Just as it seemed the Notre Dame College men's basketball team was about to drop out of the American Mideast Conference tournament on Feb. 24, 2007, an unlikely hero stepped forward. Sophomore Kyle Miller hit a deep buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Notre Dame a dramatic 102-100 overtime win against No. 10 Mount Vernon Nazarene, sending the Falcons within one game of the NAIA National Tournament.
Miller, a second-year guard out of Piketon High School, averaged 14.8 points- per- game through the Falcons' 33 contests. Despite shooting just 3 for 12 and playing 85 of 90 minutes in three days, Miller found the energy and nerves in the dying moments to make perhaps the biggest shot of his young career.
With few passing options Jerome Pierce, the Falcons' all-time leading scorer, found Miller, on the left-wing pulled up a foot deep from the 3-point line and let go a prayer with two defenders in his face. That prayer was answered and the shot went through the bottom of the net as time expired. The Falcon bench and the capacity crowd at Murphy Gymnasium erupted.
The performance marked the highlight of Miller's young career, which has seen a number of downfalls since and has put Miller on an unlikely path to become a pro. Four years, 10 months, and four days after hitting that shot, the former Notre Dame College standout and Piketon High School Basketball All-Ohioan will set off for his next adventure to play professional basketball Down Under.
Miller who signed to play for the Central District Lions of the Australian Basketball Association on Aug. 17, 2011, is only the second Notre Dame and first Piketon High School basketball player to embark on a professional career. He heads to Australia today.
While details of the contract are not available due to league and team rules, Miller is excited about a possible endorsement deal with Peak Sports. If the endorsement deal goes through, Miller will join NBA Slam Dunk Champion Jason Richardson and NBA Champions Sasha Vujacic and Jason Kidd with the shoe and apparel company based in Australia.
“We expect Kyle to come in and lead right from the get-go, on and off the court,” Whitmore said.
Whitmore a 15-year veteran of the Australian Basketball Association enters his fifth year at the helm of the Central District Lions after playing over 400 games including the 2000 ABL championship.
Whitmore will look to Miller for a much needed scoring punch to his Lions squad that averaged just 74 points per game in 2010-11, finishing eighth in the 10 team league with a 5-13 record last season.
“I expect he will make his team mates better players and show them that personal character and behavior reflect at times how they will perform on the court,” Whitmore said.
First Miller will have to make the two day trip from Ohio to Adelaide, Australia, before setting foot on the Lions' home court, STARplex on Jan. 5, 2012. The Central District Lions will play 13 preseason games before embarking on the 18 game ABA schedule running from April through August.
With the beginning of the season next year Miller will have realized his dream. But it was not always an easy road for the 6-foot-3 guard.
Miller began his high school career as one of three freshman starters who endured two of the largest losses in Piketon High School history while going 0-21. But Miller and the Redstreaks began to build momentum with a 9-12 record in his second year. When Miller swished a 3-pointer putting the Redstreaks in the lead in a Scioto Valley Conference game, Head Coach Bret Coreno heard the home crowd explode in their new state-of-the-art 2,600 capacity gym in over a year.
“He is a better person than he is a basketball player,” Coreno said. “I was fortunate to coach him for three years and he was my hardest worker; and when you have that as a coach you're a winner.”
As a junior for the Redstreaks, Miller earned Scioto Valley Conference and All-District honors as Coreno earned District Coach of the Year with a 19-4 record winning the school's third conference title. But the storybook season ended in the district championship game with Miller suffering back spasms that kept the star guard from playing in the second half.
Heading into his final high school season, Miller saw former Miami of Ohio star Jeff Lisath step into the role as head coach of the Streaks. While battling for the SVC the entire season, Piketon finished second for the fourth time. Miller eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau near the end of the season scored 23 points in the District semi-final against the No. 2 state-ranked Ironton Tigers. However, the Streaks were unable to beat the eventual state runner-up, ending the Second-Team All-Ohioan's high school career.
“[Kyle] became more determined after he graduated from Piketon,” Scott Legg, Piketon High School Basketball historian and PHS' fourth all-time leading scorer said.
That determination was noticed by Notre Dame Head Coach Kevin Bille.
“Kyle was a good kid and a gym rat,” Bille said. “Physically he needed to mature but it was just a matter of time before he put all of it together in terms of being a complete player.”
The gym rat spent countless hours in Piketon High School's facilities perfecting his shot and physique each summer, preparing for the next season at NDC.
In Miller's first year, the Falcons battled through an 11-19 season while Miller scored nearly 11 points per game. Miller scored in double figures in 14 of 23 games and recorded his first career double-double (13 points and 10 rebounds) in just his seventh game.
Miller's second year started with a career-high 26 points on 8-of-17 shooting against Shawnee State. He then missed his first career triple-double by three assists when he stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists against Rio Grande in his next game. Almost a month later, Miller would go for 12 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists, but it was a quiet night when Miller shot just 30.8 percent (4-for-13) from the floor that turned the guard became a hero for the South Euclid College when he buried the buzzer beating 3-pointer sending the Falcons to the American Mideast Conference Championship game.
As a junior, Miller earned Third Team All-AMC North honors while averaging 13.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and three assists per game. But it was the only game Miller didn't start that spelled trouble for the Falcons' fifth all-time scorer. Miller played just five minutes and failed to score for the first time in 77 games as NDC defeated Washington & Jefferson 69-64
After earning four conference awards amidst three successful seasons under Bille, including reaching the AMC Tournament final, earning a top-25 ranking, and winning the program's first regular season title in 2007-08, Miller departed Notre Dame for conference rival Shawnee State to be closer to family and his hometown.
“To say I was disappointed would be an understatement,” Bille said. “It wasn't what I expected to hear going into his senior season, let alone during the middle of the summer. It was unfortunate especially the way things turned out at Shawnee with the injury.”
At first, things started at well for Miller, who averaged a career-high 15.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.6 steals through nine games for the Bears.
But the success on the court wasn't enough.
“When I looked at the sideline with the success I was having, I wanted to see coach Bille,” Miller said. “It was the right year, but the wrong people were involved with me. I wanted it to be Notre Dame. ”
While some were upset about his departure, Miller's NDC teammates missed him as well.
“Kyle was someone you wanted to go to battle with,” former teammate and current NDC assistant coach Dan Jones said. “The bigger the game, the better he played. When he transferred it definitely hurt.”
And then Miller got hurt.
In the midst of his best season, tragedy struck Miller in the opening 10 minutes of the Bears 91-59 victory over Cincinnati-Clermont on Dec. 10, 2008. Miller broke his right arm, ending his collegiate career.
“After I broke my arm I realized what I did was wrong,” Miller said about leaving the school that was his home. “There really are no words at all that I can express how sorry I am to coach Bille, the athletic department, to all my teammates, and faculty.”
Following the injury, Miller began a three-year process traveling to tryouts, combines, and tours that covered more than 17,000 miles, four states, and three continents in a rocky quest to become a professional player. Miller drove more than 5,000 miles to Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and Kentucky by car, and flew more than 12,000 miles to Bosnia, Croatia, Italy, and Israel.
“I believe that Kyle learned a great deal about himself through the process and to his credit, he's done a very good job of rebuilding the bridges that he potentially could have burnt,” Bille said.
The first trip began in 2009 after Miller rehabbed his broken arm. He traveled overseas to play against pro teams in Bosnia, Croatia, and Italy. During the tour, Miller led the American team in points and assists.
The performance in Europe brought attention for to the 6-foot-3 point guard, who was invited to the Premier Basketball League Draft Combine, where Miller was selected in the top 15 prospects out of nearly 300 participants. However, he went undrafted in the 11-team Midwest professional league's draft.
Nearly a year after breaking his arm, Miller had another setback when he performed well at a team tryout only to learn they were looking for a 6-foot-7 wing.
In 2010, Miller was selected as one of the top 25 prospects at the Baltimore Pro Showcase that featured top NCAA-I prospects and international professional players. An NBA scouting report compared Miller to NBA point guard Jason Williams, who won an NBA Championship with the Miami Heat in 2006.
But again nothing developed.
Then Miller rejected a contract after his agent reassured him another team would offer more. But no deal came.
Preparing to go on tour with Athletes in Action, a Christian basketball group that travels the world giving faith testimonies while also playing exhibition games in 2010, Miller suffered a serious ankle injury that delayed his trip to the following year.
Miller began to consider giving up his dream and took a job as a program director at the Waverly, Ohio, YMCA.
Miller headed off to Israel with Athletes in Action this summer thinking it would be his last time playing basketball competitively.
“Once I came back from Israel, I would probably be done with basketball as far as trying to play, and start the rest of my life with something else,” Miller said.
However, a dynamic scoring performance by Miller, who averaged 32.5 points per game including two games over 40 points against professional teams in the Middle East, created a new buzz.
“I still didn't put too much stock into it,” Miller said. “I wasn't going to stress over it.”
But only a week after coming back, he received a contract offer from Australia's Central District Lions Head Coach Scott Whitmore, capping a 12-year journey of highs and lows.
“It means a lot that a former teammate and friend finally achieved his dreams of playing at the next level,” NDC Assistant Coach and former Falcon Dan Jones said. “It is a source of inspiration for guys looking at how hard he worked and what he overcame to get there.”
