Marquette News, Marquette Recruiting

WISCONSIN PLAYGROUND WARRIORS AAU PROFILE

A staple in the Midwest AAU scene over the years has been the Wisconsin Playground Warriors, winners of four AAU National Championships and 37 state championships at various levels. Producing some of the top talent in the Midwest, including newly crowned national champion Cole Aldrich as well as high school All-American Brian Butch and NBA guard Travis Diener, to name a few, there is always plenty of talent on the Warriors’ squads.

As their program prepares to head to Louisville (KY) this weekend for the Grassroots Shootout, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Playground Warriors program Ritchie Davis was gracious enough to give us a perspective on the program to allow our readers to learn more about the club as they prepare to hit the Spring AAU circuit this season. Davis also gives his thoughts on the biggest story regarded basketball in the state of Wisconsin of the last couple weeks.

The Wisconsin Play Ground Warriors were founded in 1992 and their motto of “Listen, Learn, Love, Laugh” epitomizes what an AAU organization should be for the youth involved. The ‘4 L’s’ is the basis of the program that currently has an enrollment of 145 student-athletes, boys and girls, from grade 3 to grade 12.

The players who have come through the program in recent years is as impressive as their motto. As well as the previous mentioned Travis Diener (Marquette), other players who have spent time with Big East programs include Drake Diener (DePaul), JR Morris (Seton Hall), Draelon Burns (DePaul), Jerry Smith (Louisville) and Scott Christopherson (Marqette).

This year’s tams will look to build upon the tradition of excellence set forth by the previous teams. Once again playing a nationally competitive schedule that will find them in such events as this weekend’s Grassroots Shootout in Louisville, Real Deal on the Hill on the Arkansas campus and the King James Shooting Stars Classic later this month. The Bob Gibbons’ Tournament of Champions and the Reebok Summer Championships in Las Vegas are a couple other marquee events that the Playground Warriors will be competing in.

This year’s program is a little different than in the past as the 17-U team has split from the flagship program. The 16-U team will be a formidable squad on the circuit, led by the frontcourt duo of Dakotah Euton and Evan Anderson in the frontcourt. Euton, who committed very early to the University of Kentucky and Coach Billy Gillespie will not be available to the Warriors when they participate in NCAA ‘live’ evaluation periods because he is from Kentucky and the states of Kentucky and Wisconsin do not border one another.

Anderson is a 6’11 center from Eau Claire (WI) North HS. “Anderson is currently down to eight schools including Boston College, Iowa State, Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette, North Carolina, UCLA, and Wisconsin,” Ritchie Davis informed the NBE Basketball Report. All have offered except for UNC and UCLA at this point in time. “Since we play in Louisville this weekend, he will be visiting UK prior to the event along with Dakotah. He will also visit UNC prior to the Bob Gibbons’ Tournament of Champions,” according to Davis.

The backcourt will be anchored by 6’4 Chimankinda (TJ) Kadima and Kameron Cerroni, who led all players in Wisconsin High School basketball’s largest classification, Division I, with a 27.1 PPG scoring average. “Most people within the state of Wisconsin regard Kameron as the very best shooter in our state,” noted Davis.

“Kadima is long and a very smart player,” explained Davis and he noted that heading into the AAU season in-state programs such as UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee have offered scholarships. “Several programs from the major conferences are showing interest so this spring & summer will be an important summer for him as he tries to elevate his stock,” Davis noted.

With the biggest news in Wisconsin basketball in the last few weeks being the change atop the Marquette University basketball program, we felt compelled to hear Davis’ thoughts as Buzz Williams prepared to take the reigns of the Golden Eagles after Tom Crean left for Indiana. “I personally was able to get to know Coach Buzz Williams this year and I really, really like him as a person and as a coach,” stated Davis. “I believe he will do a great job at Marquette and as always, I’m really looking forward to seeing his team play next November.”

For more information on the Playground Warriors’ program, including schedules, rosters, alumni and other information, be sure to visit their website: www.wiplaygroundwarriors.com.

We wish the Playground Warriors and all their teams the best of luck on the AAU circuit this spring and summer!

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