Busting Brackets
Fansided

UNC Greensboro Basketball: Isaiah Miller frontrunner for Southern POY in 2019-20

By Tristan Freeman

LEXINGTON, KY - DECEMBER 01: Isaiah Miller #1 of the UNC-Greensboro Spartans shoots the ball against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on December 1, 2018 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KY - DECEMBER 01: Isaiah Miller #1 of the UNC-Greensboro Spartans shoots the ball against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on December 1, 2018 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Isaiah Miller of UNC Greensboro Basketball is one of the few returning stars of the SoCon for 2019-20. Can the senior guard win Player of the Year in the league?

With the Wofford Terriers (who went unbeaten in conference play a year ago) losing both their head coach and the reigning Southern Conference Player of the Year in Flecther Magee, things look wide open this upcoming season for the other top teams such as Furman, East Tennessee State and UNC Greensboro Basketball.

Coming off of a 29-win season and beating just about everyone outside of Wofford and SEC teams, the Spartans have a great shot to win the SoCon. It’ll be tough though, not having leading scorer Francis Alonso (17.5 ppg) and starting point guard Demetrius Troy around for next season. But UNC Greensboro does bring back a core of talented upperclassmen frontcourt players, including Kyrin Galloway and James Dickey.

But the guy who the Spartans are going to rely on is Isaiah Miller, a 6’0 guard who was second on the team in scoring with 15.2 ppg. While Magee was the overall Player of the Year in the conference last season, it was Miller who was dubbed SoCon Defensive Player of the Year. He plays bigger than his size would suggest and the 4.5 rpg shows how much of all-around player he is.

That’s why despite not being the star of last year’s team, there is plenty of hype and expectations for Miller. NCAA Basketball analyst Kevin Sweeney recently compiled a rankings of the top mid-major shooting guards for 2019-20 and ranked him at No. 4, behind Sam Merrill, Kellan Grady and Jhivvan Jackson, three of the best pure scorers in the country. But none of them has the defensive skills of Miller and will be tasked to do as much as him next season.

While there are understandably three better individuals on that list, keep in mind that all three of them has a fellow All-Conference capable performer with them. Whether it’s Neemias Queta of Utah State, Jon Axel Gudmundsson of Davidson and 20 ppg Keaton Wallace of UTSA, the top three have someone to play off of. And while UNC Greensboro has a good collective frontcourt, it remains to be seen who else could produce at least 15 ppg for them next year outside of Miller.

Biggest winners/losers of 2019 recruiting classes. dark. Next

That’s why I have a feeling we’re going to see some gaudy stats for the junior guard next season. Besides upping his scoring average, Miller will have to facilitate more as well. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him put up 19 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 4.0 apg for a contending team. If that happens, he’ll be right in the mix to win Conference Player of the Year. A lot is riding on Miller and I have a feeling he’s up to the task in what could be the final season of Wes Miller as the head coach of the program.