‘Win or lose, I just hope to glorify You’

South Oldham guard Christian Veirs uses the court to make a difference

By John Herndon, 110forChrist.com

CRESTWOOD, Ky.  – Not many expected South Oldham to be where the Dragons currently are heading toward March Madness, but that’s one of the things that makes high school basketball so special.

When the 2023-34 season tipped off, few figured that South Oldham would be among the serious contenders for the Eighth Region championship. It wasn’t that the Dragons weren’t supposed to be in for a long season. They were expected to be in the middle of the pack, pretty good, you know, but nowhere among the cream of the Eighth’s crop.

Some regional coaches were wary, thinking South had potential to create a little havoc come March. South coach Steve Simpson was cautiously optimistic, given his team’s youth. 

Senior point guard Christian Veirs? He was determined. For that matter, he’s still determined to lead the Dragons, one of the Eighth’s dominant teams during the decade of the 2010s, back to Henry County for the regional tournament for the first time since 2020, when Veirs was still in middle school.

And with tournament play beginning in three weeks, South Oldham has blitzed its way back into the championship conversation with a 12-9 record that deceives those who don’t know the full story.

“The thought of being an afterthought wasn’t great news to me,” Veirs says of the pre-season rankings . “All of our guys are hard-working and we kind of had that in the back of our minds. We just started to become a team.”

But things didn’t look so rosy when South Oldham dropped its first three contests and five of its first six. It looked like the Dragons’ only chance at getting to the regional tournament was making the short drive to Henry County. But before the season was written off, South Oldham got things back in order to the point that the Dragons were ranked second in the region and No. 15 in the state in the Cantrall rankings that appeared in the Lexington Herald Leader on Feb. 5.

“I think it took some time,” South’s veteran coach, Steve Simpson, says. “When we started out the year, we had several people that thought they were supposed to be the leading scorer. I think it took some time for some people to find their roles. Once we did that, we saw we could score a lot of points and that created a lot of opportunities for everybody to score. Once we did that and had some success with it, everybody started buying into that.”

The Dragons enjoyed a nine-game win streak, one of South’s longest in several years, and the Dragons figure to be capable of sending any regional foe home for the off-season.

Much of the South’s success can be traced to Veirs, a 6-foot-1 senior who directs the high-octane attack that is scoring better than 78 points a game, fourth-best in Kentucky.

“He’s a pass first point guard,” Simpson says. “He’s always looking for someone who has hit two or three threes.”

Simpson’s system reflects the shooter’s culture he has developed in his 24 seasons in Crestwood, but the system demands someone to direct traffic, distribute and be a catalyst. For the 2024 version of the Dragons, that key role is filled by Veirs, an unassuming 6-1 senior.

“My coach puts a lot of confidence and the power of the court in his point guard and he wants his point guard to be a reflection of him on the court,” Veirs says. “I am just trying to do my best to do that. I have the ball in my hands a lot and I just try to find my guys. You saw tonight what they can do. They hit a lot of shots and we just played great tonight.”

A few moments before, South Oldham had shellacked St. Henry 92-38. Four different South players reached double figures, Junior Julian Miles led the way with 21 points. Veirs finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds. On the year, he’s tallying 14.7 points and snaring 4.9 rebounds a contest, both second on the Dragons. And like a true floor general, he’s dishing 6 assists per game.

But the big thing was bouncing back from a two-game skid that saw South fall to North Oldham and Spencer County. “After the game Tuesday night (a 78-61 loss at Spencer), I took it upon myself to get the guys ready for tonight’s game and just try to get back on the right track. We worked and played really well. I had a lot of success finding my teammates who were hitting shots,” he said after dispatching St. Henry.

Monday, South Oldham dropped an 85-79 decision to DeSales, one of the top teams in Louisville.

In many ways, Veirs’ basketball leadership is a reflection of his deep Christian faith.

“He’s just a leader,” Simpson says. “He’s not the rah-rah type. He’s talking to people calmly and encouraging them and things like that. What you see on the court is who he is.”

That was apparent Friday night. There might have been a fist bump or two along with some clapping but not much else. 

“I am really blessed to have a coach who is a man of faith as well,” Veirs says. “I love that about him and he doesn’t care to let people know that. I want to glorify God any way that I can and so before each game, I pray. I say, ‘Win or lose, I just hope that I glorify You in how I conduct myself on the court.’ I love being able to do that and testify my faith.

“I just use the court as a stage to impact people in any way I can. I try to impact my teammates on a daily basis. We pray before every practice and I just try to be a positive influence and share the gospel with people any chance I get.”

It’s a lifestyle cultivated in Veirs’ family. “My parents are role models. They have shown me how to walk by faith in my daily life,” he says. 

That walk includes being active in the LaGrange campus of Southeast Christian Church and has led Veirs to choosing to further his education and basketball career at Wheaton College, an NCAA Division III school located near Chicago. Veirs plans to study statistics and mathematics and wants to stay close to the game he loves as long as he can. 

The high school portion of that career will be coming to a close in the next few weeks but Veirs has challenged his teammates to make the postseason much longer than the one-and-done showings of the last three years. 

It would be a monumental task. Even though South Oldham was ranked the region’s second-best team, No. 1 is district rival North Oldham.  Sitting at No. 3 was Oldham County, putting three teams from the same district at the top of the 18-team region. They all hold 1-1 records in district play but North won the tie-breaker, which is based on point differential. With only the district winner and runner-up advancing to regional play, one of the top three teams will have a one-game postseason.

South Oldham will play at tourney host Oldham County in the first round on Feb. 27.

“All three of the Oldham County teams are, I think, really good teams, especially when we are all playing really well, which we are right now,” Veirs says. “We don’t want to be that third team like we have the last couple of years. We know we are going to play OC at OC in the district tournament and that is going to be a challenge. Every practice, every day, I am challenging them to get ready for Feb. 27.”

Whatever happens, you know that Christian Veirs’ prayer will be the same.

“Win or lose, I just hope to glorify You in how I conduct myself on the court.”