Future looks bright for Heights

The future looks bright. Then again, it looks sunny for a handful of teams inside the Southern Capitol Conference. Wisconsin Heights’ boys basketball team is coming off a season where it went 11-12 overall and 4-6 in the conference.  The Vanguards had just one senior on the roster — guard Rhead Jacobus — and could be poised for bigger and better next season. But Vanguards coach Zack Colby warns that the entire conference was young and several teams could be dramatically better next year. “I think we’ll be fighting for a top-three spot in conference, but New Glarus is coming off four straight titles and isn’t losing much,” Colby said. “And Belleville and Marshall are re-loading well too. “None of the top-four from this season are losing much senior production. The team that commits the most in the offseason will be rewarded.” Heights will build around wing De’Shawn Barsness, who will be a senior next season, and junior-to-be Devin Brabender. Barsness was named first-team all-conference this season, while Brabender earned honorable-mention all-conference honors. Barsness averaged 16.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. He also averaged 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per contest, while shooting 55.5% on field goals and 33.3% on three-pointers. Brabender averaged 10.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. He added 1.8 assists, 1.1 steals and shot 45.9% from the field. The Vanguards will also return forward Cole Cribbs, who averaged 9.7 points per game, along with guard Lathan Parman (6.7), forward Carson Hosking (6.4), guard Derek Adler (5.7), guard Everett Buol (5.6), guard/forward Jacob Brabender (5.4) and others. “The future looks bright for us yes, but only if our guys take this off-season seriously and improve their games and bodies,” Colby said. “One of the things we struggled with this year was getting out-physicaled, part of it being because we were young, but the other part being we weren’t confident enough in moments where we needed to be.   “I fully expect us to be more competitive next year than we were at times this year, but nothing is guaranteed and it will take a lot of off-season work for us to improve. Maturity and age only get you so far in basketball. We also have to mature our individual skill sets and bodies through weight training.” If that happens, Heights could be poised for a big year.