With the start of the 2015-16 college basketball season approaching, Bo Ryan has filled the last walk-on spot on the roster with Will Decorah, a junior at UW who had been a student manager for the team up to this point in his college career. Decorah is a Waunakee native who high school sports fans will probably remember as the quarterback for the Warriors when they were one of the best teams in the state. Obviously he played basketball there too, and he was also an AAU teammate of Bronson Koenig’s for the Playground Warriors. His dad played for Coach Ryan in Platteville and was on their first National Championship team in 1991.

This may not be big news to the casual fan, but for a guy with roots in the Badger basketball managerial staff, we might as well have just made our third straight Final Four. Not since the likes of Tanner Bronson has a manager turned player and had a shot to actually be a Badger, and it’s cool to see a guy you’ve wiped sweat and taken stats with get an opportunity like this. I was on staff when we first hired Will to be a manager, and let’s just say he was always the guy who stuck out a little bit when we were playing intramurals. He’s also always been a big TVL supporter, so he’s a guy we should all be pulling for. I just hope he won’t miss the fame and glory that comes with being a manager.

Congrats to Will, and let’s fast forward to Badger basketball already.