FSU sees Baba Miller’s impressive World Cup as springboard to breakout sophomore year
Even if he hadn’t been watching the games, Florida State associate head coach Stan Jones could tell there was something different about promising young forward Baba Miller.
He could hear the excitement and passion in Miller’s voice when they spoke on the phone. He could sense how eager the rising sophomore was about finishing play in the FIBA U-19 World Cup and returning to Florida State for the upcoming season.
“He feels like he’ll be a different person and player this year,” Jones said. “He seems incredibly excited to get back and move forward with this group.”
That’s an exciting development for FSU’s coaching staff, and it could be very good news for Seminole fans.
Miller, who endured a challenging first year at Florida State — he averaged just 4.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game — played a major role recently in helping Spain win its first U-19 world championship in nearly a quarter-century.
The 6-foot-11 forward started all seven games in the World Cup, averaged 9.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, provided a major defensive presence and also took over at the end of regulation in the championship round.
With Spain trailing France by seven points with just over five minutes remaining, Miller sent the game to overtime by scoring nine points, grabbing three rebounds and recording an assist and a steal down the stretch. Team Spain then won the gold medal in the extra period.
“He imposed his will at that point,” Jones said. “I was very proud and happy to see that.”
No one, of course, was happier than Miller himself.
“France was playing really well, and I feel like we were losing hope,” Miller said of his team’s late deficit. “But just thinking about how hard we worked — all the time we spent there — I don’t know. I just switched. It was now or never.”
Jones said FSU’s coaches saw instances during Miller’s freshman season where he showed the ability to flip that switch. But due mostly to a series of unfortunate circumstances, Miller never proved to be a consistent force at either end of the floor.
He signed with FSU last summer as one of the top international prospects in his class, but he missed preseason workouts with shin splints. Then an NCAA eligibility ruling forced him to miss the first 16 games of the season. Then when he finally did play his first game — in mid-January — the Seminoles were already mired in the worst season in school history.
“Then he put extra pressure on himself when he did come back to play,” Jones said. “So you never saw the best version of him. I think we’re all gonna see what Baba Miller is capable of this year. … He got kind of short-changed last year with the ruling that the NCAA put out. Then the direction our season went, I don’t think allowed him to free his mind up to grow as much as he needed to.”
The mental aspect wasn’t the only hurdle for Miller during his first year in Tallahassee. He also had to get past the pain from his shin splints, and overcome the associated setbacks in terms of conditioning and weight training.
“It’s been great playing without pain,” Miller said on Monday after returning from Spain. “Now, I feel a lot faster. I can jump higher. I can move better. I don’t get as tired. … I feel a lot better.”
More than a week after he and his Spanish teammates held up the World Cup championship trophy, Miller was still beaming about the victory this week. It’s a feeling he will always cherish.
“It was awesome,” Miller said. “Not many people can say they’ve competed in a World Cup, much less won it. I had a great time with my teammates. It’s an amazing experience. … At the end of the day, we’re not just competing for ourselves. We’re competing for the whole country. For our families, for our friends. So it was great being able to achieve that.”
The last time Spain won the prestigious U-19 international event was in 1999. That team, which was led by future NBA players Pao Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro, is still beloved in Miller’s homeland.
“They called them The Golden Boys. So now,” he said with a smile, “we’re The Golden Boys 2.0.’”
While Miller displayed some impressive offensive skills during the FIBA tournament, that wasn’t what got Florida State’s coaches most excited. It was the way he used his tremendous length to affect passing lanes and alter shots around the basket, and the way he played team defense when he wasn’t guarding the ball.
If Miller carries that over to the court for Florida State during the 2023-24 season, Jones sees very bright days ahead for the rising sophomore.
“He has the potential to be a one-man defensive clinic like Jonathan Isaac was,” Jones said. “Same body type. Same length. Same ability to challenge shots around the basket and on the perimeter. And to be in the passing lanes like Jonathan did for us.
“If he starts with that, the offense is going to take care of itself. Because he is a very capable catch-and-shoot, stand-still shooter, and he also has some creativity to post you up a little bit. Play from the mid-post, sweep-and-go to both directions, and finish over people because of his size. So there’s a lot of good things to look forward to with Baba.”
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