Honesdale’s Kevin Miller had plenty to talk about during his Athlete of the Week interview, including a new pregame ritual, his goals for the season and his plans for the future.
And because I’m from a place where there’s a shot clock in high school basketball — three years after covering my first Lackawanna League games, I’m still trying to get over the shock value of there being no shot clock — and because Miller’s a basketball player, I had to ask him about that, too.
Any superstitions or rituals? I always pray before my games, but this year I’ve been sending out a team text, which I actually got from (Abington Heights’) J.C. Show in AAU basketball. I do that just to try and get the guys in the right mind set before the games. It’s just a little pump-up speech kind of thing. A little rah-rah thing to try and get them going, get them psyched up a little bit. I do think they like it.
Do you have any goals for the season? I do have some goals. I’d say my main goal is to get to ![miller]()
the state playoffs this year. It’s going to be very tough though. There’s obviously some other good teams out there who are very good. We’re going to have to work hard for it if we want to be able to accomplish that.
the state playoffs this year. It’s going to be very tough though. There’s obviously some other good teams out there who are very good. We’re going to have to work hard for it if we want to be able to accomplish that.What would a berth in the state playoffs mean to the team? That would be big for us. I think the last time we were there was 2006, and that was a pretty good group. It would be extremely fun, I think, if we did go, and I think everybody really wants to go. We still have a long ways to go and a lot of work to put in.
Who’s the main competition for you guys this season? Everybody’s going to be tough, but obviously the two main teams are Prep and Abington that everyone talks about. They’re both very well skilled and very well coached. But also you have West, who’s very good; Scranton; you have ’Paupack, who’s a rivalry game; North Pocono — you’ve got to bring it every game in this league or else you can lose any night if you don’t.
You said everyone talks about Scranton Prep and Abington Heights. Do you guys like being an underdog? I’d rather an underdog role, but I think we really have to want it and compete. I’ve played with a lot of those guys and they all compete hard and play very hard. They’re very skilled, too. We’re going to have to really come together as a team if we do want to be able to compete with them.
Describe your game a little. I try and run the team as best as I can with leadership and bring some intensity. But coach (Tim) Wood has asked me to look to score a little bit more this year and create, which I’m starting to get a little bit better at. But I certainly need to keep working on it. I think my biggest thing is just to keep being aggressive and keep attacking, because once I attack, I think I can create for myself and others.
Is it difficult to make the transition from football to basketball so quickly? It is kind of tough, but I will say one thing: We do have a lot of football players on our basketball team. One thing we took from football into basketball, is our intensity level and the way we just wanted to win, the way we competed at the end of the football season. I think it kind of transitioned over into basketball, which helped us.
Is basketball your favorite sport? It depends on the season. When I’m in basketball, it’s basketball. But when I’m in football season, it’s football. Baseball is probably my third, but I just love playing them all.
You’re a scorer. How do you feel about the lack of a shot clock? I think there will eventually be a shot clock. I would like seeing one. But usually, the way we play, we don’t need a shot clock anyway. We like to play a little more up-tempo.
You just committed to play basketball at Muhlenberg, right? I said I was going to go there, I want to say, a couple weeks ago, but we still have some stuff we need to get done, to make sure that everything gets done smoothly with getting accepted there. They’re Division III. They play in the Centennial Conference. I’m very excited, actually. I feel very comfortable with Muhlenberg and very comfortable with coach (Scott) McClary. He seems like a great guy and is going to do the best for me.
How important was it for you to play a sport in college? I think it was pretty important. It just keeps me busy. I really just want to play because it’s just for the love of the game now. It’s my passion, and it’s going to be the last time I’ll be able to play.
Do you know what you want to study? I’m thinking possibly business, but I’m not too sure yet.