COLUMBUS, Ohio – Being a part of a basketball family isn’t always filled with what Hilliard Bradley boys basketball coach Brett Norris calls ‘sunshine and rainbows.’

One memory he’ll always cherish took place March 8, 2022, when he along with his wife, Carrie Norris, and three of their sons traveled to Indianapolis to cheer on another of their sons, 2021 Bradley graduate Keaton Norris.

That night, Keaton helped the Wright State men’s basketball team win the Horizon League championship and punch a ticket to the NCAA tournament two days after his older brother, 2018 Bradley graduate Braden Norris, helped the Loyola Chicago men’s team also qualify for the tournament after winning the Missouri Valley Conference title.

Rewind the clock to two weeks prior to that, though, and the father and another son, Cade Norris, endured what they could only hope was a bump in the road to better things down the line.

Cade, now a junior, is the latest member of the clan to show off his basketball skills at the prep level and seems to be coming into his own this winter as Bradley has returned to prominence among central Ohio’s Division I powers.

Last winter, however, Bradley won 12 of its first 15 games only to lose six of its final seven, including being upset by 24th-seeded Grove City 65-60 as the No. 9 seed in the second round of the district tournament to finish 13-9 overall.

“We had a tough stretch last year when we got upset in the second round,” Cade said. “(We learned) that you can always get beat and that you have to go every game and can’t take any game lightly. I’ve come out better for it.”

Cade stands 6-foot-4, which is four inches taller than both Keaton and Braden, but he typically has “played with the ball in (his) hands” as he describes it while running the offense.

He poured in 30 points on January 6th during a 63-55 victory over Olentangy Orange, which was the first loss of the season for the Pioneers.

Then on the next day in The Challenge at Pickerington North that featured six games between the OCC and the City League, he finished with 18 points to help the Jaguars outduel Africentric and Xavier-commit Dailyn Swain 48-41.

Cade has offers from Ball State, Illinois State and Wright State.

“In the offseason, a lot of it was about his body and his motor,” Brett Norris said. “His improved athleticism and motor really shined (against Orange). He’s a year older, bigger and stronger and he’s been a gym rat his whole life.

“That doesn’t mean he’s going to shoot it well every night, but it won’t be from a lack of putting in the work or having the confidence. He’s not afraid to cut loose or play aggressively. We post him quite a bit, so he’s not a traditional point guard.”

As it returns to OCC-Central Division action Jan. 13 against Dublin Coffman, Bradley has won five in a row to improve to 9-3 overall and is 3-1 in the league.

Cade is averaging a team-best 18 points and also leads the Jaguars in rebounding (5.8) and assists (4.3) as a cast that features only one senior in forward David Heath has settled in.

Junior guard Jeb Bischoff made a program-record seven 3-pointers during a 71-25 victory over Groveport and averages 10 points and junior Ian Abrass and sophomore Garrett Sever also have emerged in the backcourt.

“I’ve got to keep playing harder and faster and try to push the pace more and more, but (my game has improved),” Cade said. “We’ve got a chance to do something in the tournament. We just have to show more consistency and guys will keep getting better. We’ve been streaky but we’re starting to get it going. It’s all about team success. We only have one senior but I feel like we’re in a good place.”

The recent run of success is much more in line with what’s transpired throughout most of the Jaguars’ time under Brett Norris, who is in his ninth season heading the

program.

Before finishing just 4-6 in the OCC-Central last season, Bradley had won five consecutive league championships.

The Jaguars’ best season under Norris, though, might be the one they weren’t able to complete.

With Cade serving as a contributing player typically at forward as a freshman and Keaton as one of the leaders as a junior, the Jaguars defeated Walnut Ridge 59-32 in a regional semifinal March 11, 2020, to improve to 25-2.

That game was played before a limited crowd and proved to be the final contest to be held in central Ohio that season before the remainder of the season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Braden made the all-Freshman team for Oakland in 2018-19 but transferred to Loyola Chicago and sat out the 2019-20 season because of the NCAA transfer rule.

He averaged 8.5 points in his first season with Loyola Chicago, 10.4 last season and is averaging 11.1 points while ranking among the top 10 in the nation in minutes per game.

Keaton, who led the way in 2020-21 as Bradley went 18-5 and reached a regional semifinal, started 13 of Wright State’s first 17 games this winter.

“It’s been awesome getting to watch my brothers play, and I look up to those two,” Cade said. “They’re showing me the way. We all love it. We all work really hard. I fell in love (with basketball) early at a young age, so I just kept going with it and kept following in my brothers’ footsteps. I love competing, being a part of a team and just love the game.”

Brett, whose father, Dan Norris, also was a high school basketball coach, met his wife when both were basketball players at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

He then served as an assistant for one season at Delphos St. John’s before becoming that program’s coach for a 10-year tenure that included earning Division IV state runner-up finishes in 1998 and 2001 and winning the state title in 2002.

After a six-year tenure as Hilliard Darby’s coach ended in 2011, Brett assisted for one season at Upper Arlington and one season at Capital before becoming Bradley’s coach.

Every season since he’s been with the Jaguars, he’s had at least one of his sons on the team.

And that’s likely to continue for at least a few more years, considering the Norris’ fourth son, Kypton Norris, is a seventh grader who already has shown advanced skills for his age according to his father.

“The reality is that you have some (challenging) moments (coaching your sons), but (basketball has) been so important to our family and the boys,” Brett said. “As a coach and dad, I’ve done it better as we’ve gone on. Anybody who says it’s easy is lying to you, particularly when you’re competing at something. I tell my oldest, Braden, that I made all the mistakes with him and I’m getting better with Keaton and Cade.”