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Royal story: Miller wants last chapter to be written at Rupp
By Mike FieldsMFIELDS@HERALD-LEADER.COM
On March 20, 2004, the night before his 14th birthday, a bright-eyed, gangly Darius Miller stepped onto the Rupp Arena court in the heat of the Sweet Sixteen finals.
A precocious eighth-grader, he came off the bench in the second half for defending state champion Mason County and played with poise beyond his years against Warren Central.
In the closing minutes, Miller swished a three-pointer to help fuel a Royals rally.
Alas, it wasn't enough. Warren Central prevailed 66-56, denying Mason County and its star, Chris Lofton, another state title.
Four basketball seasons later, it's easy to point to Miller's 10-minute appearance in that championship game in front of 16,500 fans as the first indication he was destined to be a great player.
Not so, according to his father, Brian Miller.
"I knew it before that," he said. "I knew it when Darius was in the sixth grade and he'd play in pickup games against me and other guys a lot older than him.
"He was never scared, never backed down. He really competed against us. That was his defining moment. I knew then he was going to be special."
Now a long, lean 6-foot-6, 218-pound senior at Mason County, Miller carries himself with quiet confidence, but arrogance is a complete stranger.
Most high school stars in his sneakers would have outsized egos. He's rated among the top 35 players in the nation. He just signed with the University of Kentucky. He's an overwhelming favorite to win Mr. Basketball honors. And his Royals are ranked No. 1 in the pre-season.
But Miller seeks no publicity. He seems a tad uncomfortable with all the attention, although he says he got a kick out of chatting up such coaching luminaries as Billy Donovan, Billy Gillispie and Rick Pitino when they were wooing him. "I was overwhelmed with the recruiting at first, but I got used to it, and it got to be fun talking to them all," he said.
"Fun" is a favorite word of Miller's, which is as it should be for a 17-year-old who seems to have life by the tail.
He recalled his prime-time debut in the 2004 Sweet Sixteen as "a lot of fun."
Asked if UK fans' never-ending scrutiny of recruits will bother him this season, he said: "I won't feel any pressure. I've got all my family and friends supporting me. I'm just going to go out there, have fun and try to win a lot of games."
And about trying to follow in the footsteps of his buddy Lofton and wear the title of Mr. Basketball? "It'd be fun to win it, but I'm focused on winning the state championship."
Miller credits his family -- his father, mother Nicole, younger sisters Taylor and Reagon, and his grandmother Sylvia Peters -- for keeping him humble and hungry.
"Darius knows he hasn't arrived yet, that he's got a long way to go to achieve his goals," his dad said. "That's where family, especially parents, are so important. You've always got to stay the parent and never become the fan."
Even when the child dunks on you. Father remembers the first time son jammed on him.
"He was a freshman," Brian said. "Darius went baseline and went up over me. It was great. I wanted him to do it again. If you dunk on your dad you'll dunk on anybody. You've got to have that kind of attitude."
Brian, who played at Morehead State in the late 1980s and early '90s, is in great shape and still plays regularly in pickup games in the old Maysville High School gym.
But he's no longer the best player in the family.
"If Darius and I played one-on-one 10 times, he'd win seven," Brian said.
Darius, the thoughtful son, said the gap isn't that great.
"I'm not there yet," he said with a sheepish smile.
But he's come a long way. In the last few years he's grown four inches, put on 60 pounds and developed what his dad calls a "high basketball IQ."
He averaged 10 points and five rebounds as a freshman, 16 and seven as a sophomore, and 19 and eight as a junior.
Miller also led the Royals in assists, shooting percentage, steals and blocked shots last season.
Even at that, some people wish he would play with more energy and outward emotion. But Mason County Coach Chris O'Hearn thinks Miller's "laid-back personality" and his unselfishness on the court are misconstrued.
"People said the same thing about Chris (Lofton)," O'Hearn said. "The thing is, they're all about their team. That's why they're so well-liked by their teammates.
"Another example is how Darius dealt with the recruiting stuff. Here he was getting phone calls from Pitino, Donovan and Gillispie, but to this day I've never heard him say a word about it to his teammates. He handled it like an expert, with so much class."
Miller knows some people, including his coach, want him to be more assertive. "I know I defer to my teammates sometimes, but that's because I've been playing with them forever and I have a lot of trust in them," he said.
But just as Lofton has always done (at Mason County and now at the University of Tennessee), Miller wants to be the go-to guy at crunch time. He's a nightmare matchup for defenders because he can shoot over them or go around them. His passing skills are exceptional.
"We want Darius to be selfish and demand the ball," O'Hearn said. "We don't think anybody can stop him one-on-one. And when he does that, he sets up his teammates, provides opportunities for them."
The opportunity Miller craves most is getting back to the Sweet Sixteen for a third time. The Royals lost in the first round of the region when he was a freshman, but Miller helped lead them back to Rupp Arena as a sophomore. He had 14 points and six rebounds in a first-round win over his '04 conqueror, Warren Central, but the Royals were upset by Apollo in the quarterfinals, a few days before Miller turned 16. Last season, the Royals were beat in the 10th Region finals by Clark County.
If Mason County can get to the state tournament this season, Miller will celebrate his 18th birthday that same week in March, under the bright lights of Rupp Arena, on the same court where he first introduced himself to a statewide basketball audience.
And if he could cut down the nets after a championship performance, it would be the perfect ending to this Royal basketball story.