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Miller has stepped out of Keith Van Horn's shadow to become a national player of the year candidate in his own right.
(AP/John Gress)
| Andre Miller,
Utah
Class:
Junior
Position: Guard
Height:
6'2"
Weight:
200
DOB:
Aug. 19,
1976
Hometown:
Compton,
Calif.
High School:
Verbum
Dei
Vital
Stats: 13.5 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 2.2 steals, 56.5% field goals
by Albert
Lin
Salt Lake City, with its fresh air, majestic mountain views
and generally idyllic surroundings, is not exactly where
you would expect to find a kid from the streets of South
Central Los Angeles. But Andre Miller was already following
a different path
when he came to the University of Utah in 1994 straight out of
Compton. His mother, Andrea Robinson, had grown up in
nearby Watts, and she knew the dangers of a public-school
education—a lack of good teachers and an abundance of
violence. So from his first
day of kindergarten, Miller was enrolled in private
schools.
At Verbum Dei High School, Miller blossomed into an honor
roll student, league MVP as a football quarterback, and the
California Interscholastic Federation Class 4A player of
the year in basketball. Verbum Dei alumnus Donny Daniels,
an assistant coach
at Utah, helped convince Miller to choose culture shock. His
mother gave her
blessing.
"I know there's not a whole lot of blacks there. I
don't have a problem with that," Robinson says.
"There's only one race, and that's the human race.
That's what I've always shared with
Andre."
Miller had to sit out his first year as a non-qualifier,
but he made the WAC's all-newcomer team—and the honor
roll—as a sophomore. Last season he took another step
forward, earning WAC all-defensive honors and regaining his
lost year of eligibility;
Miller is on target to graduate this spring with a degree in
sociology.
Reclassified as a junior, Miller may never use that fourth
year. The 6'2", 200-pounder is one of the nation's
most complete backcourtmen. He has a great knack for
getting to the basket (56.5% from the
field) and the strength to post up, rebound and defend against
bigger players, while still maintaining a point guard's
most valuable asset: court vision. "Andre makes smart
decisions every night and he gets the ball in the places it
has to be," former Utes
All-America Keith Van Horn said last
season.
Head coach Rick Majerus calls Miller the second-best point
guard in the country behind Arizona's Mike Bibby, and he
was selected one of 11 finalists for the Oscar Robertson
Trophy. "He's an experienced, NBA-type guard,"
Colorado State coach Stew Morrill
says. "He's very, very
good."
When the season comes to a close, Miller will face a tough
decision. But with degree already in hand, it might be time
for him to find out just how good he
is.
Other Spotlights
March 19: Brian Cardinal, Purdue
March 18: Tim Young, Stanford
March 17: Sarunas
Jasikevicius, Maryland; Adia Barnes, Arizona
March 16: Mateen Cleaves, Michigan; Murriel Page, Florida
March 15: Jason Hart, Syracuse
March 14: Kris Johnson, UCLA
March 13: Lee Nailon, Texas Christian
March 12: Brian Earl, Princeton
March 11: Tyrone Weeks, Massachusetts
March 10: Brett Robisch, Oklahoma St.
March 9: Larry Hughes, Saint Louis
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