After Spring Valley’s successful season last year, which included an appearance in the Division 4 Sectional Semifinal game, the Cardinals graduated five starters and have since been plagued by injuries stemming from the 2022 football season, which has led to uncertainty surrounding the program.

Given the talent departing due to graduation and the injuries sustained throughout the fall football season, it’s been challenging for Spring Valley head coach Rob Bosshart to make projections for what his Cardinals are capable of this season.

“We have so many question marks that it was hard to project how things are going to go and a lot of that has to do with injury,” Bosshart said. “We’ve had some bad luck with kids coming out of football injured. We’re going into the season not sure what we’re going to see and when kids are going to be fully healthy.”

One of those injured players is sophomore guard Cade Stasiek, who got hurt in the final game of the football season, a 15-8 loss on the road against Edgar on Friday, Oct. 28. Stasiek suffered an ankle injury and still isn’t fully healthy. Bosshart estimated that Stasiek is at approximately 80%.

Although only a sophomore, Stasiek played valuable minutes on last year’s Dunn-St. Croix Conference Championship roster. He provided an instant boost off the bench as a backup point guard and helped Spring Valley finish 20-6 overall and 12-2 in DSC action. Bosshart spoke about taking Stasiek’s injury day by day.

“A lot of it will be playing it by ear. If he gets to a point where he’s playing in pain or if there’s something that could jeopardize (his health), we’ll take him out,” Bosshart said. “We have to be aware and check with him to make sure he’s OK. We’d hate to have him get hurt again and miss time later, it’s a longterm approach and we’re going to err on the side of caution.”

While Stasiek is the most notable injury, he certainly isn’t the only player with a potentially season-defining injury. Sophomore Caleb Bartko, a projected starter for this season’s roster, has yet to practice in the first two weeks because of a lingering knee injury from the football season.

Starting junior point guard Wyatt Goveronski is slated to have season-ending wrist surgery in December, so he will only see action in the first three or four games of the season. Bosshart spoke about how the roster has handled adversity this early in the season.

“The kids are working really hard and are eager to learn, and I think they’re excited for the challenge of stepping up and playing varsity minutes,” Bosshart said. “As coaches, it’s been really unclear as to how it’s all going to shake out.”

The expectations for this year are certainly different than last year’s Cardinals squad. That team returned a lot of varsity experience, was fairly healthy except for then-senior forward Connor Ducklow, and was picked to be one of the two best teams in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.

Now, given the injuries and lack of returning varsity experience, Bosshart has a roster that will have to establish a new identity for Spring Valley basketball throughout this year and into the coming seasons. He spoke about it being a transition for his program.

“There is going to be a transitional phase where they establish their own identity,” Bosshart said. “Those kids left last year, we’re not going to be able to play like they played because our personnel is a lot different – not saying it’s better or worse. This group has to come in and establish the kind of team they’re going to be.”

Although Spring Valley hasn’t had any official games yet, the young Cardinals roster began building their identity through the first scrimmage of the season, which was at Unity High School on Tuesday, Nov. 22. Throughout the scrimmage, Bosshart got his nine healthy players valuable experience against Solon Springs and Ellsworth.

“We got a chance to play nine kids and they got to play quite a variety of different types of players that Solon Springs and Ellsworth have,” Bosshart said. “It was really good to get to experience that and it will help a lot going into our opener on Tuesday.”

Spring Valley has two non-conference games before starting Dunn-St. Croix Conference action on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at home against the Elmwood/Plum City Wolves. Last season, Spring Valley and Durand stood above all others as the two programs shared the conference championship. According to Bosshart, the league this season is going to be as talented and as deep as it’s been in many years.

“I think the conference is really good this year and the top part is outstanding,” Bosshart said. “Durand is going to be really, really good, but so are Elk Mound and Mondovi. Other teams have really improved that were toward the bottom last year, so I think from top to bottom, our league is going to be really competitive.”

Spring Valley will officially begin the 2022-23 season with a non-conference game at home against Alma/Pepin on Tuesday, Nov. 29. That game is slated to begin at 7:15 p.m.

Spring Valley’s then-senior Tyler Bowman plays defense during last year’s sectional semifinal game against Durand at the Menomonie High School. Bowman is one of five starters from last year’s team that needs to be replaced this winter. Photo by Reagan Hoverman