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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Paul Miller loved waking early on fall
mornings and heading into the woods to hunt, waiting hours for the
elusive buck of his dreams. The fifth-year senior has shown the
same patience while waiting for his moment at Wichita State. He broke his right foot three games into his freshman season,
then spent three years longing to play in the NCAA tournament only
to end up in the NIT each time. Now Miller and the Shockers are celebrating the program's first
NCAA win in 25 years, and they're looking for more Saturday against
Tennessee in the second round of the Washington Regional. "To finally be here in my senior year means a lot to me, and
I'm just trying to take advantage of the situation," said Miller,
the Missouri Valley Conference's player of the year. Even his love of bow-hunting -- Miller went several times a week
during the fall and even squeezed in trips before afternoon classes
-- would have trouble comparing to the feeling of being here. The
6-foot-10 post player leads the seventh-seeded Shockers (25-8) with
13.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, helping Wichita State win
the regular-season title in the mid-major league that heard plenty
of criticism after receiving a record four NCAA bids. Wichita State did its part to silence the critics, dominating
Seton Hall from the Big East in Thursday's first round. And it all
started with Miller, who got off to a fast start that seemed
effortless. Miller hit a hook shot just 9 seconds in and followed with a
jumper from the right corner on the next possession. He scored 11
of his 15 points in the first half as the Shockers built a 20-point
lead before the break and were never seriously threatened
afterward. Miller's start helped erase any jitters for the Shockers, who
hadn't played in the NCAAs since an 83-62 first-round loss to
DePaul in 1988 and hadn't won a tourney game since reaching a
regional final in 1981. "He got us going," said junior Karon Bradley, who had eight
points off the bench. "I knew then what kind of game it was going
to be." Miller's performance also opened the perimeter for Sean Ogirri,
who scored a game-high 23 points and hit six of the team's 10
3-pointers. Miller took just 10 shots while finishing with seven
rebounds and even more deflections when it came to answering
questions about his success. "Numbers are something this team hasn't been worried about all
year," he said. "It's been about the win-loss column. I think
everyone else has checked their ego at the door and come to play
every day and not worry about the stat sheet. It's what we're doing
as a unit." Stopping Miller is a task that could largely fall on 6-10 Major
Wingate for the second-seeded Volunteers (22-7), who needed a shot
from Chris Lofton with 2.9 seconds left to beat Winthrop 63-61 on
Thursday. "(Miller) is a big lad," Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said.
"He's such an effective passer and is poised and is a real tough
cover. "A lot depends on what the defense is doing. You sort of
scratch where it itches. If people show him a lot of attention,
then they've got talent off the ball and in the post that can also
score." Miller doesn't mind all the attention. In the locker room
Friday, reporters encircled him for interviews while several
teammates stood to the side and joked about Miller's popularity as
he answered each question in relaxed fashion. It's exactly the kind of thing he waited four years to
experience. "From the outside, you're always trying to imagine it and think
what it might be like," Miller said. "But you can't really
experience everything until you get here and actually go through
it. I'm doing that now."
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