In today’s new college basketball landscape, players reuniting with a former squad is quickly becoming less of an anomaly with each passing year.
But any potential Illinois had in benefitting from that situation is now moot – at least in the case of former Illini guard Adam Miller.
On Friday, Miller – who spent his freshman season in Champaign – committed to Gonzaga and coach Mark Few.
After putting together a storied high school basketball career that included a state championship alongside former Illini standout Ayo Dosunmu at Chicago powerhouse Morgan Park, which culminated in 2020 Illinois Mr. Basketball honors, Miller followed in Dosunmu’s footsteps to U-C.
In his freshman campaign, Miller came out with a bang, pouring in 28 points in his debut (a school record at the time) and going on to average 8.3 points while starting in all 31 games.
Seemingly poised to take over the offensive reins on the perimeter heading into his sophomore year, Miller chose to transfer – a decision that came as a bit of a surprise.
Miller moved on to LSU, missing the entire 2021-2022 season due to injury before coming back to average 11.5 points and start every game for the Tigers a year later.
Then Miller hit the portal again, transferring to Arizona State, where he spent the past two years. Last season, despite putting up his lowest scoring average (9.8 points) since his freshman year, Miller’s efficiency shot up – especially from deep, where he knocked down 1.9 triples per game on 42.9 percent shooting.
After making his way to the portal once again, Miller was linked to coach Brad Underwood and Illinois, with a reunion appearing to potentially be on the horizon.
Fitting the Illini’s exact need for depth and shooting at guard, Miller seemingly would have been a perfect addition. But he can haardly be blamed for choosing the Zags, a perennial Pacific Northwest powerhouse and possible national title contenders in 2025-26.
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