked the city of Sioux Falls and the pretty campus and the top-notch facilities, all of which led me to make my commitment to go there."

Augustana's interest in Zac stemmed from his outstanding accomplishments at RFHS where he is the all-time leading scorer, leader in three-pointers, and in total field goals made. He was named all conference four times (honorable mention as a freshman and sophomore, second team as a junior, and first team as a senior.) The Wildcats won Big River Conference championships his sophomore and senior years. They won regional and sectional championships his senior season and played in the 2021 state tournament.

His two years at Augustana were "filled with ups and downs. For starters, Coach Authier decided to take a head coaching job at Mount Marty University in Yankton. I was super thrilled for him but disappointed because he had recruited me and I was really excited to learn from him. Also, that year we had a lot of guys returning with Covid years. We had a seven-year senior, a six-year senior, three five-year seniors, and two regular seniors. That made my first year difficult. Though I did get some playing time, I was very limited in my minutes.

"I played only 5-10 minutes per game and sometimes not at all. That was hard. However, I learned a lot my freshman year. I was on scout team and the coaches would designate me as the opponent's high scorer. That meant I was guarded by our team's best defender, who was named our conference's defensive player of the year. that season.

"It also meant I struggled to score a decent amount, but as the year went on I grew so much from this and became a way better player than when I came in. After my freshman year I was motivated more than ever. I worked out 2-3 times a day, 5-6 days a week in the off-season. I expanded my game, focused on my athleticism, and by the time my sophomore year began I felt like I was playing at a very high level.

"But during the first practice I stepped on someone's foot and rolled my ankle. I stayed out of practice for a week, but really wanted to get back out on the court so I decided to play through my injury. I was nowhere 100% so my ankle got worse and worse. I took a ton of pain medication to the point where it wasn't working anymore. I played 18 games on it but it got to the point where I could barely jog.

"So I got an MRI which showed I had a stress fracture, a partial tear in two tendons, tendonitis, and a sprain. When this happened, I was devastated. I had worked so hard in the off season and then got an injury to ruin it. I struggled with that my whole sophomore year, so because of that and other reasons I won't talk about, I decided to enter the transfer portal.”

Zac says he sees a lot of difference between D2 and D3 levels: "At the D2 level, basketball was the main focus. I would have only two classes a day, and during pre-season, we'd have conditioning, lifting, open gym, individual workouts. I came in at my own time to work out, kind of like an 8-5 job. In D3 we have a lot more freedom. We still have team lifting and speed work, but because of NCAA rules, the coaches can't work with us or watch us play until a certain date."

He says the predicted finish for the Falcons (sixth in the WIAC) "isn't even close. We have a lot of guys who can play and they are all capable of scoring in double figures, which makes our team really dangerous. Once we have played some more together and figured out our roles, I can't see a team stopping us. We just have to keep working and grinding so the sky's the limit."

His future plans include being either a middle school or high school teacher/coach. His major is PE/Health. If there is an opportunity to play basketball after college, he says he will consider it.

To conclude, Steve Spurrier, former football coach and 1966 Heisman Trophy winner, told fans that a fire in the dorm had burned 20 books, "and the real tragedy is that 15 of them hadn't been colored in yet." But he was a D1 coach, a place where it is expected that academics are sometimes less rigorous.