ANDERSON — Catch. Rise. Release. Splash. Repeat.
For Pendleton Heights senior sharpshooter Trent Miller, shooting hundreds of jumpers a day is only part of his effort to prevent a repeat of his junior basketball season.
In early December, after just four games, Miller went down in practice with a knee injury that would short-circuit his campaign. Although he would return late in the season, he was not back to his former self, when he shot 47 percent from 3-point range as a sophomore. His junior season, that number was down to 37 percent.
“I definitely wasn’t healthy when I got back,” Miller said.
Now, six months after the injury, Miller (shown at left with the ball) still goes to therapy sessions twice a week for four hours and feels he is getting close to 100 percent as summer basketball gets under way. He showed his abilities during a series of scrimmages at Anderson University against teams from Beech Grove, Greencastle, and Heritage Christian. Moving at full speed, Miller was able to hit jumper after jumper and drove the lane, attacking the basket.
“I’ve gotten a lot better,” he said. “I feel good. I feel like I’m still not at 100 percent, probably about 92 or 93 percent. I think I have a lot more to prove to people because I’ve been hurt a few times in high school.”
He’s bigger, he’s stronger and he can leap higher. He said due to the therapy on the knee and cardio work that goes with it, he has added seven pounds of muscle. He also finds another silver lining to the injury after spending much of last season on the sideline.
“It actually helped me in a lot of ways from a mental standpoint of the game,” he said. “It told me not to take it for granted, that’s for sure. I’m just looking to win this year. It’s taught me to help my teammates in other ways, not just to look at the stat line.”
His coach at Pendleton Heights, Kevin Bates, said the work ethic Miller has displayed in getting back on the court among the best he has seen.
“It’s taken some time, but he’s really worked hard,” Bates said. “He’s an endless worker in the weight room and on the court. He’s trying to do everything possible to prevent this from happening again. He never misses a session in the weight room; he looks stronger because he is stronger. I said Kellen Dunham and Mark Albers were the two hardest workers I’d seen, but Trent is right there in that category.”
Bates said Miller, currently the team’s only captain, will spend much of this summer developing into the leader of the Arabian basketball team.
“Summers are used to find out where kids like Trent who had injuries are,” Bates said. “I think he’s very vocal and has a great voice. He’s one of the most vocal captains we’ve had in a while.”
Miller does not plan to let up in his efforts to get back to full form before the season tips in November. He is getting looks from several colleges, including Hillsdale (Michigan), where he intends to make an official visit soon. But he also wants to show the fans and his teammates what he is capable of.
“My athleticism, as long as I keep working, might shock some people next year,” he said.