Rebels looking to sustain momentum

The Vestavia Hills High School boys’ basketball team said all the right things given the disappointing way last season ended.

The Rebels planned to not end their season in a high school gymnasium in the area tournament, as was the case last winter. They were driven to make sure that result was not replicated, but words only go so far.

At the outset of this season, the Rebels proved they meant business. Backing up the words they preached, Vestavia Hills turned the calendar to 2021 with a 16-2 record. The Rebels won the Sneaky Pete’s Rebel Classic and notched quality wins over the likes of Oak Mountain and Ramsay.

Head coach Patrick Davis said the team’s early success stemmed from what happened well before game day.

“Because they go at it in practice every day,” he said. “We try to make everything competitive. … They just love to compete. You can’t teach that.”

The fear of teams starting well is hitting peak form too soon and seeing that performance dip as the long season wears on.

“There’s always a challenge of when you play well early of trying to sustain it,” Davis said. “It takes some competitive stamina to be able to do it over a long term, especially with the craziness of this year.”

But one thing working in Vestavia’s favor this season is a balanced roster, with seven seniors, seven juniors and a sophomore.

Win Miller is the lone sophomore and was the Rebels’ leading scorer last year as a freshman.

Miller attributed much of his growth last year to point guard Coleman Barranco and said this year’s team has the requisite experience to be successful after last year’s disappointment. Miller also has been playing with many of the current seniors for a few years now, since he moved up to the junior varsity team as an eighth grader.

“When they had senior night, I felt like I had to run out there with them,” Miller joked. “It’s always been great how they treated me and whether I’m doing good or bad, they’ve always had my back.”

Grant Uldrich, one of those seniors, certainly appreciates Miller’s contributions to the team’s success.

“It goes a long way when you have a new guy and you welcome him with open arms and share the ball with him and get his game going,” Uldrich said. “You’ve seen everyone else embrace him and be so joyful to have a player like him with his talent on our team.”

Miller has continued his rapid maturity and handled everything that comes with his significant role.

“He’s grown up so much in the last year and welcomes all of that. Being recruited at a young age, and while everybody sees this as an awesome thing, but there’s a lot that goes with that too that he’s managed very well,” Davis said.

Uldrich was pulled up to the varsity squad as a sophomore and makes his mark with his energy and willingness to do the less flashy things, like diving for loose balls and attacking rebounds.

“He’s the definition of high motor, high energy, plays in the front of all of our pressure [defense], which makes us go,” Davis said. “He’s super, super critical of himself and wants to get better all the time. That speaks volumes as to who he is, he sees the big picture with a mature approach. He does so many things.”

Davis said Miller showed him plenty last season, showing a willingness to do anything it takes to give the Rebels a win.

“Win led us in scoring as a freshman last year, which is a pretty heavy load to carry as a ninth-grader playing 7A basketball. He did that well. It’s not an easy thing to do, in terms of the physical job to do it or just the mental approach every day,” Davis said.

Davis cautions against being “end-result oriented,” since, for example, last season featured plenty of bright moments for a team that was inexperienced entering the season. But making it to the postseason and advancing once there is something each team strives for.

“What we’ve been doing in terms of the standard of our program, puts us in a position to end in a place that’s good.”

Guys like Uldrich and Miller put in the work over the offseason and have seen it pay off so far. This season marks the final ride for Uldrich, Joey Caiola, Nate Campbell, Charlie Hughes, MJ Newsom, Micah Roberson and Garrett Smith.

“I can’t wait to see what happens,” Uldrich said.