RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL PREVIEW - New leadership emerges as Rib Lake aims to defend North title

RIB LAKE BOYS BASKETBALL PREVIEW

Driven primarily last winter by a group of four senior starters, the Rib Lake Redmen won their first Marawood Conference North Division boys basketball championship in four years.

The 2024-25 Redmen are turning to a crew largely led by juniors and freshmen to try to keep that success rolling.

While the leadership mantle changes, the expectations don’t as the Redmen still feel they are one of the teams to beat in the Marawood North and, hopefully, beyond when the WIAA Division 5 post-season begins in March.

Count fourth-year head coach Todd Henderson among those anxious to see how this year’s group meshes on the court.

“We have a good group for varsity I think,” Henderson said Monday. “We’ll have some younger guys playing up. We only have one senior this year. We’ll see how those younger guys do in making that transition to high school basketball. We’re excited about it, we’re optimistic. We have a good group of core returning juniors that bring some experience and some leadership.”

Overall, Rib Lake’s program is quite deep for a Division 5 school with 24 boys out. That will allow the Redmen to run teams at three levels, which has been a rarity. Luke Gebauer returns as the JV coach and top assistant, while Paul Yanko is taking on the JV2 coaching job.

The Redmen began their season Tuesday with a non-conference game at Marshfield against defending WIAA Division 5 state champion Columbus Catholic. Most of the key players from that title team graduated, but this was still expected to be a good opening test for the Redmen before they open Marawood Conference play with a crossover game with Edgar at home Dec. 5.

The most experienced juniors back from last year’s 21-6 squad are Talon Scheithauer, Seth Borchardt and Jed Henderson.

Scheithauer and Borchardt earned honorable mention votes for the All-Marawood North team last year. This will be Scheithauer’s third full season with the varsity. Borchardt and Henderson got a few minutes as freshmen, but did well in their first full season at the top level last year.

“They’re excited to be full-time starters and to make the team their own in a sense,” Todd Henderson said. “It’s their turn to step up and be leaders and have a little more input on how the offense flows and things like that. We have a good mix of guard play and having Jed with his size and height (6-5). Talon is a good shooter, a good defender. He’s a good athlete and really works hard. Seth has a good understanding of the game. Coaches would say he has a high basketball IQ. He’s steady, level-headed. He’s a good shooter. He can handle the ball. He’s a good passer. He sees the court well and just understands the game well. Jed brings some good size and athleticism as a good rebounder and a scoring threat inside. We’ve also been really working on him with his outside shooting.”

Scheithauer averaged 7.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game last year. Borchardt contributed 6.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Henderson chipped in with 4.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. The Redmen are excited to get Ethan Cook back out after a year away. The junior gets a spot in the starting five to begin the year along with freshman Blake Henderson. “Ethan plays bigger than his size,” Todd Henderson said. “He’s not real tall but he’s aggressive in there. He rebounds well. He’s a good strong player. He also has a good understanding of the game. He passes well and has a decent shot and he’ll be a good defender as well.” Blake Henderson, Slade Scheithauer and Lucas Cook, all freshmen and younger brothers of starters in Rib Lake’s lineup, all figure prominently in Rib Lake’s plans this year after leading their class of 2028 teams to a lot of success over their years in the youth ranks. Blake Henderson brings some size and the ability to do a little bit of everything. Slade Scheithauer brings quickness and shooting ability as a guard and Lucas Cook brings an element of toughness despite his young age.

Brady Heiser is the lone senior and hopes to give Rib Lake some inside help. Jackson Schutt and Jeremy Wiitala are sophomores that coach Henderson thinks will contribute this year.

“Jackson’s a little bit taller, about 6-1, 6-2,” Henderson said. “He’ll be a good shooter, good wing player for us. Jeremy Wiitala brings some size and athleticism. He’s kind of a long player that can rebound. We’ll see how he comes along but he has some potential.”

Junior Chris Krause and sophomore Briley Leonhard also listed on the season’s opening roster.

It will be a team effort to fill the offensive void left by last year’s Marawood North Player of the Year and Division 5 All-State player Jackson Blomberg, Dominic Quednow, Andrew Wudi and Donovan Sutherland, but Todd Henderson likes this group’s chances to do that.

“We’re still looking to push the tempo and transition as much as possible,” Henderson said. “We’ll run an active, moving man offense to try to keep the guys moving, keep them active trying to look for opportunities to score and put our guys in situations where we can take advantage of their skills.

“I think we have guys who are looking forward to stepping up,” he added. “It will be interesting to see who that is. It’s probably going to change from game to game. Last year Jackson was our leading scorer, but he didn’t necessarily lead the team in scoring every game. I kind of expect that this year too where we could have three or four guys who could be the leading scorer on any given night just depending on who’s on and who’s getting the open looks that night.

Defensively, Rib Lake allowed 49.3 points per game last winter. The team hopes to rely on its man-to-man defense most of the time, but Henderson said Rib Lake will again throw some zones at teams when situations call for it.

Another key area will be rebounding, where the Redmen feel they have the athletes to win those battles more often than not.

“A big part of that we hope is going to be the attitude and commitment toward it, realizing that a big part of winning is that you have to hold teams to that one shot,” Todd Henderson said. “Jed definitely helps with his size and I think there a couple of guys that seem to have a nose for the ball that do a good job with rebounding. Blake has decent size for a freshman. He’s shown over the years that he can rebound well. Ethan Cook, Lucas Cook too. Brady Heiser he does a good job of taking up space down there when he’s in there. I think that will hopefully be a strength of our team.”

In the Marawood North, Henderson guesses the top threats in Rib Lake’s title defense are Prentice and Phillips. Prentice was tabbed as the favorite in the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook, which Henderson hopes can put a bit of a chip in the Redmen’s shoulders. But he said the Buccaneers and Loggers certainly have capable squads.

Rib Lake was 12-4 in Marawood play last year while easily winning the North over Prentice (7-9), Phillips (6-10), Athens (4-12), Chequamegon (3-13) and Abbotsford (3-13).

“I think it will be a fun year,” coach Henderson said. “I think there are quite a few teams in the conference that have lost some good seniors. Phillips probably lost the least, so they’ll have a good group returning. Prentice really has a good core group coming back too. We could be the three teams contending for the conference championship. Whoever plays the best on any given night and can beat each other out of that group will win it.”