Team preview: RHS boys’ basketball

Ask Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball coach Derek Lemmens about his team’s chances and he’ll tell you the same thing he’s said the last two seasons. His Hodags have the talent to do great things. It’s just a matter of how quickly the team gels on the court and realizes its potential.

That mantra has served the Hodags well as of late. They shared the Great Northern Conference title with Mosinee two years ago and had the championship all to themselves last year. Rhinelander has plenty of pieces back from last year’s 19-6 season — returning five players from the rotation, but how the Hodags fill the voids may go a long way to determining if a conference three-peat is in the cards. 

“We lost some important pieces, but we also return a very strong core. So we feel like we can take what we did last year and just keep that momentum going,” Lemmens said.  

    In this Feb. 24, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Evan Shoeder drives ahead of Merrill’s Eli Burtman in transition during the first half of a non-conference boys’ basketball game against Merrill at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Shoeder, a returning second-team All-GNC selection for Rhinelander, averaged 10 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last season. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags will have plenty of talent to draw from with four returning all-conference players from a season ago. Two seniors headline that list as Devon Feck and Evan Shoeder return after earning second-team honors in the GNC last year. Feck averaged 13.2 points and 4.4 assists per game, and hit a team-high 53 3-pointers last season. At 6-4, Shoeder was a presence inside averaging 10.0 points and 6.1 rebounds a contest. 

They’re joined by senior Jatyn Barkus and junior Abe Gretzinger, who both received honorable mention last year. Barkus averaged 7.4 points per game last year while playing a key defensive role for the team. Gretzinger provided a spark as the Hodags’ sixth man, averaging 8.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game off the bench. 

Junior Rowan Wiczek rounds out the quintet of returning varsity contributors from last year. He averaged 2.1 points per game off the bench last season.

“That experience plays a big role, and then just that camaraderie playing together,” Lemmens said. “Right now, our one through five, I feel really good about. When they’re playing together, we see some really good things.”

The Hodags graduated three seniors from last year’s squad, including a pair of starters in Truman Lamers and Seth Nofftz. Lamers was the team’s leading scorer (13.4 ppg) last year, its lone first-team All-GNC recipient and a spark plug on both ends of the floor last year. He was the team’s leader in both steals and dunks. 

Lemmens said filling Lamers’s role as the team’s igniter will be something the team will have to do by committee this year. 

“Truman really did bring that energy with his plays, his dunks, those types of things, but I think we have, as a collective group, we got guys that can hit the 3-ball, which are great energizers. We got guys that can get up and put it down. So I think as the committee, guys are going to make plays,” Lemmens said. “What we’re emphasizing is not the big, bold plays. We’re emphasizing that hitting singles. We think we have just a ton of ability and potential, and we need to just not try to force it. We need to just let it happen, and when it happens, it’s going to be nice.”

The rotation behind Rhinelander’s starting five remains to be seen. The Hodags were banking on senior Caden Sieker to provide some added depth up front, but he injured his shoulder during football for a second straight year and will once again be unable to play this season. 

    In this Nov. 26, 2024 file photo, Rhinelander’s Vince White goes in for a layup during a JV boys’ basketball game at Crandon. White, a sophomore, is one of several players vying for minutes in the rotation as the season begins. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

That means the Hodags will be counting on a number of underclassmen to fill key roles. Lemmens said exactly who rounds out the rotation remains to be seen, but early contenders for minutes include juniors Sawyer Bishop and Conner Rappley, and sophomores Vince White and Tommy Eades. 

“And now it’s just, who’s going to fill those next spots? I think there’s a lot of potential there to do it, but we still have some things that, as individuals, each one of them kind of has some glaring thing that we’ve got to try to take care of and fix,” Lemmens said. 

Rhinelander will have a pair of non-conference dress rehearsals to sort things out — beginning tonight at home against Crandon and followed by a road contest at Ashland Dec. 1. The conference season will begin with a rematch of last year’s GNC title game as the Hodags entertain Medford at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium Dec. 5. 

Medford, graduated GNC co-player of the year Charlie Gierl and second-team pick Hayden Koester, but figures to be strong with a good underclassman group. Conference newcomer Merrill will add a wrinkle into the GNC, but a number of preseason publications are favoring Mosinee. The Indians return a pair of first-team all-conference honorees in Brayden Reinke and Treve Stoffel.

“Mosinee has returned a lot and they are very confident in what they can do. And then Medford, although they are young and they are small, they’re still gritty. They’re still really well coached, and so they’re still going to be a team that you can’t just write off,” Lemmens said. “I think we just have to be consistent. We have to not try to force the situation. We just take it one play at a time, one game at a time — just continue to improve and play great basketball together. If we’re sharing the ball and defending with great passion, great heart, I think we’re the best team.”

How that will translate to the postseason remains to be seen. The Hodags were the No. 2 seed in the half sectional last year and the draw includes a number of the same suspects, including Wausau East and a number of Big Rivers Conference schools like Menomonie, New Richmond and River Falls.

Asked if the Hodags have the pieces to make a deep tournament run, Lemmens said, “We absolutely do. We think the pieces are there. It’s if we can put the puzzle together.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].