Young guns grab spotlight at Peach Jam hoops event

	Point guard K.C. Miller averaged 20 points and 10 assists as a freshman at God's Academy in Dallas last season. Courtesy of Kelly Kline

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. -- The eyes of Texas and many Division I college recruiters were focused on the Lone Star state's top prep talent at the Nike Peach Jam on Friday. In attendance to evaluate several top players during the morning's final game in Gymnasium No. 4, more than 24 coaches sat along the sidelines and baselines, wearing their schools' colors and logos in plain view for prospective recruits to see.

On the hardwood, Willie Warren, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound shooting guard who will play next year at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) and is ranked No. 13 in the class of 2008 by Rivals.com, showed his unlimited potential. Bursting through the lane and burying jumpers, Warren led his summer squad, Team Texas, back from a second-half deficit to defeat Houston Hoops. Despite having continually proven his skills on the national stage this summer, though, Warren says he is not yet ready to commit to a college. "We're going to narrow down a list after this and then watch the schools during the season and see which ones appear to be the best fit," says his mother, Malaika Warren. "So many things can change at the drop of a hat; so we want to make the best decision with the most research. We're not going to rush anything."

It is that hesitation to commit to a school early that contrasts sharply with Warren's running mate on Team Texas, K.C. Miller, a generously listed 6-foot, 170-pound point guard. Just 16, Miller will be a sophomore next fall, but he does not even know which high school he will attend. Having played his freshman season under his father, Tim Miller, at God's Academy in Dallas, Texas, Miller averaged 20 points and 10 assists per game for a team that went 27-3. He also won Primetime Tour MVP at the Dallas site in the winter, and has only built on a reputation that has developed since he won three straight national AAU titles while in middle school. But Miller's father said that God's Academy is dealing with "NCAA issues that my attorneys are handling. He might be back at the school, but it's not known right now. It might be better for him to go elsewhere." Those NCAA issues include the fact that the NCAA ruled in April that it will no longer accept courses and grades from God's Academy for determining freshman eligibility. According to the Dallas Morning News, the school operates out of a recreation center

What is known, at this point, in Miller's rising-star trajectory is that he's verbally commited to Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie and wants to be a Wildcat. Two weeks ago, Miller made his way to Lexington, Ky. for an unofficial visit following an unofficial visit to Indiana. After spending two days touring the Kentucky campus and newly built, $30 million Joe Craft Basketball facility, as well as meeting the staff and players, Miller says he felt at home. During the visit, Miller said he was in "awe" of the reception given to him when he walked into the Kentucky practice facility, where a youth basketball camp was being held, and "the people just stood and clapped, kids and adults, everybody knew who I was." Adds his father, "I don't know how it was announced but it was hysterical. There were grownups clapping and cheering for him like they knew all about him."

Miller, who starts for Team Texas along with several potential Division I prospects, chose the Wildcats because he saw the facilities as top-notch and that he felt at home with Gillispie. Just a year earlier, he had showcased his abilities at an elite player's camp at Texas A&M, when Gillispie was still the Aggies coach. Even though Miller had not even played a high school game, Gillispie was so impressed, says Miller's father, that "he came up to me and said there was a scholarship that he had available right then, and it was on the table for him to commit."

From that meeting, Gillispie's personality and coaching left a lasting mark on the Millers, but the offer was not the first of its kind. Miller's father said Baylor had offered his son when he was rising out of the seventh grade. Still, Miller did not commit to Texas A&M, and the scholarships continued to come in, totaling 15 offers before Miller committed to Kentucky. Having gotten to know Gillispie while the 48-year-old coach was the head man at Texas A&M, Miller said, "I'm close with Billy. I think it's a great opportunity. He told me to keep working hard and make sure that I keep developing. "

Across message boards based out of Lexington, Miller's commitment was lauded as it was the sixth verbal collected by Gillispie in just three months on the job. But others, including many rival coaches, rolled their eyes at the idea of another young recruit continuing a growing trend of players committing earlier and earlier. "I think the process went great. He's comfortable with everything from the campus to the coach. I'm not sure that we would have committed if Billy was still at Texas A&M," said Tim Miller, who is originally from Muncie, Ind. and has coached at God's Academy for two years. "But you take a great coach like him and put him somewhere that has the tradition of Kentucky and you have what we want. We want to win wherever we are."

Standing on the baseline for Miller's night game was Gillispie, and to his left was USC coach Tim Floyd, who is known by critics as a serial recruiter of eighth-grade prospects. Just last month, prior to Miller's commitment, Floyd gained a verbal commitment from eighth-grader Ryan Boatwright. At the time, Boatwright, who will not be a freshman until the fall, had not yet chosen between attending East or West Aurora (Ill.) for high school. But there he stood on Friday the 13th next to Gillispie, who was wearing his royal-blue Kentucky windbreaker. NCAA rules prevented him from communicating with his class of 2010 point guard but the message was clear to Miller, nonetheless. "I know he can't talk, and he told me that," says Miller. "But he gets his point across when we're in the same gym. There are winks that he gives me and stuff like that."