Medford Area Basketball Classic Preview

Overall this tournament is the deepest in the three years we have had it.  Ranked at #12, these guys can easily pull at least two wins in Pool A, they’re that good.  Led by a plethora of guards, they will use the strength and defense to help propel them against their opponents.  They are led by both Drew and Derek Rohde of Prentice, and the 6’6″ Liam Weller of Athens, as the source of their scoring, plus the shooting of Taylor Brayton.  The team from the Prentice area is a team to keep your eye out for.

Another team that is similar to Johnson Creek Cattle Co, they as well are led by their guards and don’t have as much size down low.  They are led in scoring by the 6’3″ Spencer grad Jack Bezlyk, who uses his sheer athleticism to get to the rim.  Jack plays his winter ball at UW-Wood County.  They’ll also get a boost from the 6’0″ guard Birkley, who hails from the Milwaukee area.  The balance on this Marshfield team can very much propel these guys to at least two wins in Pool A.

Typically one of the better teams from the Medford area, these guys will have some work to do.  Playing in Pool B, the deepest section of the entire tournament, Medford alum and long-range sniper Ray Daniels’ squad will have the biggest challenge of any team in the tournament.  Led by a large roster, these guys could very well go 3-0, yet 1-2  or 0-3.  Besides Daniels, they will be heavily relied on by the 6’5″ Tony Schultz, who is a beast in the interior and can very well step outside and hit perimeter shots.  DGR will also need the scoring and defensive ability of Rob Seidel, Taylor Reinhardt, Matt Reid, and Will Jefferson, among the many capable two-way players on the squad.  I will be curious to see how which outcome we will see from Dixon Greiner Realty.

Half of this team competes annually in the Medford Men’s City League, but in tournament play will usually add to their team.  The team from Rib Lake relies on their guard play and the interior play of their lone big man, Rib Lake grad Joe Scheithauer.  Medford grad Tyler Messman joins the Rib Lake squad for the first time and will give the squad another ball-handler and perimeter shooter, while Milwaukee native Kamari Baskin, and Rib Lake native Dalton Strebig will also push the guard play in their ability to play both sides of the ball.  In 2019, the last edition of the Medford Basketball Classic, these guys ended up going 2-1, with their lone loss coming against the tournament runner-up, Success Realty.  Another challenge awaits the guys as they match up against another balanced section, in Pool C.

Year after year, Nicolet Bank dominates the Medford Men’s City League, only obtaining one loss in the last seven or eight years in league play.  However, they’ve come up short in the Medford Basketball Classic in both 2018 and 2019, losing to Success Realty in 2018, and Oil Exchange Quick Lube & Auto Repair, the 2019 Medford Basketball Classic champion, finishing 2-1 in both years.  This tournament will look much different, as they are missing their 1st and 3rd leading scorers, Amherst grad Jordan Lutz and Medford grad John Lange, respectively, as well as Ryan Brown, James Stokes, and Erik Kozey, among a few others.  This team should still be one of the bigger teams in terms of size, boasting four guys 6’4″ or taller.  Their league team’s second-leading scorer, Cody Bowe, leads the way, as he is expected to do the bulk of the scoring, and will not hesitate to pull up from Damian Lillard range.  6’7″ Cody Blomberg, the second tallest player in the entire tournament joins the team, as he normally plays on the Rib Lake team.  He will ask too much inside in terms of rebounding and defense.  Team manager Chris Laduron, the 6’5″ Nekoosa grad will also be asked to do a lot more on the inside, to make up for the departure of Lange.  Minnesota native Jaxon Mickow, Medford grad Nate Retterath, and Prentice grad Justin Bleck, will help provide for the depleted squad as well.

One of the mystery teams in this year’s tournament, the bulk of these guys either hail from Minocqua, or out of state.  However, these guys play plenty of ball on a yearly basis.  I personally know that both Lakeland Union grads and brothers, Jeffrey and Jon Wergin, are both deadly perimeter shooters, that will not hesitate to let shots fly.  I trust the Wergin brothers put together a solid team that will definitely put up competition in Pool C.  While they don’t have as much size that could prove tricky against other fellow Pool C teams, such as Davis Auto and Nicolet Bank, their guard play could be some the best we see in the entire tournament.

Another team in the stacked Pool B, the majority of BW Express hails from the Kronenwetter/Mosinee area.  While most of this team is a bit unknown, team manager Branson Witucki, who formerly plays with Success Realty, is a playmaker and impact player himself and is trusted to have put together a solid, impactful group, who will give all teams in Pool B a run for their money.  Ryan LaCerte is a recent Wausau East grad who played under coaches Paul Dimka and Troy Pieper, and also played AAU ball every summer, will give this squad a boost in both shooting, passing, and ball handling.  While Witucki helps the club out at 6’3″ and can play both inside and out, the 6’6″ Caleb Oster, from Eau Claire, will give them a size boost inside as both a scorer and rim protector, as each team in Pool B has one guy on the team at least 6’5″ or taller.  This team will contend.

One of our consistent Marshfield teams, these guys have some of the best ambition and team chemistry in the entire tournament.  These guys play ball every weekend, whether it is inside or outside, they are always playing ball.  Even driving up from Marshfield to play Wednesday nights in Medford Men’s City League, as the Ghost Ballers team and also are one of the top teams in Stratford STAR League.  One of the more balanced teams we have in the tournament, the seven guys they have on their squad are all capable of scoring 20 themselves in any given game.  This team boasts a blend of both size and guard play, especially on the guard side with the Posteluk guards, both Marshfield grads.  Ohio native Covon Rudolph is one of, if not, the most athletic player in the entire tournament, and is everywhere on the court on and off the ball.  While Abbotsford grad Nathan Kunze and Marshfield grad Joey Northup anchor the paint for this club, Marshfield grad Kyle Davis and Mondovi grad Bill Hanson control the 3-pt line.  I predict Davis Auto to win Pool C and advance to the four-team playoff.

The highest-rated Medford team in this year’s version of the Medford Basketball Classic, as is the youngest team in the entire tournament as well.  Five of the seven players on this squad are Medford graduates, and all five were all-conference players under Medford Boys Basketball Head Coach Ryan Brown, (O. Ekwueme, C. Wenzel, Z. Haynes, Ju. Sullivan, and P. Kuhn), including two POY’s in Ekwueme and Kuhn.  The other two players were both Marawood North Conference Player’s of the Year, Rib Lake grad Levi Ewan in 2020, who plays for Coach Bob Semling at UWSP, and Abbotsford grad Cade Faber in 2021, who will be attending Knox College, in Illinois, this fall to play ball.  Put all those kids together and you got yourself, one talented squad, that will use their youth, stamina, speed, quickness, and athleticism, to control the tempo of any game they play in.  This team will play fast and will let the ball fly, especially from Wenzel, Ewan, and Kuhn.  The weakness for this team will be shot selection and decision-making.  Can this team take good shots, make good decisions consistently, and rebound the ball for their lack of size?  If they do all that consistently then this young squad will win Pool A and advance to the four-team playoff.  However, Success Realty is the team that stands in front of them from doing that.

Two-time consecutive Medford Basketball Classic runner-up, Success Realty, returns to the Medford Basketball Classic, with another talented team…yet again.  This Marshfield-based sponsor, is usually one of the best teams in the Stratford STAR League, year after year.  Funny thing is that there is no Marshfield graduate on the entire roster.  When you look at this team, it is really hard to tell who their best player is, as all nine of the players on the roster are capable of leading the way in every statistical category.  Team manager Cody Hanke, a 2011 Marathon grad, who won a state championship in basketball, his senior year for coach Jeff Reiche, might be the best pure athlete in the tournament, or at least once was.  He was all-state in football, basketball, and baseball, his senior year before attending UWSP for baseball.  The Trunkel brothers from Neillsville, Cain, and Braden, will be two of the top scorers for this Success Realty squad.  Fellow co-team manager Dan Dargenio and Cody’s younger brother, Carter Hanke, will look to do most of the work inside.  Also, look for guys like Ryan Benoy and Monty Perry to do some work for this deep team.  They are balanced from 1-5, and from every analytical aspect.  I predict they will squeeze by Combined Carpentry, narrowly, to win Pool A, and advance to the four-team playoff.

The reigning champs from our last edition in 2019, the Marshfield squad will look to repeat their last performance with another championship.  Another one of the top teams in Stratford STAR League, this team will actually look a lot different than it did in 2019.  Keegan Fassler is gone, as is the 2019 Medford Basketball Classic Co-MVP Nick Sawasky.  Jake Scheppler, the other Co-MVP with Sawasky is back and should look to continue to be one of the tournament’s best scorers.  However, the big addition for the squad is the 6’10” Toby Hegner of Berlin, WI.  A former 3* star recruit, Hegner committed to Creighton head basketball Coach Greg McDermott in high school and was a meaningful player for Coach McDermott’s squad in both Hegner’s junior and senior seasons.  He should help fill the void left behind by Sawasky and Fassler.  While the rest of the team is guard-oriented and should be able to knock down shots when given, the entire squad is going to need to supporting cast to show up.  If Hegner and Scheppler aren’t scoring or are seeing double teams, the team could have trouble scoring, especially playing in Pool B, the tournament’s best and deepest section.  While this team can easily go 3-0, they certainly can go 2-1 or even 1-2.  Weather Shield, BW Express, and Dixon Greiner Realty will be gunning for the top of Pool B with this skilled squad.

My prediction as to the pre-tournament best team, by a narrow margin over Oil Exchange QL & AR, this team is also my prediction to escape the brutal depth of Pool B, and advance to the four-team playoff.  The biggest reason…Connor Miller.  A 2011 Eau Claire Regis grad, the 6’4″ Connor Miller played at Samford University, before eventually transferring to Minnesota-Duluth.  Miller, along with Toby Hegner of Oil Exchange OL & AR, is the two best players in the entire tournament.  Miller joins the Weather Shield squad for the first time but also has family ties to the company, as his dad and 1984 Medford graduate, Mark Miller, is part of the corporate staff.  The rest of the team for Weather Shield, a Medford sponsor, with no Medford natives on the roster, are a little unknown.  Team manager Mitchell Schield, a Sturgeon Bay native, and family member of the founding Weather Shield family has three players from the state of Kansas on his roster, that he met in college at KU.  All of the guys play pick-up consistently, but none have played at the college level as Miller has.  Like Julie Kay’s Kitchen and BW Express, the majority of the players on the team are a mystery.  Like Oil Exchange QL & AR, Weather Shield can easily go 3-0, but at the same time, can finish 2-1, or even 1-2.  Perks of playing in a deep section.  I think it’ll pay off.