Mason County 73 Lex Cath 68 2OTs

[BigBlueFreak]

Miller had 24 points, 9 boards and six blocks. Details to follow.

 

I had the pleasure of watching this game last night. Miller is one of the best athletes I've seen in high school. He glides with the ball when he drives and is an incredible finisher when he wants to be. He has all the tools to be as good as he wants to be. He's as good as any one person in the OVC right now and his basketball IQ is very high. He's a very very good player with the potential to be a great player.

 

My other opion was that he lacks fire and drive. He had no intensity to his game. For the lack of a better word he appeard lazy at times on the floor. There is noone that can gaurd this kid one on one when he wants to play, if he ever gets any drive in him at all there isn't 2 kids on the floor that can gaurd him and his potential is limitless. He is a big time D1 kid and will have his choice at some power house schools, with the development of some intensity he might be further than that. Good luck to him and the royals on the quest for a second title.

[notetaker]

BigBlue Freak, I don't know how many times you've watched Miller play, but you are way off base. He plays hard on both ends of the court and if you didn't see his intensity on the defensive end of the court, especially in the last part of the game when he completely shut down Novosel, I would be interested to know what your definition of intensity is.

[shooterx3]

BigBlue Freak, I don't know how many times you've watched Miller play, but you are way off base. He plays hard on both ends of the court and if you didn't see his intensity on the defensive end of the court, especially in the last part of the game when he completely shut down Novosel, I would be interested to know what your definition of intensity is.

 

I know exactly what he is talking about, Miller doesnt play up to his talent level, he plays hard when he "feels" like it, it is not 'automatic"

His upside is unlimited, but he will be an underachiever if he doesnt get a little more "fire in his belly"

It is not unusual for kids with an overabundance of talent learn to get by on less than 100% effort all the time, Hopson seems to have the same issue

as does Brooks. Compare their effort to someone like a Stephon Pettigrew,

that is my definition of a "hard worker" who maximizes his talent. Those guys can't come close to matching Pettigrew's intensity.

[BigBlueFreak]

BigBlue Freak, I don't know how many times you've watched Miller play, but you are way off base. He plays hard on both ends of the court and if you didn't see his intensity on the defensive end of the court, especially in the last part of the game when he completely shut down Novosel, I would be interested to know what your definition of intensity is.

 

 

I wasn't the only person in the stands with the same opinion. There were several loyal Mason fans with the same opinion I had.

[ragin royal 80]

I wasn't the only person in the stands with the same opinion. There were several loyal Mason fans with the same opinion I had.

 

Personally knowing Darius I think your assumption is off. He has the same " Drive, Fire and Intensity" as anyone on the floor but he does not show it. He is not a vocal leader he plays hard and leads by example. If the Royals are down he finds a way to lift the spirits and so far hes done it all season. It all depends on your point of view for intensity i guess if slapping the floor and yelling until your red is considered intensity then your correct. But if having 4 blocks in an overtime and lead your team to victory against a top 10 team in the state is nothing short of inspirational. But to say he has no heart or fire is crazy!

[westsider]

The knock on Miller is that he doesn't display that "drive, fire and intensity" on a consistent basis. I've seen Mason only once this season, against Russell in the 5/3 tournament, and I saw a guy that didn't always play hard for a good portion of the game. His performance, and the team's performance, reflected that.

[CatchMeIfYouCan]

Would love to have been at that game!

[BigBlueFreak]

Personally knowing Darius I think your assumption is off. He has the same " Drive, Fire and Intensity" as anyone on the floor but he does not show it. He is not a vocal leader he plays hard and leads by example. If the Royals are down he finds a way to lift the spirits and so far hes done it all season. It all depends on your point of view for intensity i guess if slapping the floor and yelling until your red is considered intensity then your correct. But if having 4 blocks in an overtime and lead your team to victory against a top 10 team in the state is nothing short of inspirational. But to say he has no heart or fire is crazy!

 

It has nothing to do with slapping the floor or hooping and hollering. It has to do with intensity and drive. Yes I saw those 4 blocks but I also saw 2 turnovers . I'm not knocking any of his ability, nor am I knocking his work ethic, I am stating that from watching this kid play, he only does what he has to do to help his team win, he never does any more than that. He's a very good basketball player, he has the ability to be a great basketball player. He does not always push his ability to the limit, he's not a 110% player all the time. When he does develop that drive he may very well get paid to play basketabll one day.

[TubbyCAT]

Maybe some of that drive you are not seeing should be coming from that coaching staff pushing the kid a bit more. I don't really see that staff doing the necessary things to try and motivate any kid or push him during the game, let alone one of the top-30 juniors in the nation. A tremendous talent that can do pretty much anything w/the ball. Some of his passes are the kind that teammates just cannot handle. I see plenty of drive in Darius, but I do think this staff has mishandled this talent.

[Hoops Yoda]

I remember Chris Lofton being rather "unemotional" also - but he really knew how to play the game - same with Miller... He gets the job done.

[Hoops Yoda]

Maybe some of that drive you are not seeing should be coming from that coaching staff pushing the kid a bit more. I don't really see that staff doing the necessary things to try and motivate any kid or push him during the game, let alone one of the top-30 juniors in the nation. A tremendous talent that can do pretty much anything w/the ball. Some of his passes are the kind that teammates just cannot handle. I see plenty of drive in Darius, but I do think this staff has mishandled this talent.

 

 

Maybe the staff should focus on improving his teammates???:banana:

[TubbyCAT]

I 1000% agree w/them improving his teammates, that is usually a big repsonsibilty of the coaching staff. How about this novelty, let some of those kids who are sitting the bench that can actually play, let them play based on ability and effort and work-ethic.

[westsider]

Sounds like a poster with an agenda ...

[mcpapa]

Looks to me like a mod may need to close this one down since no one has talked about the game for a while now...

 

"Darius Miller's Work Ethic" and "Mason County's Coaching" should be separate subjects, if someone wants to continue on those topics.

[TubbyCAT]

Darius had a GREAT game,he had nice floor game,Great leadership,just all around Great game.

 

No agenda, just a serious question. I noticed a couple of kids who warmed up that were playing earlier in the season, but didn't hit the floor Friday night. Just a wandering mind???