Arizona's Justin Coleman, Dylan Smith return home to Alabama for business

When he wasn’t playing shortstop, left field or pitching on baseball fields as a youth, Dylan Smith would sometimes head out to the Gulf of Mexico and catch something to eat.

Whitefish. Trout. Grouper. Catfish. And, by just tossing a net in the water, maybe an entire bucket of shrimp.

“Usually, there’s a lot of them,” Smith said. “You just pull 'em up, rinse 'em off and cook 'em.”

Simple, delicious and fun. Until Smith grew so tall he was prompted to get serious about basketball as a high school freshman, that was life in Mobile, Alabama — about 250 miles southwest of Birmingham, where Arizona teammate Justin Coleman is from.

Coleman grew up in northwest Birmingham’s Pratt City neighborhood, a historic area that originally developed around coal mining, spending much of his time playing ball at the Howze-Sanford Recreation Center.

Just an hour away from where the two Alabamians will return with Arizona to play Alabama on Sunday, Birmingham remains a strong part of Coleman’s identity.

“It built me to the man I am today,” Coleman said. “It’s just the things you go through as a kid, certain situations where you learn and grow.”

Well before the two became teammates last summer, when Coleman transferred from Birmingham’s Samford University to join the Wildcats, the two Alabama natives connected through basketball. The game has a way of doing that.

During a conversation with the Star on Friday, here’s how they described their connection, their hometowns and their transition to Tucson:

They never played organized basketball against each other but have known each other for years. Smith transferred to Hoover High School outside of Birmingham as a high school senior. Smith said he was following his mother, who found a better job as a bank manager there, while his father remains a chemical engineer for Shell near Mobile.

Coleman: “I’ve been knowing Dylan since sixth sixth, seventh grade. He moved to Birmingham, and that made us even closer.”

Smith: “I used to look up to Justin. He was one of the best players I’ve seen play in the state. And I wasn’t that good at basketball at first.”

Coleman (smiling): “That is definitely true.”

Smith: “It was just seeing him, like, he’d get 50 (points). So seeing somebody like that do it, I was like, ‘Oh man, I can do that too. That’s how I feel about it. He ain’t that good. (laughs). He’s all right.”

Both say there isn’t much of a rivalry between Mobile and Birmingham, though they disagree on which city is better.

Smith: “He’s gonna say Birmingham, but I grew up in Mobile. I know everybody and everybody knows me. It’s kind of like Phoenix and Tucson. If I had to compare the two, Tucson would be Mobile and Birmingham would be Phoenix.”

Coleman: “Of course, I’m going to say Birmingham.”

Smith: “Don’t get me wrong. I liked living in Birmingham; it’s just that I grew up in Mobile.”

Coleman: “Birmingham is starting to rebuild. They’re trying to get a G League team for Birmingham, so they’re doing some good things for the city and I’m proud of it.”

Smith: That’ll be big, the G League.

Both miss a number of food spots in their hometowns. Coleman is fond of Dreamland Bar-B-Que and Green Acres Café, which fries up chicken wings, livers and gizzards along with other Southern comfort foods. Smith endorses Mobile’s Wintzell Oyster House, Hart’s Fried Chicken and Foosackly’s, known for chicken fingers.

Smith: “Seafood is my favorite and the seafood is definitely better in Mobile, I guarantee you. It’s probably the best I’ve had, there and in New Orleans. There’s just a lot of good food. I always eat good when I go back.”

Coleman: “(The best in Birmingham) is the barbeque for sure. Dreamland.”

Smith: “We got Dreamland in Mobile, too. The one with the old man smoking a pipe (on its sign)? That’s how you know where it’s at.”

Coleman: “I’m a big chicken guy, so I like wings and Green Acres.”

Smith: “Green Acres, yeah that’s the spot. What’s that drink they got in there? It’s like Kool-Aid. I don’t know what it is, but it’s addictive. I drank like five cups. I’m not a big water guy. I don’t drink a lot of water. I drink sugar. I can drink a whole gallon of sugar.”

They both played elsewhere in college before reuniting in Tucson, Smith at UNC Asheville as a freshman in 2015-16 and Coleman at Alabama (2014-15 and 2015-16) and Samford (2017-18). Coleman said he transferred to Samford so he could live at home while a younger brother successfully battled cancer. Both have found better opportunities at Arizona after checking out other schools on official recruiting visits.

Colaman: “I went to SMU, Ohio State, Saint Louis and Texas Southern.”

Smith: “I went to Virginia Tech and (to Arizona). I had three other visits scheduled but just kind of fell in love (with UA). My whole freshman class transferred, all five of us: One to Louisville, one went home for personal reasons, another went home for personal reasons, and another went to Maine.”

Despite all they have left behind in Alabama, there’s one advantage they agree on about living in Tucson.

Smith: “The weather.”

Coleman: “Yeah, the weather, definitely. It’s freezing (in Alabama) right now. And it’s just a different culture.”

Smith: “It’s real different. It’s more quiet. Not that much going on, but I like that. Like back home, there’s always something happening. There’s no telling what you might see in Mobile or Birmingham.”