Seminoles confident freshman Baba Miller will find stride before season ends
The Florida State men’s basketball team had to wait half a season for highly touted freshman Baba Miller to be cleared to play his first game.
And while the Seminoles have been thrilled to have Miller in action for the past month, the 6-foot-11 forward has yet to make a major dent in the scoring column.
He scored a career-high 11 points in late January against Clemson, but he is averaging just 3.6 points and 3.6 rebounds through nine games.
Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, whose Seminoles will hit the road Wednesday for a rematch with Clemson, said Miller’s slow start is not totally unexpected because he was held out of most practices during the summer and preseason due to injury.
Then he had to miss the first 16 games of the season due to an NCAA sanction for receiving improper travel benefits before he was recruited by Florida State.
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“I do believe that he’s feeling a lot of anxiety and pressure,” Hamilton said Tuesday morning. “Number one, he didn’t expect to sit a 16-game suspension, and he’s recovering from shin splints, so he didn’t have an opportunity to practice with the team until [just before the season]. He missed May, June, July, August. Time when we could get him going.”
Miller has provided depth for the Seminoles, who played with a very depleted roster earlier this season. Hamilton said Florida State also has seen glimpses of the force he can become as a shot-blocker and rebounder.
But his perimeter shooting, which was supposed to be a strength, has been mostly non-existent. The native of Spain has hit 12 of 17 shots from inside the 3-point arc, but just 2 of 14 outside of it.
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Again, Hamilton said, that’s likely due to the stress of being a high-profile newcomer on a team that has struggled from the start of this season.
“He’s a really good perimeter shooter,” Hamilton said. “I just think that he’s rushing his shot a little bit. And he’s overthinking it. Before the season is over, you’re going to see what potential he really has.”
When Florida State signed Miller last summer, Hamilton expressed confidence that he would be one of the most talented players to come through the Seminoles’ program in his 21 seasons as head coach.
Once Miller gains his confidence, the head coach said Tuesday, that optimism will be validated.
“I have no doubt in my mind he has the potential to be as good as any player that we’ve ever had,” Hamilton said.
The Seminoles (8-18, 6-9) and Tigers (18-7, 10-4) will square off Wednesday at 7 p.m. (Regional Sports Network). Clemson won the first matchup, 82-81, in Tallahassee last month.
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