Heading into the 2023-2024 season, senior guard Adam Miller was one of the many new faces in Tempe. Transferring from LSU, Miller looked to make his impact known quickly. Although the NCAA denied him immediate eligibility and kept him out for the first ten games, Miller hit the ground running in his maroon and gold debut. In a contest against TCU, he scored 20 points, shooting 5-7 from the floor and 3-7 from 3-point range in a losing effort.
Miller’s second game, though, was quite the opposite, scoring just six points and shooting 1-10 from the field on a night where the entire ASU team struggled mightily in a 79-59 loss to Northwestern.
With only two games under his belt with the Sun Devils before conference play started, time was quickly running out for the newcomer to find his groove ahead of the Pac-12 slate.
Luckily for Arizona State, they started that portion of their schedule on a torrid pace, winning their first four Pac-12 matchups. Miller proved to be a significant part of that streak, scoring in double digits in all but one of the team’s first six conference games. Alas, a team that was seemingly on pace to compete for the final Pac-12 regular season championship ultimately suffered a five-game losing streak, as Miller was averaging just 7.5 points during that string of games. Later on, he averaged 15 points in Arizona State’s last nine regular season games. He comes into this season not only as the team’s most proven commodity in a power conference program but also as an elder statesman, a role he didn’t expect to assume.
“It feels crazy, it’s weird,” Miller said. “I didn’t expect to be in college this long. But you know, everybody’s story is different, and I feel like my story this year is to help the team out. Like I said, be the extra coach out there for Coach Hurley, and just have fun playing basketball.”
The Sun Devils’ top 10 2024 recruiting class is highlighted by the top center of this group and the No. 8 player overall, 16-year-old Jayden Quaintance. The incoming freshman who decommitted from Kentucky following the departure of their head coach, John Calipari, is the highest-ever rated player to pledge to ASU. Miller said that the true freshman has unquestionably backed up the lofty accolades he arrived with.
“No, literally, he’s a monster,” Miller described. “The first thing I saw was him outside dribbling a basketball. I used to do that when I was 14, and my mom would drag me outside. But to be able to see his love for the game this early is great. I feed off those guys, and I want to make sure I do the most I can do to give him the best season that he can.”
Following his worst season during his ASU tenure, the speculation that head coach Bobby Hurley could be on the hot seat this year has been a fairly popular narrative among national pundits. Hurley’s response was assembling a roster that not only has a highly-touted recruiting class but also a formidable group of transfer players headed by Wisconsin-Milwaukee guard BJ Freeman (21 ppg), Ball State forward Basheer Jihad (19 ppg), and Missouri State guard Alston Mason (18 ppg).
And if ASU fans were thoroughly impressed by the accomplishments of Hurley and his staff in recent months, they’re not alone.
“He had a different mindset going into this offseason,” Miller commented. “(Hurley) kept telling me, ‘I’m going to bring you some help. We’re going to get help. I just need you to lead.’ And I just kept seeing more and more guys and saw the vision. So, it’s up to me to help, to help lead these guys and for these guys to find their niche within Coach Hurley. And we’ll play some basketball. Let’s just bring some fun to the valley. That’s all we got to do.”
In recent years, the transfer portal has led to massive roster turnovers for ASU, wherein each of the last few seasons, literally half of the team was made up of players where ASU served as their second, and sometimes third, college stop. Last season, Miller, a Chicago native who played at the University of Illinois out of high school before transferring to LSU, is appreciative of the portal and the role it has and still can play in his development.
“For me, it gave me a fresh slate,” Miller remarked. “When I arrived somewhere new, I got to see new people. I just felt new and like I could really rebuild myself. And I think that’s what a lot of these guys are doing. They’re able to either branch off where they were, start something new, or just continue on what they’re doing.
“I just think we have a lot of stories, and I don’t think anything about people transferring and not transferring because each year is a new team.”
Team chemistry naturally plays a huge role in a team’s success, and this year is no different. If anything, this season, it will be an element that will be crucial to the chances of a nearly brand new Arizona State squad as a first-year member of the Big 12. In a conference that is regarded by many as the best in the country, it’s a league that has demanded the full attention of ASU during its offseason preparations.
“I’ve been watching film already,” Miller admitted. “The first team I watched was Kansas. I watched Houston a lot, along with Iowa State. I want to do early work, so I’m not blindsided when I play them. I feel like if I have the best preparation, I have nothing to worry about. Just getting my guys ready, combining everything and putting it together and just having fun with it.”
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