Meet the Wildcats: #1 Darius Miller

DARIUS MILLER

SOPHOMORE

SMALL FORWARD

6’7 223

MAYESVILLE, KY

MASON COUNTY HS

BEFORE UK:

Darius brought a championship pedigree to the Wildcats being a member of the 2008 Kentucky state champion Mason County team. Darius was the 2008 player of the year in Kentucky. He averaged 19.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game his Senior season at Mason County. Miller was UK’s highest rated recruit of the 2008 class. He was rated the #6th highest SF and #33rd best player overall by ESPN and 8th best SF and #42 overall by rivals.com.

FROM ESPN: Miller is a high riser that possesses freakish athletic ability. His explosive leaping ability enables him to finish almost effortlessly on the break. He also has good body control and a decent amount of strength, which allows him to adjust his shot in the air and absorb contact, while still getting his shot off.

AS A WILDCAT:

Played in 36 games as a Wildcat, starting 2 games. Finished with averages of 5.1 ppg and 3.1 rebounds. Darius had an up and down season but showed great flashes of potential but appeared to play timid at times, in fear of making a mistake. He played better as the season progressed, averaging 7.8 points and 2.2 rebounds per game over his last 5 games. Darius started two games, and in an odd stat, went 0-9 from the field in those starts. Darius did hit double digits in scoring 5 times with his high a 17 point game against Tennessee on 6/6 shooting.

CAREER HIGHS:

Points: 17 – 2/21/2009 – vs Tennessee

Rebounds: 10 – 12/6/2008 – vs Miami

Assists: 6 – 2/21/2009 – vs Tennessee

Blocks: 3 – 1/24/2009 – @ Alabama

Steals: 3 (2x) – last 2-14-2009 – @ Arkansas

WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER:

Darius spent the summer updating his championship resume as he was a member of the gold medal-winning USA men’s basketball team in the FIBA Under-19 World Championships. It was valuable experience for Miller who averaged 5 points a game. During the tournament, Miller displayed a mean defensive streak and led the team in blocked shots (12) and steals (14) despite only playing 14.4. minutes a game which was 9th in playing time. Impressive was the fact that Miller led the team in blocked shots even with Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado on the roster. Darius edged out highly touted Florida freshman Kenny Boynton to make the roster.

WHAT TO EXPECT THIS SEASON:

It is important to realize that Miller is just a sophomore, but from all appearances, he will be moving into the starting lineup for UK. The biggest knock on Miller last season was that he tended to “disappear” in games at times and was not aggressive, but I attribute that to the previous coaching regime and the “playing scared to not make mistakes” approach a few players were saddled with. I think it’s great that Darius got the summer experience with the U19 team and he is showing the potential to be a real defensive stopper.

With the influx of new talent, it’s hard to predict exactly how big of an impact that Miller will have. I do see him being a 8 point, 6 rebound player and he will have 2-3 games a year that he will explode and score about 20 points. I know that number may seem low, but I am trying to be realistic with all the talent UK has. UK has probably 4 players that can average close to 20 points a game, but I think that instead of counting on Meeks to get 25 a game, UK will go with the hot hand, and Darius has the potential to be “that guy” a few nights.

I do wonder if Darius will shoot from outside more. He only had 18 3-pointers last season and shot just 34% from beyond the arc in HS, but he did nail 3’s in his last three games last year and you wonder that if increased confidence, Darius can be more of a threat from the 3 point line on a team that needs someone to step up.

Darius on last season: “(Last season) was kind of rough because sometimes I’d have little streaks (of good play) and then sometimes I wouldn’t and that’s always rough. My teammates did a real good job of keeping my head in the game and keeping me focused but it was really tough” (from Catspause)

CALIPARI ON DARIUS:

“I had six workouts with Darius and I’m going to tell you, I was excited about him as anyone on the team. The way we’re going to play the dribble-drive motion, the wide-open style – he has a knack for getting balls in the basket. He’s a good athlete, not a great, great athlete, but he’s a very good athlete and he can shoot runners. He scores the ball well enough from the perimeter that you have to guard him. He’s good enough with the ball and has a feel when he’s playing fast.”

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