Mountain West Basketball: 2020-21 breakout candidates from each team

G Brock Miller, Utah State

Nobody should envy the player forced to make up for the loss of Sam Merrill at Utah State. Merrill was a generational player, one who led the Aggies to one of the biggest results of the 2019-20 season before the pandemic rendered Utah State’s conference tournament victory obsolete.

But somebody’s going to have to do it. The first nominee: Brock Miller.

Miller is not the most explosive player in Aggies’ history. As a sophomore, he started most of the team’s games but averaged just 8.4 points per game. It’s his potential as a shooter that makes his development most intriguing for the program. He shot just 30.5 percent from three last season but made 35.4 percent from three as a freshman. He’s also an elite free throw shooter.

Miller does have the advantage of not needing to be the best player on the Aggies next season. That responsibility will fall upon Portuguese big man Neemias Queta, who has made the second-team All-Mountain West in each of his first two seasons in Logan.

Utah State will need some shooters to pick up Merrill’s lost production, though. Miller has the potential to be the first in line to make sure there’s no drop-off there.