Buzz! The bell rings on a Friday afternoon, and while most students immediately jump in their cars to begin their weekend, players on the varsity boys basketball team head over to the gym for a two-hour practice. After already practicing in the morning during the athletic period for a similar amount of time, they go back to do it again in preparation for their upcoming season.
The team opens up their season against Lake Travis on Friday at 8 p.m. at Concordia University. The game is part of the CTX Showcase which features 16 teams from across the area playing a game on Friday or Saturday to begin their seasons. Last year in this showcase, the Vipers defeated Westlake 48-45.
“[If we want to beat Lake Travis], it’s going to take overall effort, discipline, and just sticking to the strategies that we’ve come up with,” sophomore guard Ethan Fox said. “We also need to stick to the gameplan that we have.”
The program has been gaining lots of momentum over the past nine months after beating Westlake for the second time in the season, with a score of 49-47. This win marked the first playoff win since Coach Sierra has been the head coach, now entering his fourth year as coach for the Vipers.
“I feel like last year, we really learned how to win at the highest stage and playoffs,” senior forward Hayden Brannan said. “We’ve really gone off that in the offseason, and I think we’re carrying that momentum into this year and trying to do even better this year.”
Another factor that plays into the team’s current momentum is the talent that returns from last year. Three starters from last year’s team Henry Defoore, Kytrel Block, and Hayden Brannan, return for this year. Block and Brannan were the two top scorers a year ago.
“[Block and Brannan] went to the playoffs last year, and that makes us feel that we can go further in the playoffs with both of them back, and I think we can go further than the second round,” junior forward Grant Williams said. “We’ve just been developing a lot with them, and as a team, so I think this could be a lot better season than it was last year.”
People outside of the school are recognizing the momentum as well. Texas Basketball League, one of the state’s largest high school basketball outlets, has Vandegrift as the fifth best team in Austin in their preseason power rankings, and 32nd in the whole state.
“It has a lot to do with the team last year,” Fox said. “[Last year’s team] really set a tone for Vandegrift basketball. They brought effort and energy every single day, and now we have to do the same thing in order to maintain that and reach our long term goals.”
Despite a strong finish to last season, the team has had to fight through some adversity since their big playoff win last year. During their fall league games at Round Rock Sports Center, the team finished with a losing record.
“I think it’s our mindset on things,” Williams said. “We need to be more physical and more ready than we usually were, because during the fall league, we weren’t as locked in, but now we are having plays and a lot better mindset on things. I think that our real season is going to be a lot different than our fall season.”
Every year the team has a new motto that they follow throughout the season, and are constantly reminded of. The seniors on the team get together and come up with what it will be each year. This year, the motto is “Win the day.”
“I think collectively all of my teammates can agree that ‘winning the day’ means showing up to practice every single morning, getting in the gym on time or early, and putting in work every single day,” senior guard Luke Underwood said. “[We make sure that we are] staying focused and just making sure we maximize our efforts in practice.”
For most winning high school basketball teams, there is usually at least one or two players with some level of D1 or D2 interest. However, similarly to last year, the Vipers currently do not have a player this year who holds a Division I offer. Despite this, the team has still been able to churn out winning seasons.
“I would say it’s really because of our culture and what Coach Sierra and the past varsity teams have been able to do and accomplish,” Underwood said. “I think that we go really hard, and even though we may not have the best talent in the state, we are focused on a collective goal and for that reason, that’s normally why we’re able to have successful seasons.”
Despite the productive seasons over the past few years, the team hasn’t won district since Greg Brown III, a former NBA player, was at the school in the 2019-20 season. On the other hand, Stony Point has been a powerhouse over the past three years in district play, having a perfect 44-0 record since the 2022-23 season. However, the Tigers lost their head coach after he left for South Oak Cliff, as well as their top four leading scorers from a year ago who all graduated. This leaves the door open for teams like the Vipers to potentially take the district crown this year.
“Stony Point lost seniors last year, they lost a lot of good players, lost their coach, obviously,” Brannan said. “But I think it’s less about Stony Point, and I really think this year we have the best team that Vandegrift has ever had, and I think we can beat any team that comes in our way.”
