New-look Tops give back to local community at Hank Plona Basketball Camp

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – This week over at Diddle Arena, the WKU Hilltopper men’s basketball team has been hard at work growing the talents of the local youth at the Hank Plona Basketball Camps.

The kids in attendance have spent the past couple of days building fundamental skills, whether through drills or through head-to-head competition.

The experience has been enjoyable not just for the campers but also the guys on the 2025-26 roster, and for a pair of returning Tops, the opportunity to serve as a teacher and role model for the younger kids has been super special.

“ I think it’s awesome. We were all kids once, we all went to basketball camps growing up, so just the reminder of just having fun with it, I think is always important,” said junior guard Jack Edelen.

“When I was little, I also looked up to the camps I went to and the college kids that worked it as superheroes,” said junior guard Teagan Moore. “I mean, that’s everything I wanted to be, so now being in that position is just super surreal and awesome.”

This year’s Hilltopper group is comprised of six bluegrass natives, including a pair of guys who played high school ball in southcentral Kentucky just a year or two ago.

Being able to grow up and take part in the influential camp and now having the chance to work the event and give back to those close to home is most certainly a full-circle moment.

“ It means a lot. Looking up when you’re a kid, you see these guys and you think it’s just like out of the picture, like they’re just all celebrities,” said freshman guard Lawson Rice. “It’s been great…being an influence and trying to be a good role model to these kids.”

“Yeah, it’s awesome just seeing all these little kids running around screaming my name that I’ve never seen before, just them knowing me it brings joy to my face, obviously,” said redshirt freshman guard Kade Unseld. “[I’m] just treating them well, treating them like I’ve known them my whole life, just showing them that we enjoy giving them a good time. We want to teach them, we want to see them learn and see them get better.”

Although the team has plenty of Kentucky representation on the roster, head coach Hank Plona jokingly shared that the camp is not necessarily filled with Hilltopper scouts.

“I think it’s awesome to have local kids come here,” Plona said. “I’m not sure we’re scouting any of the fourth graders, that’s a little early, but we’ll always want local kids on our team and it’s awesome to get them and their families on campus.”