Advertisement
By mid-morning, Winona State’s McCown and Talbot gymnasiums were filled with high school basketball players hoping to take their games to the next level.
 |
Cotter’s John McGrory puts up a shot over Rochester John Marshall’s Justin Behnke Saturday during a high school varsity basketball camp at Winona State University. (photo by Katie Derus/Winona Daily News) |
More than 150 players representing 12 varsity-level teams from Minnesota and Wisconsin competed Saturday at the 2008 Winona State University summer team basketball camp.
The second of four WSU summer youth basketball camps, the day-long team camp afforded high school squads an early opportunity to build team chemistry and feel out new-look rosters in a tournament format.
The unique 12-team field created intriguing matchups as well. Cotter, for instance, opened play against Rochester John Marshall. Rushford-Peterson took on Alma in the game that followed.
“The main thing we’re trying to do in tournament situations,” Cotter coach Tom Zukowski said, “with this group, because it’s a new group from last year, is to get them to understand how to play together. Learn what their strengths and weaknesses are within the group. Not individually, but within the group. What can we do as a team to become better?”
While the teams looked to improve, the WSU coaching staff looked on for players who might improve their team in the future.
The gathering of local high school talent, representing six Minnesota and Wisconsin conferences, gave WSU coach Mike Leaf and his staff an extended look at a handful of college prospects. It also amounted to a campus visit of sorts for all of the participants.
“This tournament gives us the opportunity to watch some of the best local players we maybe wouldn’t get to watch in the wintertime,” WSU assistant coach Tom Brown said. “I’ve already seen close to a dozen players that will be able to play college basketball at some level. There are some here that we’d like to have (at WSU).”
The summer camp circuit, which Leaf and his staff have held all 10 years of Leaf’s tenure, has grown with the program’s rise to national prominence. The facilities have also improved — both McCown and Talbot sported resurfaced courts and new paint jobs — as an added selling point.
“It’s a win-win situation,” Leaf said. “We have great coaches who work hard and want to teach the game and we have players who want to come in and learn and become better players.”
In its early years the number of participants at the WSU camps hovered around 50. This year, about 400 youth athletes between fourth- and 12th-grade jumped at the chance to learn from and play in front of the two-time national champions. Dozens more were turned away after the camps filled up.
“They put on a really nice tournament and it’s very competitive,” Zukowski said. “If you can come in here and play well, you’re a pretty good team.”
