North Carolina Basketball: Is it Miller time again for the Tar Heels?
Some ten years later, North Carolina basketball will putting a familiar name on the back of a jersey.
North Carolina Basketball is in a transitional season this upcoming year. Okay, okay, we hope that UNC is not in a transitional season, but realities are realities. The roster has had a pretty good turnover since Gonzaga was defeated back in April. This is normal for Carolina teams in the year after a National Championship season.
One of the great roster turnovers occurred after the 2005 title-winning team left almost as an entire unit. Left on the roster were David Noel, Reyshawn Terry, Quentin Thomas, and some guy named Wes Miller.
Miller was a Charlotte native who had transferred into Carolina from James Madison. He came in about the time Coach Roy Williams arrived, and my own memories of Miller from that time are his reputation as a ladies man. After all, Miller was a 5’11 guard who was not really a point guard and a little small for a classic two guard.
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Miller could shoot and college guards don’t have to look like their NBA counterparts to be successful. He became a useful weapon on the Tyler Hansbrough teams as they were coming along. Miller then finished his playing days at Carolina and moved into coaching. By 2011 he had the head gig at UNC-Greensboro where he is today. He just came off winning the Southern Conference regular season last year.
Some twelve years removed from the 2005 title, you would not be admonished for thinking that the Miller story was over. Well, over until he might have found himself at a bigger school with aims at the Roy Williams succession plan. You would, however, be wrong.
With North Carolina coming off another title, another Miller has emerged to aid with the transition. That would be Walker Miller. No Walker is not the son of Wes, he is actually Wes’ younger brother. He turned down a scholarship from Dartmouth to play at Carolina as a walk-on, similar to what his brother did.
The age gap is not the only strange thing about the two Millers. Walker is also a foot taller than his brother. In fact, Walker almost has an inch for every year that separates the two in age. Where Wes was a shooting guard, Walker is a forward. He still likes to shoot it, though.
Walker Miller will be one of four freshmen big men coming in this year. He is a bit different from his peers. Garrison Brooks, Sterling Manley, and Brandon Huffman look like the standard big men that the Tar Heels always seem to have a number of. Walker Miller would probably be comfortable on the wing, but the Tar Heels have plenty of wings. Instead, he could potentially offer some of the same opportunities that Luke Maye does by extending spacing and forcing defenses to cover another shooter.
That is jumping ahead of things. Miller’s playing time as a freshman could be quite limited depending on how the minutes of the other freshmen and Maye pan out. They could be even smaller if Coach Williams experiments with Cameron Johnson or other wings at the four spot.
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However, there is a good chance that Miller knows all this. If he could inherit one skill from his shorter NCAA champion brother it should be his work ethic. Miller knows that he will not be playing the Ivy League this coming year and the preparation will test him, but that shows a grasp of reality and a willingness to work. If he can replicate his brother on that then he might also leave Carolina with a title ring some day.