Altmyer's Return Boosts Patriots' Aspirations | Heritage Academy Boys Basketball

This year’s version of the Heritage Academy boys’ basketball team features a handful of newcomers. One fewer, perhaps, depending on how one categorizes Whit Altmyer.

The talented senior guard kind of fits in the newcomer grouping. But not really. While technically new to this year’s team, he’s anything but new to Heritage.

“This place is like home to me,” Altmyer said earlier this week. “That’s actually the reason I came back.”

After playing basketball at Heritage his 8th, 9th and 10th grade years, Altmyer opted to move from Columbus to the Memphis area, where he played his junior year at Briarcrest Christian School. Yes, that Briarcrest Christian, the school helped made famous by Hugh Freeze, Michael Oher and the movie Blindside. It was a step up in competition, and Altmyer improved as a player as a result. He’s much taller and stronger now, too. He’s not the same skinny kid that he was the last time most hoops fans saw him in a Patriots’ uniform.

He really enjoyed the one-year experience at Briarcrest, so much so he thought about staying for another year. After much deliberation, though, he decided to move back home and finish out his high school career at Heritage.

“Looking back, it really was a maturity thing for me,” Altmyer said. “I wanted to branch out and find out who I was as a person so I moved up there. I learned a lot about myself as a person and as a basketball player. I enjoyed it . . . the coaches were awesome. It was a tough decision, but coming back to Heritage was big for me. I wanted a bigger role in basketball. And I also wanted to play with my guys again, and be able to hang out with them my senior year. It’s more comfortable for me here. It has been an awesome experience so far. With what we’ve got coming back, and the players we’ve added, this team has a chance to be really good.”

Heritage, projected by most pundits as one of the favorites to win Class 5A and possibly make a run at an Overall title in large part due to the return of Altmyer, finally makes its much-anticipated season debut tonight when it travels to West Point to take on Oak Hill Academy. The Patriots were slated to tip off the season last week. However, the first two games were canceled because their opponents had basketball players still playing football.

“We’ve been practicing since school started basically so these guys are so ready to play and I’m ready to watch them play,” first-year Heritage coach Andrew Howell said. “It’s like having a sports car in the garage . . . we’re ready to get it out and test drive it one time.”

If Howell’s name sounds familiar, it should. He spent two seasons as head coach at Oak Hill, followed by a one-year stint as head coach at Starkville Academy. He parlayed the success he enjoyed at those two stops into a job at Pillow Academy. After one year in Greenwood, he’s back in the Golden Triangle once again as the Heritage head coach.

Howell inherits a talented roster that includes three returning starters from last year’s team which finished 20-7 overall and 9-1 in district play. That includes leading scorer Jack Ketchum, superb sophomore Xzavier Webber, and jack-of-all trades/glue guy Spencer Singley. Add talented West Point transfer Tylan Weeks, among others, along with Altmyer into the mix and Howell has the makings of a team with a very high ceiling.

Expectations are indeed high on 625 Magnolia Lane.

“That’s a good thing,” Howell said. “That’s the situation you want to be in as a coach. You want to have good players and high expectations. To me, that makes you work even harder. There’s been a lot of talk and a lot of buzz about this team. We embrace those expectations. At the same time, we have to temper those a little bit and make sure these guys don’t get too caught up in the hype. We have to make sure we stay within ourselves and not get lost in that emotion.”

Altmyer’s return plays a big role in those expectations being as high as they are for this team. Howell, for one, was elated when found out Altmyer, a 6-2 combo guard capable of scoring on all three levels, would indeed be back at Heritage for his senior season.

“That was huge, not only for this team but for Heritage,” Howell said. “I coached against him his sophomore year at Heritage. Obviously, he was a fantastic player then, but he’s a much better player now. When I saw him this summer for the first time after taking the job, I couldn’t believe how tall he was and how much he had filled out. You could tell this summer he was playing at a different speed and different level after spending last year at Briarcrest. It’s great to have a guy like Whit who can now bring that experience back with him to this team.

“He’s a tremendous leader, and a tremendous person,” Howell continued. “I couldn’t ask for a harder worker. I’ve enjoyed coaching him, and I know the guys are excited about him being back. The timing worked out really well for everybody.”

Altmyer will be joined in the backcourt by the 5-10 Webber, who ranks as one of the top sophomores in the state after averaging 10 points and three assists per game a year ago as a freshman. He shot 33 percent from 3-point range and 84.6 percent from the free throw line after missing the first four games due to a football-related injury. Webber, who has the uncanny ability to get to his spots on the floor with his dribble, has a game that’s equal parts old school and new school.

Ironically, it was Webber, who as an 8th grader at Heritage, hit a shot at the buzzer to beat a Howell-coached Starkville Academy team a couple of years ago. “I knew then he was going to be something special,” Howell said. “It’s kind of like with Whit, I come back a couple of years later and I look at Xzavier and it’s obvious he’s put in the work in the weight room and in the gym. He’s so much thicker. He’s just a really good player, and he’s a great kid. He had a great summer. He fits what we want to do, and he’s got a great temperament. He’s very even-keeled. He doesn’t get too high or too low, and he’s a guy that doesn’t say much. He lets his game speak for him. He’s very fundamentally sound, but at the same time he can do some things that make you look at him and think I didn’t know he had that in his bag.”

Ketchum averaged 14.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists last season as a junior. He shot 42 percent from 3-point range and 70 percent from the free throw line. While better known for his baseball skills - he is signing with Alabama on Wednesday - he’s not bad at basketball. In fact, he’s really good. At 6-3 and blessed with a sturdy frame, Ketchum has the strength to score inside to go along with a featherly touch from distance. It’s a rare combo, one that can make him a mismatch nightmare for opposing defenders.

“Jack has all the intangibles,” Howell said. “He’s smart, he’s a great leader that the guys respect, he’s got good size and one thing that gets lost at times with him is how good he can shoot the basketball. He can really shoot it. If a coach could create a high school basketball player, he’s what you would create. He does all the things a great athlete does, and that includes putting in the time in the gym and in the weight room.”

Those three are expected to be joined in the starting lineup by Wicks, a slender 6-6 senior with a long wingspan and an even higher motor. He brings a big personality and a healthy dose of athleticism to the table. Needless to say, Wicks has been a welcomed addition, one that should help on both ends of the floor.

“What a great guy, what a great kid,” Howell said. “He’s so long and so athletic and can do so many things. We will be able to put him on the perimeter, put him underneath, he’s going to be really good for us defensively . . . if we can get him to shoot it consistently from the outside he’s going to be a really good player. He’s another guy that’s in the gym all the time.”

The 6-1 Singley, who averaged 4.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game a year ago as a junior, or 6-5 forward Wyatt Barnes, who was used sparingly a year ago as a sophomore after transferring from Starkville High, is expected to draw the start in the fifth and final spot.

Talented newcomers KJ Barnes (6-1 junior guard from Caledonia), Zach Wilson (5-10 junior from Starkville High) and Charlie Burdette (5-10 sophomore from Starkville High) are expected to get considerable minutes off the bench. All three are guards. The same can be said for 6-5 sophomore forward Isaiah Clark and 6-2 junior guard Thompson Regimbal.

Sophomore Hayes Sansing and seniors Lathan Dunbar-Keys and Patrick Doumit will add depth in the backcourt.

“We’ve got some guys coming back, and we’ve got some new guys . . . it’s a good mix,” Howell said. “The great thing is they’ve been great with each other. They’re all very competitive, but it’s been a really good type of competitive. It has been really good for everybody. It has made for some really good practices, and without a doubt has made us a better team. It has been fun coaching such a talented group in practice. I’m looking forward to turning them loose and seeing how they play together in games. It should be a fun ride.”