Wisconsin Playground Warriors, Ltd.

By Michael Langlois

August 28, 2009

Under the guidance of executive director Ritchie Davis, The Wisconsin Playground Warriors, Ltd. have become one of the premier boys AAU basketball programs in the Midwest. The Playground Warriors compete in tournaments throughout the country and are currently the only REEBOK sponsored AAU program in Wisconsin. The Playground Warriors boast an impressive alumni list that includes Travis Diener, Carl Landry, Brian Butch, Marcus Landry, Jerry Smith, Cole Aldrich, Jamil Wilson and current Badgers Trevon Hughes, J.P. Gavinski, Tim Jarmusz and Keaton Nankivil.

The future continues to look bright for the Playground Warriors as they currently have a number of Division 1 players in the program, including current 2010 center and Badger verbal commit Evan Anderson. Davis shed light on the inner workings of his AAU program and discussed a number of his top players in an email interview with Badger Nation.

The first part of the interview details the ins and outs of The Wisconsin Playground Warrior program, while the second part will emphasis individual players within the Warriors organization and topics concerning the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team.

Part One

Badger Nation: What goes into the decision making process when selecting local and national AAU tournaments for your team during the summer?

Ritchie Davis: Our schedule for the most part is a national schedule. Our coaching and support staff values competing against the very best teams and players in the entire country while also playing in events that give our players the maximum amount of exposure available.

Our schedule is certainly very ambitious and it challenges us throughout the entire spring and summer to improve as a team and program. We believe that we play the toughest schedule in the state of Wisconsin. This past year we traveled to prestigious events in Knoxville, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; Akron, Ohio; Lawrence, Kansas; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Research Triangle, North Carolina; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Orlando, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Badger Nation: How does your REEBOK sponsorship impact the tournaments you play in and the exposure that your players receive?

Ritchie Davis: Our affiliation with Reebok has been a positive relationship for over eight years now. The grassroots basketball staff at Reebok has treated us very well and with the utmost respect. We have most certainly been able to attract some talented players while offering the opportunity to play in some of the nation’s most prestigious events along with the chances of playing in select camps, etc. There are many other obvious benefits to being sponsored by a prominent shoe company that go without saying.

I believe that we have represented both Reebok and the state of Wisconsin very well over the years and that is a credit to the type of kids we have involved in our program.

Badger Nation: Keeping with sponsorships, is there a player fee to play on the Warriors or does Reebok pick up the tab for player and travel expenses?

Ritchie Davis: We do have a player fee for each player that participates in our program. We also run several fundraisers over the course of the year. Both NCAA and WIAA rules prohibit any student-athlete from playing for free since it is a direct violation of his amateur status.

I also believe that it’s important that our players do not develop any sense of entitlement. Those who work hard both on and off the court will be rewarded appropriately when that time is right.

Badger Nation: What type of player are you looking for to be a part of your program?

Ritchie Davis: I believe, first and foremost, there has to be a certain level of talent that people have to have to play in this program. However, you can never fall in love with talent at the expense of toughness. Toughness in an individual is not just his physical strength but also his mental toughness, his ability to play through fatigue and his willingness to want to get better. If you have great toughness, then you have solid basketball character. I think they go hand-in-hand. I would hope that these are the two greatest attributes in our players.

I love coaching players who really want to improve and get better. Kids who have a strong passion for the game as well as for our program. I think that if you have that willingness to work on your game, you will work harder in school and work harder at being a better person every day. I feel very confident at this point in time with the way things are going here with the young men involved in our program.

We believe in looking for quality in each potential recruit to the Playground Warriors’ program. Our philosophy is built around three important principles; we recruit only good kids with moral fiber; we believe that each recruit must be a hard worker; and we try to recruit players from the entire State of Wisconsin as well as Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota if there is a mutual interest.

There are traits and skills that I believe are important to recruiting, but they should be constant within every recruiting philosophy. However, I truly do believe that these three principles make the difference between an average grassroots basketball program and a championship-caliber program.

Badger Nation: How does a player get selected to be on the Warriors… tryout? Handpicked?

Ritchie Davis: We do run a series of competitive tryouts for our elementary school (8U/2nd Grade – 11U/5th Grade) and middle school (12U/6th Grade – 14U/8th Grade) teams each year. We always end up selecting some players from each of those tryouts to participate in our program the upcoming spring and summer. We also will recruit some at these levels as well.

At the high school (15U/9th Grade – 17U/11th Grade) levels, we do not run tryouts. We recruit particular players to our program. However, I believe it’s important to note that we choose not to mass recruit players. I want kids to feel special and to truly understand why it is that I believe they would be a good fit for our team and for our basketball family.

I have also developed relationships with a significant number of high school coaches in Wisconsin over the years. I would consider many of them friends and, as a result, they will contact me when they believe that they have a player within their respective programs that would also benefit from participating in our program.

Our coaching staff does a great job at maintaining these relationships and I can only hope that we continue to develop many more in the years to come.

Badger Nation: How many college coaches do you deal with on a weekly basis?

Ritchie Davis: The number of college coaches that I speak with on weekly basis whether by phone or email literally depends on where we are at within the calendar year.

In April and May, I speak with coaches on current players they are interested in, seniors who may still be unsigned and could help a specific program, transfers which usually includes former players of mine who may be looking to make a move and play elsewhere.

In June, coaches want to know who played well for us all spring and where we will be at in July.

In July, the grassroots basketball season reaches its peak. When we are NOT at an event, my phones are ringing continuously about our current players. Our rosters typically contain young men who will be moving on to play at the NCAA Division I and II levels respectively and therefore, coaches put a great deal of energy into making important decisions as to whom they are willing to offer an athletic scholarship too, etc.

August is a chance for college coaches to catch up on what they were able to take in during the July LIVE period. We also spend a great deal of time communicating about “official” visits for our seniors as well as discussing attendance at various “elite” camps. We always have several players that will participate in some elite camps and, of course, we always have seniors that will be taking official visits to help them gain the information necessary to make an informed decision about which institution of higher learning they would like to also play college basketball at.

My communication in September and early October revolves greatly around the high school Open Gyms that our players are participating in. This becomes very tiring because we most certainly need to work with the high school coaches as well on this. Let me be honest, our player’s #1 priority is and always will be their respective high school teams. Coaches drive and fly in from all over the place to see players work out as well as to be seen by these players.

The college season begins in late October. So from late October through the middle of March, most of my discussions with college coaches are about my player’s progress during the high school season, other players from Wisconsin, and about getting specific players to attend games at their schools during the season.

I attend a basketball game on average, six nights a week. I most certainly see more high school games than college games but I do see quite a bit of college games as well. I make it a point to see every one of my former players play in college and that is not very easy when you have well over 30+ playing. Add in our former players that are playing professionally and my schedule is already packed before I even get to make some decisions about what games to see.

Part Two:

Badger Nation: Who are the 5 players receiving the most recruiting attention from D1 programs within the Warriors’ organization?

Ritchie Davis: We currently have four seniors within our program that are already committed to NCAA Division I schools. Evan Anderson (6-11, C, Eau Claire North) will be attending Wisconsin. Noah Cottrill (6-2, CG, Mountain State Academy) will be attending West Virginia. Kameron Cerroni (6-2, SG, Sussex Hamilton) will be attending Wisconsin-Green Bay. And, T.J. Bray (6-4, G, Waukesha Catholic Memorial) will be attending Princeton University.

Dakotah Euton (6-8, F, Scott County) and Ben Mills (7-1, F, Hartland Arrowhead) each have multiple NCAA Division I scholarship offers currently and will more than likely make their decisions sometime this fall.

In the class of 2011, Trevor Jorgenson has a scholarship offer from Wisconsin-Milwaukee and several other players have begun to generate some positive interest after strong showings in the July evaluation period.

Our 2012 class is headlined by Jean-Pierre Tokoto (6-5, WG, Menomonee Falls). JP’s recruitment at such a young age is unlike anything I have ever seen before in this state. J.P. currently has scholarship offers from Duke, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Marquette, Minnesota, Tennessee and Wisconsin. I believe he will have many additional offers before the high school season starts in November.

Wally Ellenson (6-4, WG, Eau Claire Memorial) has offers from St. Louis, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Wally is also getting significant interest from Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Northern Iowa and Wisconsin.

Nick Arenz (6-8, F, Onalaska) has an offer from Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Nick is also hearing from Drake, Loyola-Chicago, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa and Wisconsin-Green Bay after playing so well this past July.

Jamar Morris (6-5, WF, Madison Memorial), Brett Vandenbergh (6-5, WG, De Pere) and Nic Stokes (5-11, PG, Milwaukee Rufus King) are also hearing from several NCAA Division I schools and will be making unofficial visits this fall select places.

Note: Davis mentioned that he is extremely excited about his players in the 2012 class and that he feels they may develop into one of the strongest squads he has put together.

Badger Nation: What is your relationship with the Wisconsin Badgers coaching staff?

Ritchie Davis: My relationship with the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball staff is a professional one. They recruit some of our players and I try to make sure that both sides have current and accurate information. My relationship with Coach Ryan and his staff is very good and I’d like to say the same thing about my relationship with Coach (Rob) Jeter, Coach (Tod) Kowalczyk, Coach (Luke) Reigel and Coach Buzz Williams and their respective staffs.

Badger Nation: Who within the Warriors’ program other than Evan Anderson is receiving recruiting interest from the Badgers?

Ritchie Davis: The only other players from the state of Wisconsin to currently have a scholarship offer from Coach Ryan and the Badgers other than Evan Anderson are Vander Blue (6-4, CG, Madison Memorial), Josh Gasser (6-4, CG, Port Washington) and Jean-Pierre Tokoto (6-5, WG, Menomonee Falls).

The UW staff is also taking some time to get to know and evaluate several of 2012 players that I mentioned earlier as well as Austin Mecca (2013, 6-7, F, Manitowoc Lincoln).

I do not believe that most people living in our state understand just how talented and special a young man has to be in order for schools like Wisconsin and Marquette to show a genuine interest.

Badger Nation: How is your program specifically working with Evan Anderson to make him a better player?

Ritchie Davis: Let me begin by saying that we have had the privilege of having Evan in our program for 5 or 6 years now. We have spent the majority of this season working on his footwork, passing skills, ability to handle the basketball some away from the basket and his perimeter jump-shot outside of 15 feet.

Evan is extremely committed to the Wisconsin program and is a very coach-able kid. He will be very successful at Wisconsin simply because he chooses to be and not because of what fans and others want him to be.