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Miller Gave All To Be A Heel

Published: Mar 4, 2007

The end is near. North Carolina guard Wes Miller will be introduced during senior day at the Smith Center, before today's ACC regular-season finale against Duke. The last moment will be quite a feeling.

But it can't compare to the beginning.

"I'm walking on the court the first day and I'm just looking down at my practice jersey and I'm saying, 'It's real. I'm here. I'm playing for the Tar Heels,'" Miller said. "Some dreams really do come true."

That was 2003. Miller, a transfer from James Madison, had been invited as a walk-on by new Coach Roy Williams. What was ahead? Who knew? Really, who cared?

He was a Tar Heel.

"When you are raised on ACC basketball, you think that's the only basketball there is," Miller said. "I used to think that North Carolina and Duke were the only two teams that ever played. It was my world. Right from the start, I knew being part of that world was a privilege."

From his first UNC practice, Miller has lived those words.

He was part of the 2005 national championship team.

When the Tar Heels underwent their unprecedented talent drain to the NBA draft, Miller was placed on scholarship and became a starter. Right away, he hit six 3-pointers at Florida State, scoring a career-high 18 points. Overall, he averaged 7.2 points per game and had 16 starts.

"It was satisfying because I think some people thought I would never play one minute at North Carolina," said Miller, underwhelming coming off the bus at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds.

Then North Carolina reloaded with an electrifying recruiting class. Williams cast a wide net, and everyone said yes. There was only one way to make it work.

Williams asked Miller to relinquish his scholarship, to become a walk-on once more.

No hesitation.

"Whatever helps this program, I'm going to do it," said Miller, who was raised in Greensboro and Charlotte. "My family can handle the in-state tuition. Tell you the truth, I don't think any of the guys even know [Miller no longer has a scholarship]. When you're on the floor, your jersey doesn't say 'walk-on player' or 'scholarship player.'

"It says, 'North Carolina.' You're a player."

A player never to be forgotten by Williams.

Miller plays about 11 minutes for the Tar Heels (24-6, 10-5) and averages just 2.6 points. But his attitude is no different than his eighth-grade season, when he began taking 500 shots a day. Even now, he hustles and stretches his limits, always looking for an edge.

"Wes is one of the hardest workers I've ever been around as an assistant coach, a head coach or a high school coach," Williams said. "I've never been around anybody who can totally dominate him on total number of workouts they do. Sometimes you worry how his body is going to hold up.

"He became extremely important to this program. His play last year was crucial to our success. Now, even though someone else is in that starting position, he's still working just as hard. There has never been any doubt about his goals or his work ethic."

Miller might seem out of place at an elite-level ACC program.

Not really, said Maryland coach Gary Williams.

"We all get caught up in trying to get that next great player," Williams said. "But you need people in your program who are college basketball players, who want to work, put the time in, get better each day. Even the greatest players still need to be pushed hard in practice. I love the gym rats, guys like that."

Guys like Wes Miller.

Saying goodbye won't be easy.

"When you're playing a big game at the Dean Dome, you look up and it's a sea of blue," Miller said. "When something happens, there's a huge roar. I'll probably be able to hear that noise in my head the rest of my life. What an incredible memory."

But so are the days when no one was there to cheer, when it was just Williams demanding that everyone run faster and harder, when his legs throbbed with pain, when he looked around and knew that he really belonged.

He was a teammate, a Tar Heel.

"When you put on that jersey," Miller said, "it lasts forever."

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353 or jjohnston@tampatrib.com.